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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Who's wrong? (pics included)

245 replies

autienotnaughty · 25/10/2022 09:00

Hi wondering if you can clear this up for me.

So to set the scene. Busy road with a doctors on one side and school on the other. It's a 30 limit. Car A is going too fast for the situation but not necessarily over speed limit. Possibly 25-35. Car B is infront of Car A. Car B indicates left and starts to pull round. Car A pulls around Car B as it turns. At the same time Car C pulls out, Car C can see car B but can not see any cars behind Car B. Car C thinks when Car B turns left it has time to turn its self. Car A hits Car C.
Car A says Car C is at fault as he should not have turned when the view was blocked.
Car C says Car A is at fault as he was driving too fast and should not have over took Car B.

Who's at fault?

OP posts:
NKFell · 25/10/2022 10:15

Car A was on the road going in the direction of traffic and has right of way, due to being on the road already!

Car C is at fault because he has pulled into a road that was not clear of traffic. Shouldn't have crossed the line.

lubileejubilee · 25/10/2022 10:15

I agree with those who say Car C was primarily at fault but dangerous driving by Car A heavily contributed to the collision.

Car A shouldn't be tailgating or speeding. However, quite often Car C doesn't have as much time to pull out as they may think. Also many Car C drivers are snail like with the time taken to pull out on to the road and to get up to the general speed of traffic which also creates opportunities for collisions.

Pipsquiggle · 25/10/2022 10:18

Technically Car C, however, sounds like Car A was driving dangerously.

Unless you have video evidence or witnesses willing to back you up, Car C will be at fault for this incident

fruitbrewhaha · 25/10/2022 10:21

Car C is at fault. It pulled out when the road wasn’t clear.

how do you know what speed A was doing? 25 to 35 is quite a range. 25 mph is not too fast whereas 30+ is. But even if someone is doing 40 mph in a 30 you dont pull out in front of them.

MRSE20 · 25/10/2022 10:22

Car A should not of overtaken at junction… shouldn’t be going that fast especially as Car B was turning.

But I think Car C is mainly at fault as shouldn’t of just assumed no car behind Car B. They should of waited until coast is clear.

Curta · 25/10/2022 10:23

Car C is at fault. It doesn't matter how fast Car A was going, it had right of way.

SheWoreYellow · 25/10/2022 10:23

You know, I think it depends on the line between ‘pulled around’ and ‘overtook’. If A only pulled out a bit and basically just carried on, then this is normal driving. If B wasn’t that far over and A had to go more onto a part of the road where you wouldn’t expect a car, then A becomes more morally liable. C is probably still technically wrong though.

LucilleBallsy · 25/10/2022 10:25

Car C.

Car A overtook without being able to see clearly ahead BUT Car C was the culprit. They pulled out of a T junction without a clear line of sight past Car B.

A cyclist could have been behind Car B, overtaking it, and a fatality occurred by Car C's actions.

Curta · 25/10/2022 10:26

Yes, if really 'overtaking' the possible danger would be to oncoming traffic on the other side of the road.

As C was emerging from the same side of the road as B was turning, and A 'pulled around', A should expect to continue to make process unimpeded by C joining the major road.

OneTC · 25/10/2022 10:27

C mostly at fault, A should probably have been more careful. A car hidden behind B is entirely predictable and why you don't just pull out in such situations.

Watapalava · 25/10/2022 10:27

See I look at the image and see the crash happening with A in the wrong lane

C is pulling out into correct lane

A in the image is overtaking so has moved into wrong lane

A is an idiot

Itaintwhatyoudoitsthewaythatyoudoit · 25/10/2022 10:28

Car A - if the speed limit is 30 then it was going over the limit if doing 35 and tailgating Car B - car A sounds like dangerous driving but Car C should not have pulled out without making sure the road was clear.

notmyrealmoniker · 25/10/2022 10:28

ImustLearn2Cook · 25/10/2022 10:00

@notmyrealmoniker I think you missed the end of the Op where it says that Car C says Car A is at fault as he was driving too fast and should not have over took Car B.

'Overtaking' in the highway code is a specific manoeuvre where you pull across the carriageway. its not usual to do this if a car is just pulling into a side road, you simply drive around the back of the turning car. if car A was genuinely overtaking and on the other side of the carriageway then car C would have had to have also been on the wrong side of the carriageway and have pulled out a huge distance to have hit it.

the only thing that makes sense is that car C pulled into the same carriageway car A was legitimately driving on for it to hit it in the first place. so 'overtaking' is a huge red herring here.

MavisChunch29 · 25/10/2022 10:29

You. It's Who's (short for Who Is) not Whose.

Tropicalsunshine · 25/10/2022 10:29

My daughter had this exact accident. She was car C.
The insurance found her at fault. Her car was written off but nobody hurt.

LucilleBallsy · 25/10/2022 10:30

Car A should not of [HAVE]overtaken at junction

There is no law about overtaking someone turning left. (Car A would have been able to see oncoming traffic.)

I don't know why posters keep saying you can't overtake at a junction. That's not what this shows. It's a junction on the left of the main road.

It's completely acceptable to overtake the vehicle in front, at any time, but you need to 'read the road'.

The driver of Car A ought to have considered traffic emerging from the next junction, but there is no question that Car C was in the wrong.

They pulled out, unsighted, when they didn't have right of way.

Scaredycat259 · 25/10/2022 10:30

I'd say insurance companies would argue 50/50.
I worked with someone who moved into another lane a little too early ( before the markings) to turn right at traffic lights, a guy coming from the left pulled out into him ( car in left lane let him out).
He had the cheek to take coworker to court! Let's just add that the guy that hit him came out of a one way street the WRONG way! Insurance advised to take 50/50 blame as the other driver wanted minimum £600 for the damage to his car 🙄

notmyrealmoniker · 25/10/2022 10:30

goldshimmerystar · 25/10/2022 10:05

A was going too fast, and on the wrong side of the road.

And you'd prove this how?

If A was in the wrong side of the road, C would also have had to have been on the same side.
How would car C judge the speed of car A in those few brief seconds before impact? How could it be proven?

LucilleBallsy · 25/10/2022 10:32

Yes, and as the PP says, this was not an example of 'overtaking'.

It's was a 'manoevre' around a car turning left off the main highway.

Overtaking is pulling out of your lane by going faster than the vehicle in front when you are both travelling in the same direction.

It's shocking how many posters here don't know this and are driving cars, I assume.

notmyrealmoniker · 25/10/2022 10:32

HavfrueDenizKisi · 25/10/2022 10:07

Car A.

That's usually how insurance will see it.

Friend of mine hit a car that pulled out of a side road. No other vehicles on the road. We assumed they'd be found not at fault as the other car had made an unsafe manoeuvre but they were found at fault as they should have anticipated that a car could pull out and approach with caution.

Thems the rules.

That's absolutely crazy and the opposite of what the Highway Code says. I'd have appealed this.

RelentlessForwardProgress · 25/10/2022 10:32

Clearly Car A is at fault, despite your best efforts to try and apportion some of the blame to car C!

Car C was not, by your own admission, breaking the speed limit, the fact they were driving too fast to be able to avoid someone with no clear line of sight driving out of a side road straight into them does not make them a bad driver!

And they weren't overtaking at a junction either, the other car was leaving the highway they were on, they had no car to overtake, by the time they had reached the junction the other car would have to already be in the side road.

If everyone always drove slowly enough to anticipate a careless driver coming out of a side road without being able to see what was coming and ploughing into them, we'd all only drive at 4 mph.

If you are involved in the accident, I'd be a bit less tricksy when dealing with the insurance than you have been here.

AryaStarkWolf · 25/10/2022 10:32

Car C

MyneighbourisTotoro · 25/10/2022 10:34

I’d say Car A is definitely at fault as you should not over take someone at a junction and obviously speeding is a no no but Car C is also to blame as they could see Car A and they should have waited.

RelentlessForwardProgress · 25/10/2022 10:35

"Clearly Car A is at fault, despite your best efforts to try and apportion some of the blame to car C!"

should read

"Clearly Car A is at fault, despite your best efforts to try and apportion some of the blame to car A!"

LucilleBallsy · 25/10/2022 10:35

I'd say insurance companies would argue 50/50.

Well, you'd be wrong.

Legally, Car A has right of way. There is no 'wrong side of the road' if the road is clear. The white line can be crossed if it is safe to to do, with no oncoming traffic.

Car C emerged from a side road and did not have full vision of the road .

I don't understand why this is so hard to understand.

When you emerge from a junction, you have to consider not just the first car you see but also another vehicle that may be behind it, which you can't see.