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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Was this accident my fault?

69 replies

TafeaJovouzto · 09/05/2023 17:30

Had a minor scrape and I don't know whether I should argue that it wasn't my fault, or whether I should accept some responsibility.

The location of the accident is a horrible corner to negotiate and I am sure there are regular scrapes there.

I am the orange car, going up a steep hill where there is a wiggle around to the left then I immediately turn right, and the larger blue van is coming down the hill, wiggling around a sharp left hand turn then immediately going around to the right. The vast majority of traffic at this corner follows these paths, it is quite rare for cars to go in the other direction as it doesn't lead anywhere except to a few houses. I do this bend at least twice a week as it is between home and my child's school, they get the bus most days but occasionally need collecting. It's normal for drivers in both directions to pause and establish whether someone else is coming the other way because you don't want to be doing the bend at the same time as someone else.

On this occasion I believe I am clear to go and am just at the first corner when I realise the blue van hasn't stopped and is swinging around the corner. I stop the car on instinct because in the event of something going wrong in a car it is a lot better to be stationary. The van swings past me but scrapes my back right bumper.

Damage is minor and probably cosmetic, there is no change in shape to the bumper but a big white scrape. There is no damage to the side of the van, so it's only my car that needs a repair. I am getting an estimate tomorrow.

Van driver says it is partially my fault because he judged where I would have been if I had kept going and if I hadn't stopped there wouldn't have been a collision.

I feel that stopping is never an inherrently unsafe thing to do.

However if we go through insurance I will lose my no-claims bonus. I have 12 years officially "no-claims" but have had 2 claims in the last 2 years - once when I was a genuine idiot and had a brain fart while parking and scraped the side of my car, and the second when someone went into the back of me and it was 100% their fault. I didn't lose my no-claims status with these as I had paid the extra to protect my no-claims bonus, but I have been told if I make another claim this side of September 2023 I will lose my no-claims status.

So I am considering sorting it out between me and the van driver if that will be cheaper than the impact of losing the "no-claims" but I need to be sure of myself on whether I should be accepting partial responsibility or whether it was all his fault. Please could you vote?

YABU - you share the blame and should expect to contribute to the cost

YANBU - you are blameless and the van driver is fully responsible.

If you vote YABU could you comment as to what proportion of the cost you think I should be accepting? (e.g. 100% if you think it's totally my fault, 50% if you think we are equally to blame)

Was this accident my fault?
OP posts:
CatOnTheChair · 09/05/2023 18:42

Who was on the wrong side of the road?

He looks to have pulled out from a junction without space to complete the maneuver??

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 18:43

Actually you stopping puts the onus on him to pass safely.

Proving that's what happened is the problem.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 09/05/2023 18:44

NumberTheory · 09/05/2023 18:40

From OP’s diagram, he was turning into both sides of the road as it’s too narrow for two vehicles to pass - that’s something that a competent driver should be able to judge.

Show quote history

But when he pulled out of the junction, OP would have been further back down the road - so I suspect he thought he had space to pass her before the road narrowed, but OP thought that they didn't, so she stopped, which is when he hit her.

If OP had carried on driving (like he anticipated) he may well have been able to pass safely. But we don't know either way and without dashcam footage it'll probably just go 50/50.

AxolotlOnions · 09/05/2023 18:45

Looks like his fault to me. He pulled out of a side road onto a road with a pinch point and a blind corner too fast. You were driving slow enough to stop, he kept going and in doing so damaged your vehicle.

CindersAgain · 09/05/2023 18:46

Looks like his fault to me. You should drive as though there is an object in the way anyway, like a child or obstacle. I don’t think that’s a ‘defence’, that you were there and he expected you to carry on going.

TakemedowntoPotatoCity · 09/05/2023 18:49

From what you've said, I think it was the van's fault, because if he was coming from the right, he didn't stop at the end of the side road where there is clearly a white line. He should have checked it was clear before swinging out of there.

Bedtimemode · 09/05/2023 18:55

I have a hunch he was driving too fast and one or other of you was too far over to one side. Presumably if you had both been driving slowly and in the right position on the road then you wouldn't have scraped?

Personally I'd just leave it. I don't know how you would prove it either way and the insurance company will probably split the blame.

Losingweightissohard · 09/05/2023 18:55

I think it would be 50/50 if you went through your insurance.

GabriellaMontez · 09/05/2023 18:55

I don't think the stopping is relevant. You could've stopped because a pedestrian stepped out or you were pulling over...

The question is who was on the wrong side of the road.

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 18:58

The question is who was on the wrong side of the road

Not really, he hit a stationary vehicle, the onus was on him to pass carefully.

GabriellaMontez · 09/05/2023 19:01

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 18:58

The question is who was on the wrong side of the road

Not really, he hit a stationary vehicle, the onus was on him to pass carefully.

I agree with you.

But his suggestion that you caused the accident by stopping, is bollocks.

Did you take photos? Or have any evidence that you were stationary?

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 09/05/2023 19:01

GabriellaMontez · 09/05/2023 18:55

I don't think the stopping is relevant. You could've stopped because a pedestrian stepped out or you were pulling over...

The question is who was on the wrong side of the road.

But if there was a pedestrian, he'd have to stop as well, and if she was pulling over, she would (or should) be slowing down and indicating in advance.

There's a difference between stopping for a hazard and just deciding to stop for no apparent reason.

watcherintherye · 09/05/2023 19:03

If you were stationary (for better or worse), the van driver should not have proceeded without being sure he could do so safely (i.e. without hitting you). He was in the only moving vehicle, he misjudged the gap, therefore it is entirely his fault.

OhmygodDont · 09/05/2023 19:03

Thing is unless she was on his side of the road her stopping should have had no impact on him. She didn’t freeze in front of him and he rear ended her or anything.

GabriellaMontez · 09/05/2023 19:04

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 09/05/2023 19:01

But if there was a pedestrian, he'd have to stop as well, and if she was pulling over, she would (or should) be slowing down and indicating in advance.

There's a difference between stopping for a hazard and just deciding to stop for no apparent reason.

Show quote history

There is no difference. We always have to be prepared that other vehicles may stop. For reasons we may not have seen.

watcherintherye · 09/05/2023 19:05

OhmygodDont · 09/05/2023 19:03

Thing is unless she was on his side of the road her stopping should have had no impact on him. She didn’t freeze in front of him and he rear ended her or anything.

That would still have been his fault.

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 19:05

There's a difference between stopping for a hazard and just deciding to stop for no apparent reason.

OP had a reason to stop. A van was coming towards her on a narrow bend where drivers usually pause and check no one is coming in the opposite direction. OP went because it was clear but the van turned out of his road and joined OP road. OP did the right thing by stopping actually and van driver cannot claim what would have happened had OP kept driving because she didn't. If you have a tight space to clear and other traffic is present the best thing to do is stop and put the onus on him to pass carefully.

OP did nothing wrong.

Whichnumbers · 09/05/2023 19:10

Van driver says it is partially my fault because he judged where I would have been if I had kept going and if I hadn't stopped there wouldn't have been a collision.

thats bullshit, you can't drive on that assumption and that is being said by the driver to excuse their mistake and crashing

LaMaG · 09/05/2023 19:10

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 18:58

The question is who was on the wrong side of the road

Not really, he hit a stationary vehicle, the onus was on him to pass carefully.

Agree. A stationary vehicle cannot be responsible for an accident cos it is in someone's path. I'd think the van is 100% at fault. First step would be talk to the van driver and suss him out, see where his head is at re insurance. Then assuming the claim goes through his insurance you'll be the 3rd party so your insurers will have nothing to do with it. If they pay 100% that's great, if only 50% then you take the hit. Either way I can't see how your insurers need to get involved unless you get no where with the van and choose to go through them yourself.

LaMaG · 09/05/2023 19:14

Whichnumbers · 09/05/2023 19:10

Van driver says it is partially my fault because he judged where I would have been if I had kept going and if I hadn't stopped there wouldn't have been a collision.

thats bullshit, you can't drive on that assumption and that is being said by the driver to excuse their mistake and crashing

Also agree that's bullshit and wouldn't be acceptable by insurers.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 09/05/2023 19:14

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 19:05

There's a difference between stopping for a hazard and just deciding to stop for no apparent reason.

OP had a reason to stop. A van was coming towards her on a narrow bend where drivers usually pause and check no one is coming in the opposite direction. OP went because it was clear but the van turned out of his road and joined OP road. OP did the right thing by stopping actually and van driver cannot claim what would have happened had OP kept driving because she didn't. If you have a tight space to clear and other traffic is present the best thing to do is stop and put the onus on him to pass carefully.

OP did nothing wrong.

Whether OP had a reason to stop is down to her interpretation of the situation, though. She thought they couldn't pass safely, the van driver thought otherwise.

I mean, I regularly drive on narrow roads where cars stop unnecessarily for oncoming traffic - presumably because, like OP, they feel like it's safer to stop than risk a collision.

But often both cars have to keep moving in order to pass safely, otherwise you meet at the wrong "point" and hit each other.

Delatron · 09/05/2023 19:18

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 18:43

Actually you stopping puts the onus on him to pass safely.

Proving that's what happened is the problem.

This is true. It was his fault not yours.

piedbeauty · 09/05/2023 19:18

You had priority as you were already on the main road. If the road was that narrow he should have waited at the junction.

And he's driving a van so should be ultra careful as it's bigger than a car.

piedbeauty · 09/05/2023 19:19

Were either of you over the middle of the road, op?

plasticpens · 09/05/2023 19:22

@coffeecupsandwaxmelts

Whether OP had a reason to stop is down to her interpretation of the situation, though. She thought they couldn't pass safely, the van driver thought otherwise.

But he couldn't. So I'm not sure what you are trying to say. OP stopped. Even if OP didn't need to stop, he still hit her. He was in the wrong.

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