Car park collision, who at fault?

[dolol]

Sister had a collision this morning and wants to know who will be deemed as at fault

Car A driving along the car park row in a straight line, likely slightly too fast

Car B has reversed parked in the space. Is about to drive off, having done all observations. Crawls forward slightly to check left and right as visibility obscured by big vehicle parked to the left.

Car B (bonnet only a few inches out of the bay) collides with Car A who was doing some speed. MPH limit in car park when checked retrospectively was 5mph

All occupants fine but damage to the side door of Car A
Car B has paintwork damage near the headlight which will need buffing out and probably a new lower splitter

YABU - Car A at fault

YANBU - Car B at fault

Or possibly 50/50 fault? If 50/50 fault who would pay the excess? Thanks so much :)

You pulled out onto a 70mph dual carriageway when you could clearly see vehicles approaching? You were 100% to blame, you can't just assume vehicles in one lane won't switch to the other, that's nuts.

The police and courts have disagreed in this instance.

Joining a multi lane road isn't the same as a normal road, you only have to make sure your lane is clear (or suitable gap) to go, and obviously care and attention to make sure no one is actively indicating to come over. How would you ever join a motorway for instance? You can't wait for the entire road to clear.

I actually waited for the inside lane to be completely clear. The fact that the other driver was speeding at 120mph plus and decided to swerve over to illegally undertake 'slower moving' (70mph traffic) while racing another puts the blame for the collision firmly at his door, it wouldn't have made us any less dead given the right circumstances, but there is nothing I could have done different.

But thank you for taking the time to give me your opinion.

You said it was a T junction so nothing like joining a motorway.

They couldn't have been stationary if they hit the other car on the side. If they were stationary but sticking out, the other car would have hit them on the front.

Same rules apply when joining a multi lane road from a sliproad or junction, except you need to allow extra room to build up speed.

Witnesses are very important. Either driver can say what they want and their perspective may be quite different. I witnessed a straight forward car knock and the driver of the car at fault still argued it right to point of court. I was asked to attend. It was cancelled on the day. I think they were testing if any witnesses would actually attend (I had already given witness statements which they had seen).

Some fight all the way even though at fault.

Car B

You think entering lane one of a dual carriageway doing a very slow speed with vehicles approaching in lane 2 at 70 is OK, and it's the same as a motorway slip road? Ok then.

I like how you presume to know what I think 😀 who said it was the same? I said the same rules apply, except in one you build up speed before you join and the other you build up speed after you join. You don’t have to wait for the whole road to be clear of cars, that’s not how they’re designed to be used.

t junctions on dual carriageways are in fact horrible, and I think stretches of roads that have them should be limited to 50mph, but I don’t design the roads or junctions.

Unfortunately there’s quite a few of them round here.

It's possibly worth noting that "dual carriageway" doesn't mean "2 lanes in each direction". There could be 1, 2, 3 or even more in each direction.