My car was hit by a lorry. Who is at fault here?

[Trexraaa]

I approached a junction with a lorry waiting at it. I thought the lorry was going right due to its positioning on the road. I know they have to go wide but this guy was literally in the middle of the road. He wasn’t indicating. I’m going left so I pull up on the left side of the junction where I am now side by side with the lorry. I am stationary and checking left and right for a gap to go. The lorry then decides to go left and crashes into the side of my car. I must have been in his blind spot for him not to see us. That’s my car written off but at least we are all ok. Am I at fault?

You are at fault and I'd imagine the Haulier's insurance firm will argue as such as you were in the wrong place on the road i.e. you should have been behind the lorry as there are no filter lanes on the road you've shown in pic. You'll be very lucky if you get 50/50 split.

Hopefully you have fully comp insurance and prepare yourself for a premium increase on renewal.

You were in his blind spot. You need to give him space instead of coming up beside him. So you are at fault.

he should have indicated, fair enough if he was on the right side of the road and intending to turn left due to his lorry, but he should have been indicating.

You were at fault. Sorry op.

Ah ok. Single lane road was not obvious. The op
did not mention that at first. Yes agree. You are at fault op.

This is how cyclists get killed. Thankfully your car saved you.

Leave it up to the car insurers to decide who was at fault. If there were two lanes at the junction and the lorry was turning left. then he should have been positioned further left so that no vehicle would drive into that lane. If not and you were just sneaking into a gap at the edge of the road, then you may be at fault. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. It is much better to have lived to tell the tale. Worst case scenario is slightly more expensive car insurance.

I know the type of road you are talking about. One lane splits into two at the junction for turning left or right. Your mistake was in ignoring that the lorry was in the middle of the road. There is no way you could have predicted which way he was going to turn, especially when he wasn't indicating at all, therefore you should have held back and waited for him to move.

Yep you are at fault. Highway Code says to give large vehicles plenty of distance and to be aware that they may not be able to see you. His positioning was correct for size of vehicle. There could be a split liability if he wasn't indicating but lion's share would be on you.

I’m a truck driver. We aren’t perfect and obviously I didn’t see this incident. But all I will say is it’s a scary job. Not because I think I’m going to get hurt but because one split second mistake and I could kill someone. Even getting everything right we can’t control the rest of the traffic so please even you think we are knobs and think you are right ( and you might be, we are all human) don’t fight a truck to prove a point x

Was he indicating?

id say it’s your fault. You assumed he was going right. (Wrong) you then went under him (wrong) you went into his blind spot (wrong)

guarantee you’ll be found at fault.

Oh my gosh

then yes. You should never of gone up there…that’s a big fail

Yes you are at fault here OP. Expect a hike in premiums but at least you are safe.

You need to stay right back from lorries - the back could have hit you even if they had turned right. I would have hung back till they'd turned even if it was two separate lanes as they would likely need more than their lane. If you crash they will be ok high up in their cab in their big vehicle but you and your passengers could die. Even if you have the right of way drive defensively abd give them more room to do their turns wide. Same to an extent for coaches and buses.

If you were on the left and going left how come you didn't get out of the way first?

No you are not at fault. He is.

Check Highway Code rule 221, give space to HGV. Etc. you at fault

Ok. Didn’t realise it was only one lane at the junction. You shouldn’t have “snook in”

Snook? Snook in?
That’s not a word.

How?

Snuck in. OP wasn't playing snooker.

Yes it is.

Just admit it OP.

You saw a lorry ahead, thought you might be stuck behind him for ages until he had a big enough gap in traffic to move off at the junction so likely sped up alongside to undertake him despite saying yourself he wasn’t indicating so you weren’t even sure which way he was going to turn (which is probably not true and he was indicating right so you thought you could nip out left without having to wait for him to move off). If the lorry has an onboard computerised dash cam (which most do), they will be able to pick up the sound of the indicator quite clearly so you need to be careful what you say to the insurance.

You did this very dangerous manoeuvre with your child in the car. Absolutely disgusting IMO.

DH is a HGV driver and has to put up with idiots like you on the road multiple times a day. Idiots who put theirs and their children’s lives at risk just to get ahead of him to save themselves a few seconds. So many people hate lorries being on the road but are too thick to realise that they wouldn’t be able to buy food, fuel and most other goods from shops if they weren’t!

Its only recently that they have started being paid anywhere near their worth due to people not wanting to do the job because of how hard it is and the amount of abuse they get.

Be thankful you and your child are OK.

This is how so many idiot cyclists get killed - on the left side of a lorry at a junction.

Any experienced road user knows that a lorry has substantial blind spots due to the height of the cab and positioning of the driver.

This is 100% your fault.

And if you cycle and you are reading this NEVER put yourself in this position at a junction with a lorry. If you are anywhere near a lorry at a junction best advice is to pull back and wait behind.
Failing that get right in front of it and turn your head to make sure you have made eye contact with the driver.

I cycle a lot and it amazes me how reckless people can be with their own safety.

If you'd be on a bicycle @Trexraaa you'd probably be dead or in the hospital severely injured.

Nah, you don’t know me. You don’t know that we are less than a mile away from a dual carriageway and you don’t know that I absolutely dread overtaking anything that involves driving on the wrong side of the road. I have been known to pull in when driving behind tractors so the cars behind me can overtake because I hate it so much. I certainly wouldn’t overtake something to save afew minutes in time. I’ve seen cars take that junction how I described and assumed I could safely do so with the lorry. I haven’t been driving long and have learned the hard way but it certainly wasn’t done on purpose to save afew minutes or because I don’t like lorry drivers or something weird like that.

Someone asked how the lorry driver was and I am pleased to confirm he was absolutely fine. He wasn’t angry, just concerned for us then we exchanged details and he drove off. He took a photo of my license as its company policy or something and some photos of the damage. He offered to wait with us for DH but I told him we were fine.

To those of you who are interested I spoke to the insurance today and I expected them to say it was my fault but they are logging it as a dispute. Something to do with him hitting a stationary car, not indicating and not checking blind spots. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I told them everything as I remembered it, but also explained that my memory wasn’t great due to shock and that the company will have CCTV footage. At the end of the day I know I acted foolishly but it’s up to them to establish liability.

but also explained that my memory wasn’t great due to shock and that the company will have CCTV footage.

and your dashcam footage?