Car accident

[pinklite]

I had my first car accident today after 7 years of driving. I was driving straight through at a junction (my light was obviously on green) and another car that was turning right at the junction came speeding round, didn't stop and crashed into me. I swerved to try to avoid him but he was going so fast that I couldn't, so my passenger side took the brunt of it where my 3 month old was. Also had my 5 year old in the car. The other driver is also trying to claim I'm at fault so I think this is going to be difficult going forward.

Just absolutely terrifying and I can't get it out of my head. Not to mention I'm aching all over and feel terrible. Had the worst headache all day, probably due to the stress.

How do I get past this? I'm terrified to get into a car in case it happens again. I've been trying to sleep but I can't. I'm now also without a car and I won't be able to get a new one. I feel so gutted as my son has autism and car journeys are his favourite it's all just so sad and depressing. The only huge positive I can take is that we are all alive and not seriously injured.

Oh op. I had a similar thing happen to me, I was actually stopped and the person behind me didn’t stop. At 50mph. I was 8 weeks pregnant.
i was sore and had whiplash.
I had physio for the whiplash.
Honeslty I had flashbacks for ages.
it does get better
get out driving as soon as you can.
it does take a few months but it does get better xx

Similar happened to me around 18 months ago, DD 6 was in the car with me but thankfully away from the side that the lorry drove into.
The driver was very apologetic but he had to ring his manager who maintained that fault would be decided by the insurance companies.
My insurance company were really good that they made a direct payment to me withing 12 hours of the incident so I could replace the car seats. All they wanted was proof of purchase which I had in my emails when I'd bought the seats.
Try and focus on how quickly you reacted to try and limit the damage and injury to all of you, proving that you're a very good driver.

Hopefully your insurance will also arrange a courtesy car for you. I hope you're feeling a little better.

Did I miss the red light bit? If both people were coming from junctions straight opposite the driver driving straight over has right of way over the opposite turning right. They would have to cross ops path

There are some terrible drivers out there and the ones who drive too fast and take risks are the worst and most dangerous. Accidents like this do really shake you up, even more minor ones. The OD clearly was in the wrong. For me, I was nervous after a recent accident but needed to go to work etc, so I just took it extra carefully, on alert, still am. Xx

No they wouldn’t and it’s irrelevant that there were children in the car.

If you are aching as a result and have a headache, go and see your GP asap.
You may have whiplash - which can have long term economic consequences - and if it was not your fault, this may form part of your claim against the driver BUT you will need some kind of contemporaneous medical evidence. Go see your GP.

Of course I'm sure I'm not at fault! The other drivers said his light was also on green (which it could have been as there is no filter), but it is not a box junction and therefore he has to give way until I have passed through.

Not necessarily, depends on the junction signage and who it says has right of way