AIBU to think I have no liability here? (diagram attached)

[WiggyClawsThe2nd]

I think I'm fairly sure on this but can't stop panicking so I thought I'd ask on here.
Friday night I had a car accident. It was a real shock and it's only now that I've stopped to think about it that I'm feeling really really cross.
In the diagram I'm the blue line, the other driver is the green line. The thick lines show where we went, the thin lines indicate where you would have expected us to be going. Given that the lady tried to tell me she'd been going straight on when obviously she didn't makes me wonder if she had a mad moment!
Anyway, this particular roundabout leads onto a bridge over a dual carriageway. On the other side of this bridge you can go left onto a local road, or right to join the dual carriageway.
When we joined the roundabout, the other car was to my left. Neither of us indicated before joining the roundabout, however I did indicate left after I passed the 1st left exit as I was planning to go over the bridge and turn right to join the duel carriageway. As I was about to leave the roundabout the lady turned in front of me to head back round the roundabout and I hit her in the side of the car. Slow speed, maybe 15 mph.
It turns out that we have the same insurance company just to complicate matters.
I'm pretty sure that she is liable for this accident, what do you all think?

YABU: you are liable
YANBU: you are not liable

She was in the wrong. As you're the same insurance company they'll likely put it 50:50 as it's moot to them who's in the wrong.

I thought most roundabout incidents end up being 50:50. Unless you have some sort of proof like a dashcam.

Quite a bit of experience in claims here and I’d expect 50/50 here. You should have already moved into the left if you were turning (and indicating), and part of driving is constantly being aware of your surroundings, other cars, checking all mirrors etc- that’s why failure to check mirrors before indicating/moving can cause a driving test failure.

Where were you going at the second roundabout? If you were turning left, then you being in the right lane wasn’t the best choice.

But OP was going for the final exit, what is the right lane for in your scenario? Just for U turns? Do you think the left hand lane then just splits into two lanes on the exit instead of having two lanes coming on and then coming off?

To be certain we’d need a screenshot of google maps for the roundabout.

But I think having the same insurer might be helpful to you as it doesn’t matter to them if they settle 50:50 or if they find in favour of one of you so they might be willing to back down.

Without knowing the exact junction it's hard to say further. People often say things as fact, e.g. you can never turn right from the left land of a roundabout when road signage can allow that.

I sometimes do this roundabout and a lot of people try and use the right hand lane to go straight on when the right hand lane is for doing a full circle to get back to access a left hand turn lane only and is clearly indicated by signage.

I didn't just assume, I checked but as I turned left so she carried on round. There was no time to react as the lane she was in was the lane I was turning to cross. There was no indication she wasn't leaving the roundabout, in fact I could see her face looking down over the bridge as I turned, rather than round to the right as you would expect.
When I got out I was quite impressed at how quickly I'd reacted tbf. In order to not hit her at all I'd have had to come to a complete standstill on the roundabout. If she'd been even a second earlier crossing my path I would have avoided her.
I think what really makes me cross is we were one of multiple pairs of vehicles following the same route so it should have been really clear to her that she couldn't just carry on round in that lane. I suspect that she lost control of the car, because of what she said immediately afterwards.

For a two lane roundabout, its usually the responsibility of the right hand land driver to check the left hand lane is clear before crossing it.

She is in the wrong.

BUT arguably (I think according to the Highway Code these days), you should have been in her lane and she should have been in your lane.

Actually your both in the wrong so 50/50.

1st lane is for 1st exit and 12oclock straight ahead exit. For anything after 12oclock it’s right hand.

It's worrying how many people assume all roundabouts work like this

But weren't you aware of her as you drove onto the roundabout? She must have been on your left the whole way and whilst you would have been entirely reasonable to assume she was turning left or coming off at your exit, you would also be checking to make sure she definitely was?

agree you're both in the wrong lane for where you wanted to travel.

On approach to a roundabout, IF you will be exiting past "12 o'clock" (on a metaphorical clock) she should have been in the right hand lane when entering the roundabout, therefore she is in the wrong lane.

But you should have been in the left lane as you were taking the second exit (i.e. at "12 o'clock")

Make sense? 😉

You drove into the side of her so I can’t see how you’re not at least 50% to blame. She may have been in the wrong lane but that doesn’t mean you can just drive into the side of her car!

So long as there is nothing to say you can't go straight over in the right hand lane, you have done nothing wrong.

However, unless the other person admits she wanted the exit after yours, you are going to have a big job proving your part. You are also supposed to ensure the lane next to you is clear before exiting (though I am still on your side). The same thing happened to me on leaving a two-lane roundabout. It went 50/50 even though I wasn't to blame...roundabouts are notorious for 50/50.

I would have said having same insurances makes it quicker and easier to resolve, if anything. All you can do is tell the truth and hope for the best.

This is why you will nowspend £25 on a dash cam from Ebay so you can protect yourself in a scenario such as this.

In order to not hit her at all I'd have had to come to a complete standstill on the roundabout.

Your update isn't helping. So what if you had to stop? It is still your responsibility to be aware of whats happening around you. Hitting her caused you both and everyone else to stop anyway.

Not necessarily true though - this roundabout is effectively two exits only. It absolutely makes sense for people going straight on to go in the right hand lane, otherwise nobody would use the right unless they're doubling back on themselves

Former car claims handler here - although it's been many years. That's a 50/50 fault I'm afraid. Yes she was in the wrong lane but you didn't check your exit was clear.

2 more pictures for clarity....

This happened to us and insurance was in our favour

That is not correct. For going straight over where more than one lane exists, the highway code says that unless there are signs to say which lane to use, the driver should pick the "appropriate" lane. Without arrows and signs etc. the OP will have been entitled to use the right hand lane if she felt that was appropriate.

Along with my OH, I was witness to an identical accident several years ago and it was interesting while not being as clear cut as people may think.
Happened while we were in the West Country on holiday.

Two cars enter roundabout on duel carriageway. LH car indicates right and while keeping within the lane, crossed the path of the RH car which is going straight on. Done at speed, the damage was considerable.
OH & I were driving directly behind and could clearly see there was going to be a collision so we slowed (and a good job we did!).

Police were parked just up the road and were on the scene in minutes.
We explained what we saw, gave a statement and we're told we would more than likely be called as witnesses.

In the following months, we were interviewed (at home) by the two different insurance companies as it was actually proving very difficult to prove liability and the damage costs were considerable (both cars written off plus injuries).
It all hinged on the fact that the LH car, while in the wrong lane and crossing the path of the RH car, was clearly indicating right (as we confirmed in our statements) and therefore there was the argument that the RH car should have slowed instead of going across the roundabout parallel with the other car.

Eventually (more than a year later) we were pre-warned that we would be compelled to attend court (200-miles away) as we were key witnesses to the case. Expecting to have to make arrangements to take time off work and travel to the West Country we were later told that they had finally agreed liability and we would no-longer be required.

Never did find out the exact outcome.😖

Looks like you were both in the wrong lane? You really ought to have been in the left lane, and she was obviously totally wrong to not be in the right lane.

Hang on, you said she said she was going straight on. Did you hit her at a 90 degree angle or were you both trying to go head on and just drifted too close together?