Had a car accident on the way to school

[Zaina89]

Was on the way to take my kids to school this morning, exited a roundabout 2nd exit with my left indicator on. I assumed my indicator had turned of because I had turned and I have played back the dash cam footage and can’t hear any indicator. Neither when I was driving could I hear the indicator hadn’t switched off.
was driving 40 on a 40 road. This was 1/2 minutes approx after putting my indicator and exiting round about.
next thing I know driving down this 40mph road a car on a give way on my left with his indicator on turns out in front of me, immediately as I see him turning I slam my brakes on and beep my horn. Because of my high speed you can hear on the dash cam footage the noise my brakes are making because I slammed down. He didn’t even attempt to move back and he hit into the left side of my car. The man wasn’t even getting out of his car he just reversed back. I got out of my car shouting “ what have you done?” “ why did you just do that?”
only then he got out of his car and even then didn’t check his car or mine and just stayed at his drivers door. When I kept asking him “ why did you do that?” He just remained calm, smiled weirdly and said “ you had your indicator on to turn left, I’ve got it all on camera”
my indicator wasn’t on when I immediately got out to check my car, he didn’t even bother to check for any damage on his car and didn’t bother to see mine.
I asked him for his phone number and details and that I would be going to drop my kids off at school because we are now late and they are in shock and upset and he refused and said “ it’s a company car, just take a picture of my reg” and got back in his car. He didn’t even move away from his drivers door, didn’t check the damage, didn’t make any pictures or videos of our cars or the damage. Refused to give me his name and phone number and just said take a picture of my reg and got back in his car and drove away like nothing happened.

im just in complete shock, my son was sat in the passengers side and im just getting a panic attack thinking if I wouldn’t have slammed the brakes as soon as I saw him doing what he did it would have been a bad accident. No one is hurt, my car isn’t badly damaged mostly just bad scratches.
I genuinely did not know my indicator was on ( if it even was!) I can hear when my indicator is on and I couldn’t hear anything even looking back at the dash cam footage you can’t hear the indicator just me and my children casually talking and then you can hear me beeping and slamming down on the brakes and then the collision. If my indicator was on, I’m not sure why it hadn’t turned off or made noise because I exited the roundabout a minute or 2 before the collision.

surely by my speed going 40mph and not slowing down or intending to turn he should have known I was not turning and shouldn’t have pulled out! Trying to remain calm but it’s just so strange he refused to give me his name and number and also very strange he didn’t seem concerned to atleast check his own car and any damage, didn’t even take any pictures or videos!

Doesn’t matter if OP was travelling 30/40/60.

It absolutely does matter if OP was breaking the law and speeding, and that WILL change the outcome of liability for insurance purposes if it can be proved she was speeding at the time of the accident, not only can she be party liability she could also be charged with a crime.

if your driving falls below the minimum standard expected of a competent and careful driver, you can be charged with careless driving

As it happens she wasn't, so it doesn't matter in this case.

Honestly past me would have just burst into tears and cried like a baby but I stood up for myself and asked him what he was doing and why did he do that. As you said my children were in the car and they were put at risk, this could have been so much worse and I feel I did have every right to be panicked and upset and even angry because my children could have been seriously hurt, I know I raised my voice a bit because I was in shock and panicked but I was by no means aggressive or violent!

this whole incident is putting me off driving now, honestly within the past week how many people I have seen pulling out with small gaps and dangerous driving is really scary especially when you know your driving with your children in the car. It doesn’t seem to matter how careful you are with driving these days there is always someone.

He was probably under the influence so wanted out of there.

You’ve reported to the police, and to your insurance, now you wait. I’m not sure what you are looking for?

I absolutely understand that. But he wouldn’t have known you weren’t going to harass him as, unfortunately, so many do in these situations so might have been the reason why, as it’s a company car and he therefore had no interest with potentially having to engage with you directly about it.

But that wasn’t the right thing for him to do either way, he shouldve just passed his info over, and you’re the one who’s undoubtedly been wronged here.

The advice from insurers @Zaina89 is always to say as little as possible at the scene to avoid unitnetionally accepting liability, so him saying nothing isn’t by itself suspicious. Also shouting at him doesn’t help, and you saying you weren’t being aggressive doesn’t get you anywhere as shouting is aggressive.

He should have given his details and that is an offence so report to the police, but frankly I would want to misnimise my contact with someone shouting at me especially if I was shaken up by a near miss accident. Especially stuff like why did you do that and what have you done as that’s pushing me to defend myself and take responsibility, which as above the advice is not to do. I would not have given you my phone number- someone hit me once, it was very frightening and a police and ambulance were called, when I tried to get her number the officer told me I was not entitled to have it.

Report and insurance , try to let it go

It doesn't even matter if it was left on, if you weren't slowing and turning then he shouldn't have pulled out.

You've got his reg, that's enough for your insurance company, they can do the rest. I regularly pull out on a road where people don't cancel their indicators after a roundabout, and I'm very used to this, but yes make sure your indicator was cancelled in future.

It’s almost impossible to prove, and it doesn’t change liability. You can’t just be pulling out on cars - speeding or otherwise - and putting in insurance claims.

It almost feels as if he seems to have got away with it if it a company car and refuses to hand his details over as his company will just deal with and he’ll continue driving the way he does. what I’ve always been told at accidents, you exchange name and details and he refused to do it.

I'm fairly cetain this is not true any more. You saying, on the spot, in a panic, "it's my fault" is NOT accepting liability in any meaningful way, although might add a tiny bit to the process of sorting it out I imagine. For example, if you are driving and something runs into the road and you slam on breaks and the guy behind you drives into you as a resullt, you might, in the moment, say, "I'm so sorry, a dog ran into the raod and I instincitvely slammed on breaks" But the rules are clear - the driver behind is responsible for ensuring there is sufficient space between them and the car in front that in the case of an emergency stop, they will not hit the car in front. So you can feel guilty all you like, ultimately, the person behind who has liability.

At the end of the day, it's usually fairly clear cut in that person x has right of way and person y doesn't. Most accidents are caused because people make mistakes, and that mistake is not mitigated for by the other driver.

Try not to worry, report to insurance. The exact thing happened to me and i was told that even if you were indicating, the person pulling out is always at fault.
Hope you and the kids are ok x

He prob "acted weirdly" because you were in a bit of a state and asking nonsensical questions. "Why did you do that?" I mean, it's highly unlikely he meant to do it...
In a similar situation, I was very lucky to have the calmest chap as the party at fault. I was very shaken - but not verbally aggressive like you seemed to be - and he made sure we swapped all the details etc.
You phone your insurer with the number plate and they take care of it.

Yes and that's completely unfair. But, you've done all you can for now. Let the insurance company deal with it.

I didn’t say not to report it. Normally on these types of threads you get the over the top nutcases posting this type of thing.

I wasn’t verbally aggressive! I was in a panic and he had just came out into the road and hit into me. Didn’t I have every right to ask him why he’d done it? As in why did you come in front of me? I wasn’t violent or aggressive or shouting aggressive things at him. That was the first thing that came out of my mouth in a stressful situation is asking him why he hit into me.

A 30 second google came up with this from an insurer https://www.rias.co.uk/news-and-guides/what-should-i-do-if-i-have-a-car-accident/
“Do not apologise or admit you were at fault” plus it’s bloody obvious, especially in the uk where we seem to apologise for things that are not our fault, but can get us in to hot water.

I agree that if you got into the detail a spur of the moment statement might be defeated after the event, but why start from a disadvantaged position of having to do so?

OP, ignore the people giving you a hard time for reacting emotionally in the moment. I was on the periphary of an accident with an eldery gentleman (who was at fault) and a school bus. The bus driver was, understandably, very upset and angry and was a bit aggressive in the first instance. The gentleman, who was very shocked and upset himself, said to me at one point, "I understand why he's upset - he's got a buss full of children".

If you ranted and ranged and tried to punch him and it went on for hours, sure, but in the moment, for a minute, no big deal.

He won’t have gotten away with it he just thinks he has because he’s likely viewed it as not his problem to deal with due to it being a work car. This means he won’t face an increased premium or loss of NCD on any personal vehicles he may have as he isn’t the policyholder, so the company absorb this which might explain the blasé attitude.

He potentially will, however, face consequences for not exchanging adequate details but as it isn’t a clear cut “hit and run” he may not. That will be police discretion it seems.

There is certainly primary liability on his part - the highway code is clear that you should never rely on indicators alone but wait to see the vehicle slow down/start to turn before pulling out. There may be an element of contributory negligence on your part as well if your indicator was still on, but I expect it will be less than 50%. Equally his footage may show that you weren't indicating anymore.

Try not to think about it. Just let your insurer know and give them your dashcam footage. If he has footage as well then they will have a good picture of what happened.

If any of you suffer any pain in the next day or so make sure you go to your GP. And if you continue to suffer pain, go back and ask for physio. The sooner issues are treated, the sooner they resolve.

He was also probably also quite shaken.
Verbally aggressive isn't the right term, but "why did you crash into me?" isnt really a question anyone can answer to your satisfaction. The obvious answer is, "I didn't mean to" or "I thought you had your indicator on" but never once did I say "why did you drive into the back of me?" because the only reason, always, is human error.
Give that answer to some people and they would explode.
The reality is that the insurance companies will deal with it.

My friend had this except she was the other person in your scenario. The insurance company found her at fault as she shouldnt have pulled out into traffic until the person (who was indicating in this situation but didnt realise) had started to turn in and you are not supposed to just trust someone indicating.

It doesn't sound like you're at fault, the other driver should have been driving defensively and paying attention. It sounds like he just pulled out without checking properly then then decided to try to blame you.

It's worth notifying the Police. Several years ago, a motorbike jumped a red light and went over DH's bonnet, damaging his car. We got out to check the biker was ok, he seemed fine and we started asking to exchange insurance details and he went quiet. I had a feeling he was going to do a runner, so took a photo of his registration. He sped off before leaving his details. He then failed to report the incident to the Police and ignored the summons to court, so ended up getting prosecuted for fleeing the scene of an accident. Very strange as apparently he had valid insurance!

Even if he was shaken, he didn’t give over his name, details and didn’t even take pictures or look at his own vehicles damage for whatever reason. he refused to give me his details and just told me to take a picture of his registration and he got in his car and left. He didn’t behave rightly either even if I did raise my voice. But I was by no means aggressive and he hit into me so I had every right to be upset!

Agree he was definitely (and legally) wrong not to swap details. It will officially be his fault anyway, even if you did have your indicator on.
Not sure the police will bother chasing him for not reporting, although it would be an easy nab for them. And they love an easy nab.