Rear ended someone and im so worried and scared

[missymoomel]

I was driving down a country lane one that I have been driving everyday since last year, the road is 60 I was doing about 50, the csr infront of me stopped suddenly because the car infront of him stopped suddenly and as soon as I saw his break lights I pushed my foot so hard on the break but the car didn't slow down in time and I hit the back of the car very hard, my car is damaged and will be a write off, there was a lady passanger in the back of the car and she was injured she hurt her neck and couldn't move it properly, the ambulance and police came, did a breathalyser which was 0, took my details ans said they would be in touch if they needed anything else.But im feeling so guilty for the women they took her to hospital to be assessed she got out of thr car with help ans they put her in the ambulance with a red box thing round her head, I cant sleep properly or eat much and I just keep replying over and over in my mind , im so worried about her ans I dont even know how she is, and I dont know what's going to happen to me with the police, and im also scared to drive again

Hopefully i will be in think im just a bit traumatised

@missymoomel OP, mistakes happen and car accidents happen. Driving by its very nature has a level of risk, and drivers have to accept that risk.

I think you are a good, caring person as you are worried about the woman in the other car. I also hope she is OK.

Bear in mind that there are A LOT of bad people in this country who would get into an accident like this and genuinely would not care about the other person. You are not like those people.

Yes toy are right there are people in this world that erratic ans cause accidents because they want, drunk or on drugs.I dont care about my car or the fact I have to get another my main concern is the women ans hope shes alright bless her

Nothing will happen to you.
Your insurers will want an account of the incident from you. They will then liaise with the third party insurers and solicitors representing the tp for injury. They will handle any recovery and storage charges.
Your insurers will pay for vehicle damage, credit hire, storage / recovery fees, and injury. You will not be billed directly for the ambulance fees. Insurers send a Cru certificate off to the NHS to understand if there was a hospital stay and use of an ambulance.

On the proviso that you have comprehensive cover and your indemnity is in order (correct addresses, nothing misrepresented), then all you’ll need to pay is your excess.

induced accidents (slam ons) are rife. If you feel the two vehicles could have been working in tandem or the first vehicle tried to cause an incident, mention this to your insurer. There are mechanisms in place where we can check hotspots, previous incidents, financial distress etc.

not ideal, but this happens every day and insurers are here to sort the aftermath.

take care!

To give you some reassurance, a few years ago someone went straight into the said of my car pulling out of a side road with out looking.
It was a bit scary, the car was written off and I had whiplash.

But not for one minute did I hate the driver.
They were very upset at the scene, and immediately said it was thier fault.
She isn't a bad person, she didn't do this deliberately or even wreckelessly. Just had a momentary lapse.
Not great but it happens.
Try not to beat yourself up anymore.

Yeah i know I have told my insurance everything, I just need to wait now and see what the police writes to me.ans says bait rh insident

Thankyou, im just not feeling myself at the moment but Its only been a few days so in time I hope I will be okay,

You didn’t do this on purpose, pls don’t beat yourself up. I know it’s always the person who is behind at fault but if they braked hard, that’s a factor. We all make mistakes! And she’s ok

Unless one is under the influence or doing something outrageous, they will generally defer to insurers in order that the matter can be dealt with via civil means as opposed to criminal :)

Yeah i know we all make mistakes the important thing is that we learn from them and be careful going forward, yeah I hope shes okay

Arrange a couple of refresher driving lessons.

Be aware of all the factors that affect stopping distance. One that a lot of people don't take seriously enough is tiredness: it has a dramatic effect on reaction times.

You are lucky the consequences weren't any worse. Feeling bad now is pointless, the constructive thing to do is acknowledge your error and do something to improve your driving skills.

Yeah i know well I wasent under the influence or doing it on purpose , I hope the women is recovering well

Yeah i know i wasent under the influence or doing it on purpose , just hope the women is recovering well

You seem to be a bit unsure as to how hard you actually braked / if the brakes fully worked. maybe it's the after effect of the stress ?

you've gone on to say it was a 2008 car, and automatic. That's 18 years old.

So obiv it gets a MOT every year ( a legal requirement ) and do you have it serviced at the same time too ?
When was the last MOT, what work did it need to pass or did it pass right away ? and are there any ' advisories '

Surely the garage would have told you if there were any problems with the suspension when it was serviced.
And I expect the garage that replaced the tyres in April would have told you if the car needed the traction doing as a result ?

Its covered by your car insurance.

Yes your right but I csn still feel bad for the women.And yes maybe some refresher courses are needed

Yes I have it serviced the same time as the mot, there is always advisories on the mot but nothing major obviously, no the car failed everhtime but they told me it was just general wear and tear and that the csr is in good condition apart from that.They didnt mention anything about the suspension to me.Th car had the mot in april

You need to forgive yourself, it was an accident. The lady will likely be fine, and will claim for whiplash. Your insurance company will deal with it all and your premiums may rise. You’ll be asked what happened but you won’t be in any kind of trouble, at the end of the day, that’s what we have insurance for. It’s completely normal to relive it for a while but the feeling should ease. It’ll make you a more careful driver too, when you’ve been in a collision it makes you more aware. But honestly, please forgive yourself.

OP I know you feel bad but please stop being so hard on yourself. I know everyone is different, but when someone crashed into the back of my car I was very shocked and upset but I didn't feel any animosity towards the driver AT ALL - he didn't do it on purpose! My ex DH was driving at the time (I was in the passenger seat) and had to stop suddenly because the car in front of us suddenly stopped. We managed to stop in time but the driver behind us didn't. It was just one of those things. My car was written off but nobody was hurt and our insurers dealt with it.
I'm sure the woman you're worried about will be absolutely fine, she's probably just a bit shaken. You WILL get over this and you have every right to! I understand you feel terrible but it's really not as bad as you think.

Yeah i know i need to try and forgive myself its jusy hard but im going to have too as i csnt carry on like this can i

Oh so sort of similar situation then, yeah its hard but I have to try and move on in some.sort of way

Yeah i know, of only we could rewind time aye

Oh so sort of similar situation then, yeah i know i will have to try and move on at some point

I really feel for you. Firstly, most of the people here commenting that you must have been too close will have themselves been too close to a car in front of them at some point in their lives. It's something almost every driver does, however infrequently, and it's just bad luck that you got caught out in a situation like this. Secondly, that you feel so guilty and sick about it is genuinely the measure of a decent person in my book.

I would really recommend following up with the police. Could you get your husband to call when he's not working? Or if you can bring yourself to do it just remember that the person on the other end of the line won't be judging you one bit, they will have no personal connection to the case and they deal with hundreds of enquiries every day.

It's also worth remembering that, whoever was at 'fault', you've also been through trauma. You really need to try to be kind to yourself. Write down a few things you'd say to a friend who ended up in this position and read those things back to yourself. And please try not to take negative comments on here to heart, a lot of people love to use the internet as an anger outlet and it's not personal.

Best of luck x

Realistically we all drove too close and under the stopping distance. Walmart country lanes where you can’t see round the corner, you do t creep round at 10mph and no one on the motorway keeps those two chevrons apart. Which is shit but all those saying you didn’t leave enough stopping distance do the same.

Yoi sound like a lovely person and you can always ask the family member or police how she is .
you will be in shock too so take care of yourself