Accident Query

Adrian wrote in news:Xns96747FC366421adrianachapmanfreeis@204.153.244.170:

Of course not, and I was not blaming Paul for the incident. You have learned not to look away until the car ahead has cleared, and I hope Paul has learned not to go until it is clear in case somebody behind hasn't got brain in gear.

The message from "Paul" contains these words:

Ah - you want uk.rec.cars.modifications_incidental.

The message from "PC Paul" contains these words:

I've come close to doing it myself on occasion, and the wife's actually managed it twice. "Sorry, mate, thought you'd gone".

Had it happen to me three or four times though. Just one of those things.

Oh yes.

A couple of years ago I was involved in a nasty smack on a motorway roundabout, mainly caused by the confusion of there being no markings (resulting in both insurance companies agreeing to a fifty-fifty liability) however there could have easily been fatalities, but fortunately it only resulted in bent metal.

A good example of how a roundabout should be an laid out is at Portbury on the M5, where every lane is clearly marked, so as long as one stays the lane marked with their destination there is virtually zero chance of an accident.

On the other hand I've come across junctions and roundabouts where one stays religiously in a lane (labelled for instance M5 North) only then to find that it leads directly to busy junction, where you're then confronted with a situation of being one or even two lanes across from where you actually want to go!

Yes I agree with that. No problem. Cheers Paul

I certainly have. Cheers, Paul

yeah i've nearly done that before. Locked my wheels, stopped about a foot away. Not done in since! Put it down to learning I guess.

PC Paul wrote on 13/06/2005 :

Do what I do in such circumstances....

Keep your main attention on the car in front until he has gone, between which you can take glances to see what is happening on the main road you wish to enter. Make it into a habit and you will never be taken by surprise. Rather more seriously, you might one day find the car has driven off, but a pedestrian has decided to step out in front of you.

MrBitsy formulated on Monday :

As I read it, he started to pull out when the road was clear. Part way out a fast car appeared so he changed his mind and came to a stop. His choice was either to continue and risk the fast car hitting him, or stop. He did the right thing and stopped.

If?

When visibility is poor at a junction, all you can do is check that the bit you can see is free of vehicles. If you decide it is, then to some extent you have to take the risk and be ready to react if a fast moving vehicle comes into view. He did absolutely the right thing, he edged out whilst continueing to watch for other traffic.

Fit a towbar - it'll save the back end of your car unless you get hit fast or by something like a bus!

Darren

I'd just like to say, having been the person involved in this bump today, that reading all your replies has made me feel better.

Cheers everyone, Paul

MrBitsy presented the following explanation :

There will always be a grey area when attempting to pull out and distance visibility to see approaching vehicles is not adequate, where sometimes it is better to come to a stop than to risk continuing.

BTDTMTIC. (Been There, Done That, Made the Insurance Claim).

Been the victim and the muppet. Same roundabout. Same time of day.

Valuable learning experience. I'm not intending to repeat it any time soon. The annoying thing is that in 13 years, I always made sure the car in front was clear before moving up. That one bloody time, I looked right, road was clear, and went away.

Of course, in my defence, they'd just re-jigged the roundabout, turning it from 3 lanes to two. If you're one car back, you can still see the remains of the old give way line. Old habits die hard. That's the only reason I can think that I didn't look forwards. Well that, and not paying 100% attention to the road.

Pete.

The message from "Darren Jarvis" contains these words:

That's not necessarily true. In some situations it spreads damage to the boot floor which might have been confined to the bumper.

Sounds more like dogging instruction ;-)

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Conor saying something like:

We're all going to laugh like f*ck when it happens to you. If you have the balls to post it.

Yep, full agreement from me. I always look at the car in front as my primary obstacle until I see it is clear, then I concentrate on trafiic coming round from my right once my front is clear. I would hope the car behind does the same, but if not, well, I score a new rear end.

You're quite right that this could happen. In my experience it's never happened to me; once being hit by a Saab (me in a Rover 800), another time being hit by a Transit van (me in an E-reg Escort) - in both cases it practically wrote off the other vehicles though!!!

Darren

P.S

And yes, I did get Rover to inspect my 800 for floorpan damage - they said there wasn't any but they'd replace the towbar as a precaution.