You should have been looking what was infront and to the sides and had working brakes. If there is an obstruction you need to learn to anticipate what might happen. A child could have run infront of you for example. If you couldn't stop at 15mph and didn't notice another car you need to think about whether it's safe to continue driving. there was a program on about older drivers the other week. Terrifying some of them. The damage you describe isn't consistent with hitting another car in the side at 15mph.
I do, however one cannot expect vehicles to emerge from blind lanes diagonally across a bigger road - dog-leg crossroads - at a speed sufficient to cross more than half the carriageway in the time it took me to cover half a cars length.
If I made an error it was to swerve right rather than left although I don't think I could have missed him even then.
Yup, it would have taken them much longer to get far enough into the carriageway to be hit though.
I noticed him as he emerged from the side street less than a cars length ahead - he travelled ~3 car lengths in the time I did less than one.
In retrospect I shouldn't have let the police brush me off when I phoned them, the other driver was not exhibiting due care or attention.
He was older than me, but rushing to his next appointment seems more relevant.
It is, quite light if you add in the diagonal component of the other vehicles movement.
Just been to look at the damage more closely now that I'm not raging quite so much and there is a *considerable* sideways component which suggests I must have been near stationary when the diagonally travelling Cit Picasso hit.
No damage to inner wings or other structure that I can see, thank f*ck.
Fan seems OK, just the shroud flexed by the bumper but the O/S front wing has a crease and I'll be needing a new bonnet and kidneys. O/S headlight needs new lens at least too.
Which is why I almost managed to stop, in less than a car length.
If I'd realised quite how quickly he was going and how little braking he was going to do I might have swerved left to try and go behind him rather than right in a hopeful divergence.
As it is the scuffs show that there was a lot of left to right still going on as he came from far left to near right across the road.
Clearly you know bugger all about cars, then - or indeed accidents. I suggest you shut up. If he hit the car ahead of the b-pillar, btw, it is (from an insurance perspective) the other driver that should have been looking where he was going ;)
Did you get photographs by any chance? Works wonders when the insurance company tries "knock for knock" on you.
Richard (who is au fait enough with insurance that when a dithering old fart pulled out and sat in the lane (having done an emergency stop for a bus he'd failed to see), he cursed that he wasn't driving the Supra for a quick and painless way of disposing of it).
Indeed. No matter how minor the accident - get all the evidence you can - photos, CCTV, witnesses, whatever, because the insurance companies will try and screw you over, as I am now finding out. After trying to go 'knock for knock' and then getting an arsey letter from me with photos and a quote from the Highway code it looks like I might be going to the SC Court over my dented MR2!
lol would love to be a fly on the wall at the insurance co when the guys fones and they ask what kind of car did you hit :) um bmw by alpina :) lol i presume that bmw maindealer will be stocking all parts? or are there some alpina only parts involved(read uber expensive even worse than bmw main dealer)
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