Merging lanes - who is in the right?

[doobietoo]

You are correct about the insurance however......

 

If damage has been caused to another person or another person's property, you must stop and provide your full details to the injured party/the owner of the damaged property. You must supply your name and address and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle you were using, if it is not your vehicle.

 

If you don't then...

 

You could be prosecuted for failing to stop and failing to report, regardless of whether you are to blame for the accident. If the accident is wholly or partially your fault, you could also be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention or dangerous driving.

 

It is quite a draconian penalty all things considered...

 

Each offence can result in an instant driving ban, but in normal circumstances, you should expect a means tested fine up to £2,500 and between 5 and 10 penalty points. In extremely serious cases, punishment can include community service, a curfew order or a prison sentence.

 

Ouch...

[UltraWomble]

Buy something better than my cheap shitty eBay one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ILuuvNRdzs

 

Its like I drive around Moonbase Alpha

[Richard]

The one I posted up costs £41 I believe, if it doesn't fall off the back of a lorry.

[Taff]

what John F said.

 

Did I imagine it, or did his breath smell of booze, too?

[barefoot]

Just to chuck a quick Spaniard in the Worms, if you've only got 'a bit of a bent bumper' that may hammer straight.

You probably won't notice it on an LT vs notify it to insurance company and have to declare it for the next five years on every policy,

every car you drive and insure.

It's a difficult one but you could use the bumper as an excuse to run the first recorder pineappled LT.

 

Still fuck him up with the rozzers though.

[RobT]

TBH, if the Merc driver is your typical Londoner/South East dweller he probably lives his life in constant crisis mode and has moved on to the next argument.  It becomes habit for these sort to just mouth off, and they are always looking for aggro or someone else to blame for their own cockish behaviour.

 

Fortunately not all of us down here are like that, but every now and again I feel like flipping when faced with stuff like that.  A Falling Down moment so to speak!

[mat_the_cat]

Update time - I told my insurance company, who passed the claim on to a claims handling company. There followed much wasting of time, repeating to the claims company all the same facts which I told the insurance company. Eventually to be told (yesterday) that an engineer has assessed the Merc and deemed the damage to be old damage, and therefore not consistent with the accident. The Merc driver is claiming never to have been involved at all, and claiming I've made the whole thing up! So they will close the case unless I can prove otherwise

 

So far I've given them:

1) the car, driver and passenger details

2) a description of the damage to the Merc

3) the height of the bumper to prove the car damage is at the same height

4) a statement from both of us saying the accident did happen

5) the suggestion to contact the Dartford Crossing company to check the cameras, which would prove at least we were on the same stretch of road at the same time.

 

Like I said before, I'd have initially have probably just been happy with an apology and handshake, but now he has completely lied to say he wasn't involved it's made me pretty angry! Is there any other avenue to pursue, without conclusive proof?

[RichardK]

Personally, I'd let it go at this stage, unless you have injuries that should be claimed for then a £100 bumper is not worth the hassle - if they're closing the case with no claim/accident recorded against you because the other driver claims it didn't happen - awesome. That's your premium unfucked for years to come.

 

But as a quick tip (I've had a few dashcams on review, but they're higher end models - Nextbase 512G in last week's CCW is really good, with a circular polariser to reduce glare and make reflective numberplates easier to see) - never let an incident go without using the smart/camera phone almost everyone in the world has these days to record some details. Things like iPhone and Android usually record GPS location as well. Failing that, carry a disposable camera in the glovebox. I used to carry a disposable film camera with high ISO film, a couple of sealed energy bars, two cans of that instant-heat coffee with sugar alongside the usual things.

 

Argos and the like sell cheap digital cameras, many of which take AA batteries so a sealed pair can be kept alongside. Years ago I managed to get rid of a malicious civil claim due to photographs and data recorded at the scene (measured skid marks, photographs of location, cars, car condition, tyre condition, etc.) after a driver's insurance told him to get stuffed; as such, I won't drive without a camera. These days the iPhone does so much more than I could do with my photo bag in 1994!

[mat_the_cat]

Annoyingly, I had a dashcam on the dashboard but not plugged in

 

And I would have taken a photo, had the other driver not been so aggressive and adamant it was my fault...never did I imagine he'd claim it never happened at all! I expected him to try and claim against me, and the only issue proving I didn't swerve into him - not proving he was there in the first place! NEVER again will I not get evidence, but it's the first time in 20 years of driving I've actually had a prang. It's all a learning curve I guess.

 

Sensible head says let it go, but part of me is still pissed off...

[RichardK]

You know the bit where you go M25 to M1, the three lanes merge in, some with solid lines?

 

Was driving a van up there, and watched a car (I am going to say black Golf) get swerved into by someone trying to cross the solid lines. I forget the other car, my brain says grey BMW 1-series but I don't trust it. The mirror for the non-fault car was smashed off and bounced so high it hit the van windscreen even though I was four car lengths behind at 50mph. Naturally I stopped and they stopped. The woman driving the Golf was wearing a headscarf and looked absolutely terrified, the driver of the other car was screaming and shouting at her claiming she'd swerved into him. He was aggressive with me right up to the point that I got the phone out, walked right past him, and asked the driver of the Golf if she was okay. Then I made him come and inspect the van windscreen for cracks. The moment I had the threat of a camera on him, his attitude entirely changed.

 

AFAIK the woman didn't pursue the claim - the guy started trying to offer her money saying £50 would fix it (funny how these things come back to you) and looked online and showed her that a complete replacement mirror - without paintwork - was almost £350. At that point the male passenger in the black car got out, and I left them to their haggling.

 

It's hard in an accident situation. As a decent human being your default position must always be to question how you might have avoided it - or worse, caused it - but you must always be prepared for the other person to be an absolute shit, ready to lie, deny and exaggerate to mitigate loss or maximise gain. Facts are all you have to argue this shit, ultimately :/