Had an accident, advice please.

[calyx]

Hi,

A twat turned into a driveway while I was overtaking him. He indicated, indicator blinked once and he turned the steering wheel. All this took 1 second. maybe less. I managed to slow down to 5mph before crashing into his bumper.
I was doing 15mph, he was doing 5.
Witness says it is 50/50. Car driver blames me.

I have 2 questions.

1) Can my pillion be a witness?
2) What was the name of that bike insurance claims company?

I almost forgot the most important part:

https://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1743/crasha.jpg
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Boris - London

[Cheeseybeaner]

[yuri2085]

I don't think stopping distance is relevant. If it was a safe overtake then it's not his fault. ie. overtake at reasonable speed, lane positioning etc.

In fact please think for a second, if it was about stopping distance then there is no such thing as a safe overtake, even on a motorway.
If someone cuts in front of you then you are no longer a safe distance away!!!

[chris-red]

It's gonna go 50/50 at best, your pillion doesn't count as a witness neither does anyone in the other guys car.


Depending on the damage I would try to avoid going through the insurance, speak to the other guy see if he will consider not going through the insurance to avoid both of you losing your no claims.
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[weasley]

I vote 50:50 too.

He should have taken reasonable care to make observations before making the manoeuvre. However you should have anticipated the possibility of the move. One assumes that he was driving at a speed that allowed the manoeuvre (ie, not 30 mph). You're in a residential road and overtaking - there is some onus on you to be alert to these possibilities.

[MarJay]

I think calling the guy a twat is a bit rich. I'd say 50 50 is exactly where the blame lies.

I'd hazard a guess that you could have avoided him with better obs.
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[colin1]

I was in a similar collision that I would have thought would be 50 50. I was more in the wrong than you but it went all in my favour, so I think you should be ok unless the driver lies about how long they had their indicator on.

In my case, they didnt turn into a driveway, but into a sideroad, so me filtering past I should have expected the possibility that someone might want to turn in there. In your case, the driveway is less obvious than a sideroad.

However what may have gone in my favour was, the driver had only just joined the main road, and was treating a staggered crossroads as if it were a crossroads. They had probably done the same several times a week for years without having someone come alongside them.

Bottom line is, even if they did indicate, they should have checked their wing mirror before turning. Hardly any car drivers do it, but it's their responsibility.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[MattJ]

As someone who has their car test on Monday, I can tell you that people are now taught to ALWAYS check their right wing mirror before turning right, specifically in case somebody is overtaking you (mainly bikes). He obviously didn't do that, so he did not check it was safe to do the manoeuvre. Hope that helps you, I do not think you were in the wrong. If you were overtaking unsafely then that means you should always have to join traffic again every time you approach a junction.

[calyx]

[Ingah]

[-LG-]

I would say its his fault, I was told when I was learning to drive to signal around 10 car lengths before I plan on turning (unless there is a road before it, then its as soon as possible with as much notice as possible).

[londonbill]

This road.
Is it two lanes going one way, or is it two way traffic ?

[iooi]

[L4Isoside]

When I was driving I was taught to check for blind spots when manoeuvring etc, but I don't think I was for turning? (Only mirrors)

To me it does sound like 50:50, even in my CBT I was taught never to overtake when there is a junction/side road etc to the right... this almost caught me out once

hope it doesn't go too badly but your probably better off settling it out side the insurance.

[SinceNow]

Try BLD they are helping me with my claim right now.

https://www.bldgroup.co.uk/

[G]

[calyx]

Red is me. Blue is the car.
Traffic was very heavy and they were doing 10ish. This guy was doing 10 as well. There was no oncoming traffic. (that's why he turned)
I overtook 3 cars before crashing into this car. I mean, I was there for a good 10 seconds.
It was dark. No rain, clean conditions.

https://img146.imageshack.us/img146/2430/crash2s.jpg
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Boris - London

[calyx]

[instigator]

Your fault.

You are responsible for looking after yourself, not anyone else.

Chalk it down to experience and move on.

[Hetzer]

Mirror, signal, maneouvre.

Not

No mirror, signalmaneouvre.

He's 100% at fault.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[willis1337]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Can you provide a picture that's zoomed out a bit more? It's hard to tell what the road layout leading up to and after that spot is. That looks more substantial than just a driveway, it looks like you've left one section with a traffic island and heading to another, and if you had already overtaken 3 cars, it looks like you were thinking more about passing even more cars than what the next one the list was doing.

Sure, people should signal clearly, and check their mirrors, but you're responsible for your own fate when on a bike, so 50:50.
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[L4Isoside]

[calyx]

There is an independent witness. She says it is half half. But her statement means more than what she thinks.
If she tells the truth I'll be fine. What concerns me is if she says "he indicated, biker overtook, bang". This kind of statement would cause me losing my ncb.

[G]

I'm presuming you don't commute through a busy town/city, then.
If I can't filter, I'll just take the car as that's the main advantage the bike has - that I get there three to four times quicker!