Minor car accident

[RogerS]

With whom on earth are you insured?
S

I'm with Saga but the lass was with Aviva. It is Aviva commercial claims with whom I'm ever so slightly gobsmacked by in terms of service.

 

[RogerS]

Roger I've done advanced driving and defensive driving - though the instructor didn't concur that defensive driving could include tactical ramming. What they teach you is to think about event horizons, on a clear straight motorway your event horizon is a long way in the distance hence you can travel at a much higher speed and still stop if something appears on your horizon.

When your horizon is shortened by hedges, buildings, corners, blind summits, you obviously have a much shorter time in which to react in case something appears on your horizon, hence you have to go slower. Wherever you are on the road you have to be sure that you can stop safely in the stretch visible to you. This is why you then position yourself on the road when approaching corners such that you stretch your horizon as far as you can, ie when you take a left hand bend you move close to the white line and don't move over until you can see the end of the corner.

You should be taught this when learning to drive, but probably aren't, common sense also suggests you should pick it up as you become a more experienced driver. I'll hold my hand up and say that I learned a lot from doing those courses

Mmm...that's kind of what I was trying to say and is what I was always taught. :wink:

 

[newt]

So, then it looks like you are you are ok if stationary :?

 

[Jake]

Not from my POV. It depends. If you park up for no reason in the middle of the road in the middle of the night and turn off your lights, the accident is going to be largely if not totally your fault.

If your clutch goes suddenly on an empty motorway and you could reasonably have coasted from the fast lane off onto the hard shoulder but didn't bother and just came to a halt in the fast lane and couldn't be pineappled to turn your hazards on, you are going to be in at least contributory fault.

As a rule of thumb, it might work,but issues of fault aren't black and white.

 

[RogerS]

......
As a rule of thumb, it might work,but issues of fault aren't black and white.

And it's how Jake earns his living ! :wink:

 

[Jake]

Long live the grey!

I was too categorical of course - I should have said issues of fault are often not black and white.

If you get blind drunk, take a spin around the supermarket car-park at 90 and smash into a parked car, the issue of fault is going to be pretty black and white.

 

[RogerS]

....
If you get blind drunk, take a spin around the supermarket car-park at 90 and smash into a parked car, the issue of fault is going to be pretty black and white.

Does that mean it's OK to do it when I'm 89? :wink:

 

[Jake]

You're OK for another couple of years at least.

 

[Steve Maskery]

=D> =D> =D> =D>

 

[newt]

Jake take your points, I suppose the only sure thing is you should not be done for a moving traffic offence if your stationary.