Saw a deliberate accident at Chatswood today. One idiot in a Toyota hatch hooting after a Mercedes near the mall. Immediately after that the Toyota overtook the Merc, changed lane and slammed brakes. The Merc hit from behind.
Can the Toyota not be booked for dangerous driving? Many traffic wardens saw it (present due to Vivid festival).
I used the term on purpose. The driver of Toyota did it on purpose. There was nothing I n front, he just slammed the breaks so that the Merc hits him. Probably he wanted to make sure that the Merc driver spends a bomb in his next premium, and he will just lose his rear bumper.
if no witnesses came forward, it'll be one word against the other. Usually, any collision like that will be the fault of the guy behind (failing to maintain an appropriate gap).
Dash cams are good for this type of problem.
After watching that psycho last night, I am seriously considering buying a dashcam
I think you mean a deliberate crash? I hope you'll do the right thing and report that you've seen it. And I don't just mean to Ozbargain. lol
EDIT Nevermind, it seems from rereading your post that he had plenty of witnesses.
If they're both insured they'd probably split the bill for contributory negligence. There are a gazillion cameras around there in Chatswood so if either driver wanted footage they could probably get it.
The outcome would depend on the finer details (proof of accident, proof of dangerous driving, witnesses, insurance details, willingness of drivers to waste time with the claim etc). In principle though contributory negligence is a thing precisely for these occasions.
I think you should give your details to the Merc driver and act as a witness if need be.
An independent witness is much more credible than anyone in either car.
In the current situation with no dashcams or any other witnesses, the Merc will be judged as being at fault because he hit from behind. It is a default judgement when it comes to rear-end accidents.
If there are witnesses that come forward and speak the truth about what they saw, then who's at fault can properly assessed.
I say that you should give up your details because if you were in the Merc driver's shoes, you'd appreciate someone doing the same for you.
The toyota will be held at fault, offer to be a witness for the mercedes.
Thanks folks, actually I saw it from far and at least 30 others did. But it was from behind both the cars (about 50m). Later I walked up to a couple of wardens near the spot and asked if they saw what happened. They said they did. And they were at the junction where it happened. So they could be better eyewitnesses. Hence I did not get into that.
'Deliberate accident' is a contradiction in terms, so it is not clear what you are trying to say. Are you suggesting that this was perhaps a contrived 'accident', orchestrated for the purpose of making an insurance claim?