Hi, had a minor collision.
Operator of other vehicle feel they are not at fault. I disagree. Comprehensively insured, but don’t want to lodge it with insurance. Got the call Friday from his insurance as he never took rego details. Calling them tomorrow to book in for an assessment of the vehicle.
Based on the video, let me hear your thoughts on the driving in the video, music choice and even vehicle choice.
Cheers
I get what you are saying and jv is copping a lot of flake for saying the OP contributed and all but if you think back to the last time you drove in heavy traffic… we all rely on a little driving etiquette from others, otherwise, no will will ever be able to change lanes in traffic!
What i cant get past is how the OP did not see that slow motion lane change…
The jv thing was kind of a joke, but he does have a history of making things up, and claiming they are laws. The issue isn't saying he partially contributed, he did. The issue is:
"Also, there is no way this would go in your favour if taken to court.
You failed to give way to a vehicle in the right lane, that was in front of you and indicating…"
First of all this would never go to court, but if it did, there is no requirement to give way to a car because it is indicating or because it is slightly in front of you. That rule only applies to unmarked lane merges, not lane changes. When changing lanes you must give way to all traffic.
As for not seeing the car, agreed. It was likely due to disregarding it as it kept its indicator on from the previous lane change, as well as not paying close enough attention.
When it comes to etiquette, it works both ways. I generally let people in, but when I change lanes, I pick a spot and speed up or slow down as appropriate to get into it. I also don't pick the last moment to cross multiple lanes of traffic to try and get to my exit.
Dash cam is in front of OP and has no car frame blocking the view. Likely from his position the begining of the lane change was not visible.
Blue car fault but poor reflex on your side.
Be a defensive driver 💪🏿
Lane changer at fault.
How much damage? Go get a price from a panel beater to fix it. If not too much claim from their policy - but will require your own legwork. If expensive, use yours.
Not much damage on my car. Old car with steel bumpers. Just a small scrape on the plastic bumper end on the side of my car.
Never got out to see the damage on his car. He insisted in exchanging details then and there and I didn’t think we were in a safe enough spot for me to get out of the car.
Do you want it fixed? As it’s his fault you could get a quote or two and submit the prices to his insurance claim and collect cash then do a budget repair.
To be honest I don’t know if taking it into repairs is worth the hassle. I was going to see if they will pay for a new end piece and I could fit it myself.
Called dealer today. It’s a 35 year old car so was surprised when I found out that Toyota still make the piece.
Just because you are indicating, does not mean you can change lanes. The onus is on the person changing lanes to make sure there is enough room to perform the lane change.
You should have just let them in
I can assure everyone that if you were driving, in a driving test, and were taking the action that the blue hatch was taking in the video, the assessor would intervene meaning an instant fail. You can't just put your indicator on and change lanes - you have to do so by giving way and only moving when safe which the blue hatch didn't do.
Surprised the dash cam driver didn't stop in time but it doesn't make him at fault.
This is clearly your fault. The person indicated, there was safe room to change lanes but then you accelerated like a moron to stop them being able to change lanes in front of you. You caused this accident and should be liable for the damage.
This is clearly your fault.
Then you need to go to specsavers
The person indicated
Indicating doesn't give the driver an implied right to then just change lanes.
there was safe room to change lanes
But they collided, showing that there was "insufficient space" when the blue car moved
but then you accelerated like a moron to stop them being able to change lanes in front of you.
Must be watching a different video to the one I watched
You caused this accident and should be liable for the damage.
No, the blue car "caused" this accident by changing lanes against Road Rule 148, where the blue car driver is required to give way to vehicles already traveling in the lane they wish to move to.
You and JV both need to go and sit in the corner and restudy your road rules manual.
I hope (Jveee and) dogb0y's taking the piss - if not, lord help us.
It's the typical case where an older driver would've just given way to the drongo to avoid the hassle but a younger person wouldn't have… but you were in your right and he was an idiot, as was shown by his total disregards to safety just stopping right there and walking around the vehicles. A young unsuspecting driver with eyes on a screen or fiddling with radio controls could run into you and kill the idiot taking photos and cause another accident. Now you will drive around with a dent for two months.
and walking around the vehicles.
And spent considerable time in between the two cars. If OP was rear ended this guy was toast. What an absolute muppet.
It's the typical case where an observant driver would've just given way to the drongo to avoid the hassle but a distracted driver wouldn't have
FTFY. It’s not about age, but situational awareness.
Lane changer at fault, but fair dinkum, OP did nothing to prevent the accident and if anything appeared to speed up just at the point when old mate would have commenced the actual change, and as a gap was opening up that would allow the safe change. The indicator for the change was on for an extended period of time so looks like OP was attempting to block the change.
That said if the two parties can't agree on who is at fault, it will be a third party to make the decision. Given you both have the same insurer, that sounds like a no brainer to me as either way they will be paying and just determining who cops the excess.
Yeah OP is arrogant and uncompromising. It’s not going to seem fair to him. He is a legend in his own mind. Learn how to get along with others champ. Learn how to give an inch. Yeah the blue car driver probably got his license from the bottom of a corn flakes box. Just leave a safe gap and let the bloke change lanes. You all drive up cost of insurance with this crap.
Legally it's their fault. Saying that you did not allow them to change lanes and deliberately speed up to cut them off and stop them changing lanes after they had indicated they wanted to change lanes for a while.
OP is not a courteous driver.
What's the horn on your car for?
Most people think it’s for making ‘angry noises’ when someone does the wrong thing.
Other driver was idiot but OP was not driving defensively and could have easily avoided collision … I have had people cutting across me like that many times when driving on that piece of road and other freeways.. you just assume they are idiots and have not seen you and drive accordingly (Slow down, use horn etc) .
I would guess the insurance company will share the fault as both are to blame …
There is what looks like 1.5 car lengths (distance) between the white car and the blue hatch. May not sound like much, though it also has to be considered that the low speed (35 km/h?) allows for more reaction time (despite the relatively short distance).
There are approx 4 indicator light flashes from the hatch, or about 3 seconds (according to the video) from the point the hatch starts the lane change, to the point of impact.
3 seconds is a relatively long time (human reaction time is roughly 0.2 seconds), for the white car not to react (for whatever reason).
Regardless of who is in the right/wrong, I'm glad no one was hurt and thankfully you were both able to drive away from this one.
Its clearly the other party's fault for not giving way whilst merging.
Like others have said this was so avoidable now its a giant waste of time and resources and premiums go up.
OP…I would not be calling the other guy a F$%#ing Idiot.
Sorry, the ducking idiot bit was me getting frustrated that I was stopped in the middle of the road and scanning the traffic behind me to see if I would get rear ended.
I was quite annoyed that he stopped so rapidly that I didn’t even have room to get around him, unless I reversed. Otherwise I would have driven on until I had found a safer place to stop.
who ever drives that car is rude and needs to get some manners, they should have been let in. might not be there fault technically, but id be paying for being rude
but id be paying for being rude
No you wouldn’t. No one would.
I would if I know if ive been a dick i would pay it. that person had 5-10 seconds blinker time to let that person in.
they clearly needed to exit on Margaret street and needed to move over.
Funnily enough no, after we finished he stayed in the left lane for a while and then jammed himself back to the right lane just before it ran out to get on the inner city bypass exit.
Looks like it happened after the Elizabeth St exit, which is the last exit on the left side of the Riverside Expressway until the Go Between Bridge.
@ol mate: Correct. He stayed in the left lane to avoid the que for the inner city bypass. He drove to the front of it then slowed down his lane so he could merge into the turn off
While i think you could have assisted in a better outcome, simple fact is the other driver merged without ensuring it was clear and safe to do so.
While the footage shows everything, it's still different in real life and the footage can't show that.
But i do not think you are % at fault in any way
They are legally liable.
But he seems to be slowing down as he changes lanes, OR you were speeding up. There seemed to be room for him otherwise.
I was always taught to drive defensively. Watch everyone around you and prepare for the worst. I would have been watching him like a hawk.
And now you have the hassle of repairs etc.
Hey Chad OP you are clearly at fault mate. Micra driver was indicating and slowed down to turn left, he saw a gap enough started turning, and you sped up after and hit his car.
But please keep us posted who ended up being at fault.
“A Chad, in modern internet slang, is generally a sexually active "alpha male". The term has become a slang term across the internet and among adolescents in general to refer to particularly attractive or confident men.”
Sorry, but what?
Chad is more applied to those that think they're falsely attractive or confident. You running your mouth on the other driver and confidently saying you're not at fault is why you're an internet Chad. And you're at fault for not giving way.
And you're at fault for not giving way.
Lol. You need to sit in the corner with all the other dunce cap wearing ding bats and re-read your road rules.
Blue car has to give way when moving from one marked lane to another.
Please return your licence to the cereal box you got it from.
Blue car at fault and you could have been more aware.
But as you both have same insurer, the insurer may say OP at fault saying OP should have let them in. What can OP do if the insurer goes with this?
Insurers will have an internal dispute process, then there's the ACFA if the OP is still not satisfied.
Given how fault is somewhat clear cut (see ozbargainoid's comment below), I don't see an insurer letting it get to the ACFA stage because they have to pay for each dispute that gets there.
Then after that, they can withdraw the claim and sue the other driver (who are likely to be represented by the insurer's lawyer, if it even gets the lawyer doesn't tell the insurer to settle beforehand)
I am truely impressed with the amount of ignorance of road rules.
OP is still in his lane..blue car changes lanes…blue car at fault. (blinker does not give you right of way) If unsure, go read the driving manual.
Qld road rules don't include anything regarding 'attitude'.
OP should make a claim on insurance with blue car at fault.
Problem solved.
No one commenting how the driver of the blue car callously steps out without checking that the OP is okay, and starts taking photos? Poor driving is bad enough, but that kind of attitude just pisses me off
I suspect that the 30 seconds he spent in the car prior to exiting he was watching op in his rear view mirror wave his arms and other passive agrresive body language. He knew he was fine.
I forgot about arm waving. That would have been very useful. Was too busy trying to retrieve my phone from the passenger side footwell so I could turn the music off.
Your radio doesn't have a volume knob?
@Muzeeb: It's an old car, does not have a radio. Portable JBL speaker that sits in the passenger footwell.
I dont get the reasoning behind most of the comments. The OP was in lane, the other car came into his lane and hit him. Indicating does not mean you have the right to pull across. Indicating in this example is like asking a polite question, can I please come into your lane. It does not mean, I am coming into your lane please make room.
If OP wasn’t distracted and a decent human being, this thread would not exist.
FFS. If the blue car didn't merge into the OP's car, this thread would not exist. End of story. Why do you have to make defamatory comments about the OP? It's victim blaming.
Extreme comparison: You don't go saying to a rape victim they shouldn't have worn that or shouldn't have been there in the first place do you?
The driver of the blue car indicated for a good 8 seconds at a minimum before merging.
You were either distracted or you're just incredibly pig headed that you chose to NOT avoid the collision so therefore you are at least partially at fault.
Your music sucks also.
Do you happen to own a blue micra that has some fresh damage on its side?
I understand your pain, car reviews for the micra explain some of the anger.
Which song sucked? The first or last? Or both?
No, I don't own a blue Micra. I'm also not from the same state as you.
I only heard the first song, I skipped through the rest of the video after the collision. That sounded like trash.
You skipped through the rest of the video after the collision. Noooo, why?
That’s like judging “A Serbian Film” by the first 15 minutes.
It gets much worse.
It doesn't matter how long he was indicating for, does not give right to merge.
I never said it did, I merely said the dashcam driver is also partially at fault. Please re-read my post.
The other guy needs to learn to give way. He can't drive properly..
Stupid games, stupid prizes. OP pwnd himself. Also, it's great when two aggressive low IQ drivers only crash into each other.
pwnd joke. Well done. I thought it would have come much earlier, and from somebody who doesn't include crayons on their MyFitnessPal diet. Thank you for contributing.
There are some victim blaming comments in here.
Mental notes taken:
1) Indicating for a lane change for 4 seconds (regardless of what is going on in the lane I want to change into) is sufficient time to switch the onus of give way from me to drivers in the lane that I am moving into.
2) 1.5 car lengths is ample space to merge into.
3) If it all goes to $#!t, at least the person I bump into who bumps into me is partially responsible, because they were not being courteous. Not being courteous trumps road rules.
Agree with you wholeheartedly. Courtesy trumps law.
Took your advice and earlier today when I gave a toddler an early Easter egg. Little turd did not say thank you. Punched that little sucker in the throat to teach them that courtesy trumps law.
Like others have said. His fault, but you’re both bad drivers. You clearly weren’t going to let him in, could have been easily avoided.
Music is worse than your driving skills though.
This actually won't go as well for the cammer as they think. Just because you had right of way doesn't mean you're going to be held 0% fault. The test for the insurance companies is going to rely upon what is reasonably foreseeable. Based on that video, I can see how a reasonable person would have seen that collision coming and not accelerated into it as you did.
You're going to be held at least 25% at fault for this, if not higher. As you should be, because you were either not paying attention or you did that on purpose to make a point. That car was indicating for the entire duration it's in frame, so you should really have assumed there was a solid chance they were trying to come over and just made room for them.
So, is the OP going to be paying excess? I don't think so.
Depends on their policy and what the insurance companies of both parties assess the fault at. The blue car's insurance will definitely push for 50% fault because of how obvious the accident was and how OP did nothing to prevent it.
OP is definitely guilty of driving with undue care, so not faultless even from a legal perspective. Despite having right of way, you are required by law in QLD (where this video was taken, the Riverside Expressway in Brisbane City) "any person who drives a motor vehicle on a road or elsewhere without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or place is guilty of an offence".
The OP had right of way, that much is true. What people don't seem to understand is that having right of way does not give you the legal right to see an accident coming and then just let it happen because you were 'in the right'. You are required by law to avoid a foreseeable accident, and OP didn't.
And I mean look at the footage, HOW did he not avoid it? He either was not paying attention to the road or he let it happen on purpose. It happens virtually in slow motion it's so obvious.
For somebody stating what's required by law, I find it interesting that you talk about right of way. In QLD, where this video is taken, right of way refers to the Department of Transport and Main Roads obligation to acquire, affect interests or apply access limitation over a property for transportation purposes.
I am not employed by the Department of Transport and have no interest in the other drivers property.
@pwnd: Right of way is a genuinely understood term. I don't understand what you're attempting to imply, that I need to use 100% legal vernacular and can't rely on colloquialism? I dunno, you tell me.
Contributory negligence is a thing, and it's going to hold the OP partially responsible because any reasonable person could see this coming. The blue car is 1/3 in the lane before the impact.
Neg me all day. I'm just trying to impart some experience with insurance companies and how they attribute fault.
@sir-screwball: Right of way is generally understood, but plenty of people take it too literally. It’s time everybody learned that ‘give way’ is the only thing in the road rules. ‘Right of way’ is never referred to because it implies that you carry on with impunity rather than at some point having a responsibility to avoid a crash even if the other party fails to give way.
Call it woke, call it political correctness gone silly if you want but drivers (not roads or cars) are dangerous and we need to change our thinking.
Edit: Adding to that we should also remove the phrasing for ‘accident’ and replace with crash and stop saying ‘the car veered off the road’ and continue using ‘the driver veered off the road’
@Euphemistic: I see, I think that my use of vernacular notwithstanding, the your point and mine are basically the same. My contention is that the driver failed to apply due care, made no concerted effort to avoid the accident and as a result will collect more of the blame than they think they will. This crash happened because the both drivers were too careless to avoid it and as such, the blame will be heaped upon them equally.
Obviously I could be wrong, stranger things have happened. OP may get lucky and the blue car's assessor may fold too soon but in earnest I can't see how he's going to escape 50% responsibility.
@sir-screwball: I still think the blue cars is at 100% fault. The blue car changed lanes without ensuring the OP was out of the way. True, the OP appears to be a bit belligerent and not let them in, but ultimately it’s up to the blue car to change lanes safely.
If you are changing lanes on heavy traffic you cannot rely on others to ‘let you in’ because a lot of the time they are distracted and do not notice indicators and only react when a car is going to collide.
In addition to that, there’s been plenty of times where I’ve allowed a bit of extra gap to let a car change lanes on front of me but they’ve not taken the opportunity so they ‘miss out’ and need to wait for another gap. If, in attempting to drive courteously, I’ve left a gap you don’t take, I’m not going to stop and further disrupt other traffic to let you in.
Just give it to insurance to deal with
Yeah, dealing with them now. Other driver has claimed I ran into the back of their car after they had completed lane merge. Has not provided his own dash cam footage.
Not sure what his long term strategy is, as impact to both vehicles was on the side.
Have sent video and am waiting to hear back.
You will be surprised some insurance assessors are as dumb as you can't possibly imagine.
You have a harsh crowd here. I don't think you did anything wrong in this circumstance - maybe more breaking distance to start with. My view is based on the fact that you didn't know what was about to happen (people forget they know upfront something is about to happen in these vids). You also probably would have slight less visibility due to pillar, and your car is an older model (longer response from pressing on accelerator), and most likely less response from the brakes. Even after this, there isn't really much of an increase is the gap between you and the car in front. The merger is a complete moron, who's behaviour has been enabled by what looks like 90% of drivers in this thread.
You don't think he did anything wrong? You think that barrelling ahead in lane and ignoring all other road users around you except the one directly ahead is a bonza way to drive? What a joke. Just let the dude in and continue on your merry way. It'd have saved so much hassle for both of the drivers.
@sir-screwball: Barrelling ahead in a lane? Other words I may have used are “driving home in my lane”.
You say letting him in would have saved so much hassle.
I counter that checking whether it was safe to change lanes would have saved a lot of hassle, with the added bonus of then not stopping dead in a busy freeway would have saved an even bigger amount of people a lot of hassle.
Defensive driving is the best approach in all situations to save my headaches.
You're completely ignoring the fact that defensive driving would have placed the cammer a whole car behind his rightful position. This is untenable.
You don’t think that the blue car driving defensively would have prevented this as well. He didn’t even need to be in my lane.
After we exchanged details he changed back into his original lane 200m later. It turned out he was hopping two lanes across to avoid the congestion of the lane, as it exits into the inner city bypass.
Just before the exit he slowed down his entire free flowing lane so he could cut somebody off again so he could cut into the slow moving queue and take the exit.
Yeah mate I know the area, and I know what he was doing, I've seen it a thousand times when I used to commute through RSE onto ICB up to Chermside. The dude drives like a fkwit and I am certainly not arguing that point with anyone.
What were you doing whilst he was executing the worlds slowest lane change? Watching the video it's hard to understand how you guys came together. I don't know what car you drive, if it has a particularly prominent A pillar or something so his car was obscured or something but man, watching the video it really looks like you should have seen this coming a mile off and just let him in for the sake of avoiding the crash.
Also my comment above was sarcasm.
@sir-screwball: What was I doing? I can’t give you more than driving home. As the event happened I saw him just a few milliseconds before we collided, which is when I slowed down.
Watching the video, and also the reason I posted it on here, I am surprised that I didn’t see him drift earlier. I did see him merge into the middle lane and saw the indicator, but as I said, I thought it was just left on by accident. Even if it wasn’t left on by accident I did not think that he would just merge despite not a sufficient gap being there.
Wasn’t on my phone, not fiddling with radio or any of that. It’s an old LandCruiser so not sure if he was obscured from my vision behind the A pillar when he began his lane change. That’s a possibility. It could have also been the one split second where I may have checked mirrors for filtering bikes, or looked ahead of the car in front to gauge how traffic was flowing.
Some suggested I sped up. I don’t think the video shows that, and if I had tried to speed up, you would have heard the engine rev hard, and even then it would have taken another minute for the old rig to start accelerating.
Not in the business of hitting somebody to make a point, as it’s a major hassle, plus I really like my old car. It’s in good condition and I genuinely don’t want to damage it. Was pretty relieved when I got home and checked for damage that it was minimal and no panels were affected.
@pwnd: I'd imagine the height of your car, the small size of his car and probably the A pillar likely contributed to your not seeing him for so long, because the camera obviously is usually mounted in the centre of the windscreen and a lot further forward than your head position so yeah. It might be worthwhile having a look at where the damage is relative to the A pillar or anything else that might obscure your vision and show your insurer so they can use it as ammunition against the opposing driver's insurance company, if you find that it's a factor.
And for what it's worth, I watched the footage a few times and I 100% agree that you didn't accelerate into the gap. If anything you actually dropped back a bit from your earlier following distance, which might have confused the blue car a bit, thinking you were letting him in when really you were just following in a relaxed fashion.
Either way, good luck.
Omg uleh bro you got the reaction times of a sloth, u def werent paying attention
Yes 100% his fault, but you could have so easily avoided that lol
Riverside express strikes again!
OP 100% you didn't need to give way to this jerk as he didn't change lanes when safe. There is no rule that says you must give way to someone that indicates but lots of people would argue you could of let him in
Most likely it was on his blind spot too and didn't shoulder check
You're copping some Ozbargain stick OP but I have to say, the other driver was the biggest douche. He has blatently changed lanes anticipating you would giveway to him and then he has the hide to not apologise?! He prioritised taking photos of the damage. Almost looks as though it was an insurance scam.
Got the call Friday from his insurance as he never took rego details.
Any you didn't use this to your advantage? Amateur.
I had the exact same accident once, and the perp didn't take my details. I used that to my advantage and he had to pay up. This was long before dashcams. Like if he didn't think he was at-fault at the time then why didn't he take my details like I took his? - case closed.
Not sure about posting links like this but… if this guy just did this… wouldnt have any issues right?
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cb7yA98g89v/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M…
He's at fault. You're the as*hole
Watch all the soy boys neg me
Educate me, what’s a soy boy?
Soy boy is a pejorative term often used in online communities to describe men lacking masculine characteristics
Didn't intend to be mean, thanks for not being offended. I've read the comments that you thought the guy forgot to turn off his indicator, but you shouldn't have accelerated to close the gap. I commute daily and you need to drive assuming everyone else on the road is an idiot, otherwise you might not make it home. We don't want to get involved in an accident regardless who's at fault, always take steps to avoid it. Let the other driver's ego be filled for the moment, at least you're not inconvenienced.
Hopefully this gets sorted out for you mate.
100% other persons fault. Watching video I can see how people are having a go at you but, at the same time it's easier to judge watching a video than actually being there..
Don't think you will have any issues with insurance going your way.
Both at fault.
Blue car for not giving way when changing lanes, and the dashcammer for failing to take reasonable action to avoid the accident. You didn't even try to brake, you actually sped up to block him.
Probably end up 66/33 liability. 66% for blue car and 33% for OP.
So, are you saying OP pays 33% of their excess, and blue car pays 66%? I'm astounded at the amount of stupidity in this thread.
Ditto with the 50/50 below.
Not surprised if insurance decides its a 50/50 call.
Would any of the parties know if they decide to call it both parties 'at fault'?
Both would have to pay the excess
I don’t know about 50/50. His version to insurance is I ran into his back after he completed his lane change. He also hasn’t provided his dash cam footage, despite telling me he has dash cams front and back.
You closed the gap successfully, well done bro.
Your ego has been restored and all you lost was a bit of paint and time to get your car fixed.
Entirely the lane changing car's fault. There is no merging here, which is where the give way to cars in front of you rule comes into play. This is a lane change. The lanes are not merging into one. Explanation of the difference between the two for people that still don't get it: https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/rules/road/lanes There's even video.
It won't go to court, and even if it did, the fact that jv thinks it's your fault is evidence it's not your fault.
This could have been avoided by either party. Either by the lane changer choosing a better spot and speed to change lanes. The OP could have either sped up or slowed down. Likely not paying 100% attention.