For years I have always thought "one of theses days a another car is going to smack mine off" and you know what? They have! Not only that they don't even stop to say sorry. I guess the problem is that it's very difficult to prove who was at fault if anyone.
My particular circumstance was that as I was driving down the road when a car comming the other way decides to go around a car that was parked in thier path thus moving onto my side of the road and as they do so we collide wing mirror to wing mirror.
Has anyone had any luck getting someone else to pay or is this part of the everyday risk we take when motoring?
Theses days electric wing mirrors can be expensive.
PS anyone know where I can get a drivers wing mirror for a Mazda 323 (95) .
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Collisions are not the only thing you've got to worry about. A friend's 911 suffered the theft of the wing mirror overnight. These cost the wrong end of £300 to replace.
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If the obstruction was on their side of the road then it's their fault as they must have been the ones to encroach into your lane.
Unfortunately if you haven't got their details then claiming is impossible, you'd be best off just going to a good scrappy and getting one there. Certainly don't claim on your insurance or even tell them about it, if they find out then it will go down as your fault because they have no third party to claim off...
Did you by any chance recognise the car or plate? If so then I think some divine retribution with a bottle of brake fluid might be the order of the day! ;)
Good luck.
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Yes, my brother had the door mirror from his 325 pinched. Again not a cheap replacement for a heated one.
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I lost a drivers side wing mirror in virtually the same circumstances a few years ago on a Honda Ballade. The other car did not stop and was gone before I could get its reg.no. - all I saw was its make/model/colour. So there was no chance of claiming off him.
Anyway, I ended up getting a replacement mirror from a scrap yard for a fraction of cost of a new one. It took 2 hours in all - to find one, remove it from the donor car, and then remove the broken one from my car and fit the replacement. It was a relatively easy job on the Honda - I followed instruction from a Haynes manual for a Rover (re-badged Honda)!
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I had exactly the same about 2 yrs ago. Other driver pulled round a tanker parked on his side of the road. Tore both mirrors off. He stopped and we exchanged details. His fault - full payout and nice new electric mirror for me.
That's why he didn't stop - knew it was his fault, the obsticle was on his side of road so he should have given way.
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Too many drivers ignore the highway code which states (or did!) where a vehicle is stopped on your side of the road, you should give way.
Nowadays the attitude seems to be either 'I'm not giving way for anyone' or 'first to give way is a coward.'
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It seems in most driving situations there are a lot of people who will force their way in or through and expect the other driver to give way and avoid the accident. I've given up trying to assert my right of way on the road as there have been too many occasions recently where people have come within inches of hitting me just because they want to take the quickest possible alternative, whether it is legal or sensible or not.
My pet hate is roundabouts - the number of people in Stockport who choose the quietest lane approaching one and then take an incorrect exit for that lane is amazing. There is one roundabout close to me where the first exit is not really needed coming from one direction, as there is a road that bypasses the roundabout just before. So you've basically got 2 exits that 99% of traffic will use, but you still get cars that use the right hand lane to go straight on and who force their way in at the exit. Even if the highway code didn't say it should be the left lane for the first two exits, common sense says that it's left lane for going straight on, right lane for turning right. I once had someone take the right lane, exit right on my bumper, pull alongside and nearly drive me in to a row of parked cars as I had nowhere to go.
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Don't start me on mini roundabouts!
Too late! Driving home at around 9am one morning, there is a road nearby that has a 4 roads converging on it. They have now installed a mini roundabout and I mean mini. The thing is about a 3 foot diameter.
Now the traffic is quite heavy from all four roads and you do have to be quick to get out between cars safely from the other 3 roads.
One morning all four roads stopped. The car in front of me went straight over. On the road to my left, a car went straight ahead. The traffic on my right stopped so I quickly checked and pulled out to take the first exit on my left. However, Mr 4x4 who was on the exit directly opposite me decided that his 4x4 didn't have to go around the miniRB and instead drove over at a fair lick what I estimated to be was a quarter of the MRB. Only now of course, I was in front of him on the same exit road going quite a bit slower!
He then proceeds to lay on his horn for about 10 seconds obviously cheesed off that I had taken the opportunity to pull out while he'd decided to take the short cut.
To be honest, I nearly stopped the car in front of him and have a degree of road rage myself. The junction is busy and needs great care. I'd say it is now more dangerous with the MRB than it was without it.
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MRB positioning is not alwayss too good.
One that I go past each day is too far forward from one direction, with the result that at least half the vehicles from that way go either over it or round on completely the wrong side.
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Could it be the Roundabout for Didsbury road?
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Could it be the Roundabout for Didsbury road?
Nope, I'm referring to the Armoury roundabout in Edgeley, but the Pyramid roundabout (which I think you are referring to?) can be just as bad, especially when it can be almost impossible to get on to this sometimes so you have to take any gap on offer...
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Too many drivers ignore the highway code which states (or did!) where a vehicle is stopped on your side of the road, you should give way. Nowadays the attitude seems to be either 'I'm not giving way for anyone' or 'first to give way is a coward.'
Yes, accepted where the resulting gap is too narrow for two cars to pass.
But a much commoner situation is when a row of parked cars permanently reduces the available road width, but still leave space for two flows to pass easily. Are the people who refuse to squeeze over technically in the right, or does the parking constriction redefine the 'centre of the road'
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I reme,ber a few years back knocking off someone's mirror. He had stopped on a narrowish country raod to let me by, but being young and foolish I thought that I could get thru the gap at full speed!
Stopped and told him to send me a bill, which he did for £110.
I suppose that I could have legged it and he would never have caught me but.....
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CM,
I put a note on a parked car that I accidentally clipped mirrors with. The sheer astonishment of the guy was (almost) worth the £85!
Good to know that I'm not the only mug whose conscience won't allow them to leg it.
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Matt on the forum
www.t595.net/cm/messageboard/thread.asp?thread=4909
says:
" ----- Mind you, if you survive, I find whacking their (unused) mirrors off wakes the little darlings up a bit. I usually get four or five of a morning in a 10 mile stretch of the A38.."
Watch out if you travel on the A38!
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