Just read an article in the telegraph about accidents being staged in order to claim thousands of pounds off the 'guilty' party's insurance company. Most of them seem to involve a car braking in front of you sharply and they have often disabled the brake lights so a following car is more likely to end up in the back of them. They then claim for loss of earnings, whiplash as well as damage to the car. They are also picking on lone drivers (especially women ) and the elderly.
Keeping extra distance at these times between you and the car in front could save you from being another victim.
teabelly
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I had a very suspicious incident a few years back. At some lights the car in front hurtled off then did an emergency stop. Fortunately I keep my distance so stopped in time. I suspect though that the aim was to force a shunt and hence make a fraululant insurance claim.
Round that time I was told by someone else of an accident they had had. It was very minor, with as good as no damage, but the other driver got out the car and was incredibly happy, almost punching the air. He subsequently made a big insurance claim for whiplash.
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Was shown in a program on Channel 5 on Saturday night
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Oh good. So now every low-life in the Country will be at it.
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Nothing new under the sun!
My uncle was involved in an accident over 30 years ago where someone slowed on a main road and waved him out of the side road to let him turn right. Nice chap, he thought, until the 'wavee'? promptly accelerated straight into the side of him and proceeded to deny all knowledge of waving him out! Fortunately a witness was found who backed up uncle's story and the perpetrator was prosecuted for attempting to defraud or somesuch. Turned out he had crunched the front of his car somehow but without too much damage but fancied getting someone else's insurance company to pay for the repair.
Pretty basic compared to this latest lot but it's always been about.
Cockle
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One of the scams in the Manchester area was to buy a 'runner' from a scrapyard. Load three or four mates and drop them of at the pub. The mates telephone for a taxi to take them home. The mates all climb into the taxi. The 'runner' follows the taxi to a convenient set of traffic lights and then shunts it in the back. The driver of the 'runner' does a runner. The mates all claim whiplash injuries on the taxi insurance.
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I don't think you can claim for whiplash injuries if you drive into a stationary car. The point about this latest spate is that the fraudsters deliberately cause someone else to drive into the back of them, thus technically putting the other driver in the wrong
If we all scupulously obeyed the 2 second rule of course this would not be possible, even if someone did an emergency stop in the fast lane at 80 mph, because every following car would be keeping its safe distance. In practice of course we are all human, and some are especially vulnerable or easily scared by others aggression.
It's a bit like Ripley (dare I mention the name?) and his ring of confidence or whatever he called it.
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