SWMBO had a collision Saturday afternoon, nobody hurt, thankfully, just a lot of expensive metal bent.
SWMBO approached a cross roads on the 'main' road, lady in a Ka approached from the right, overshot the give way marks, stopping third of the way across, as seems quite common these days. I rarely seem to see anyone actually stop short of giveway or stop markings it seems. SWMBO slowed down seeing her approach from the right, then having seen her stop assumed the other driver had seen her and proceeded only for the driver of the Ka to promptly start off again and drive straight into her offside as she drew level, hitting the rear of the front wheel and scraping right the way down the side to the rear wheel. Result; damage to two alloys, front wheel arch, drivers' door, rear door and rear wheel arch, plus probably damaged steering rack or track rod as it now drives 'offline'; as I said, a fair bit of expensive metal bent. All going ahead with insurers, other party was actually insured which is a first for us, our previous three accidents have all involved uninsured drivers :-(
It was just the other party's excuses that took my breath away.
1. 'I didn't know whether I needed to do right or left.' Ok, so just carry straight on into the side of a vehicle then and ignore the give way markings.
Followed up with,
2. 'Well, how am I supposed to see you, you are driving a dark car.' SWMBO's car is a sort of metallic British Racing Green, which is rather academic as it had been raining and she still had her headlights on!
This just got me thinking what are the daftest excuses you've been given by another driver?
Oh, and for the statisticians amongst you, SWMBO was 150 yards from home, the other party less than half a mile. Helps prove the old story about most accidents accurring within a mile of home!
Cockle
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Sorry to hear this cockle, but glad to hear that everyone is unhurt. Bent metal can be replaced or repaired much effectively than bones.
2. 'Well, how am I supposed to see you, you are driving a dark car.' SWMBO's car is a sort of metallic British Racing Green, which is rather academic as it had been raining and she still had her headlights on!
Doesn't excuse the lack of driving skill or the variable excuses, but I do have some sympathy with that point. Dark cars are harder to pick out than lighter-coloured ones, and dark greens have a horrible habit of blending into hedges. Given that there were lights on, that doesn't seem to be a relevant excuse here ... but I do think it's worth bearing in mind that a dark car is, in general, more likely to be overlooked in the slit-second glances that some people seem to give when checking whether the coast is clear.
I still couldn't bring myself to drive around in a luminous canary yellow car, which I guess would be the best choice for being seen!
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A driver who had driven up at terrific speed and shunted the car behind into mine, both of us stationary at a red traffic light, in the outside lane of the Marylebone Road in the 1960s, leaving both those cars bleeding to death and mine driveable but expensively damaged:
'I was blinded by a reflection! I was blinded by a reflection!'
Just as well no one else was a physical type like DD.
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i nearly had an accident this morning 2oo yards from home a car coming towards me decided that he wanted to park at my side of the road and therefore drove straight in front of me with a cheery (sorry) wave and just carried on.At one time i would have had a very friendly talk with him but i have now stopped doing this,due to the fact that i always end up talking to idiots anyway.
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This wasn't an excuse but the 2 most ridiculus accidents I've seen. Both 5-10 years ago
1 Coming back from Wales to London on the M4, In moderate but settled snow, around 6pm. Everyone driving sensibly,lights on, big spaces, and at reasonable 50-60mph, with no problems.
MR BIG, I AM,in his JAG comes on the motorway like wotsit off a shovel, crossing all 3 lanes within 200 yards, not being able to judge others speeds, breaked too sharply, hit a snow rut, slammed into the central reservation, did a 270 and came to a halt,the 5 cars in front of me and behind all stopped safely, drove around him, giving him a few words and drove off.
What a pratt.
2 The car in front left me standing at the lights, in Feltham, and I followed along the road, there is a filtered right turn down towards Green Lane, which was on red, but the left hand lane for straight on traffic was green. He stayed in L.H. lane, but stopped, so when I caught him up, he was still stationary.
I blasted him and he sped off towards the main A312 AND A4 crossroads, which straight over were on RED, he drove straight through and hit 3 cars. Fortunately all people ok, but police too busy to come and check him for D.D., typical, probably too busy booking slightly speeding motorists.
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A guy I know overtook an artic and promptly rammed the car in from of the truck.
"He should have accelerated when he saw me overtaking the truck".
Dear me.....
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A pupil I was teaching many years ago had six months out after suffering a broken leg when she drove her moped over a give way line and was hit by a car. Her excuse was "He was going too fast for me to see him".
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My Mate Algy. Ok here is the mechanics of his accident
There is a minor country road - NSL - in Rutland. It travels up a hill perfectly straight, and you can see the line of hedges on both sides disapearing into the distance. The telegraph poles on the right also disapear into the distance. Algy is traveling along this road.
Halfway up this hill is a plateux or dip. In this dip is a major road crossing the minor road. The major road surface is only visible when you get to within 30 - yards of it. The give way lines are worn and not very white. There is one give way signpole on the left, 5 yards away from the side of the road and is 600 mm in size (the smallest legally allowed) On the same pole (below give way) is a lorry prohibition notice of 600mm diameter
So there you have it - all the available sighting lines indicate the road is uniterupted, the crossing is not visible till you get very close and the warning signs are not prominent.
Hence Algy traveling at 45 mph does not see it till late, slams on the brakes and sails into the major road at 24 mph (the speedo is stuck at this speed after the accident. He gets T- boned by a bus traveling at 45 mph.
The road signs manual states that on a road where the median speed is above 30 mph, the minimum give way sign is 900 mm and there should be a pre warning sign at 50 metres prior to crossroads.
Ok its careless driving resulting in an accident. There are however always a multitude of reasons, usually all contributing to the accident.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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If the signs are illegal how can anyone possibly be guilty of careless driving? I can easily imagine myself in that situation.
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David
The road signs manual is a recomendation. The signs are actually legal to the letter of the law in shape & colour etc.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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We have a very dangerous corner near us.
15 years ago a young lad on a moped went round the corner and smashed in to a car parked on it.
He was killed.
The lads family were keen to get the blame put on the car owner however the coroner said that it is the responsibility of all drivers to check the road ahead.
If he could not see around the corner he should have stopped. Walked around the corner to check for obstructions and then carried on, amending his actions in light of what he found!
TVM, the theory could have applied to your friend's accident. We all know that the practicalities and the theory sometimes do not co-exist in the same universe.
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Poor Algy: that road does sound like an accident waiting to happen.
Did he ever tell you what happened to him when he finally got to court, after the mistake over his name had been sorted?
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He got 9 points and a hefty fine
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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He got 9 points and a hefty fine
Ouch! That sounds a bit harsh, considering the nature of the road.
Please give him my commiserations ... and I hope his bruises have healed.
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Ouch! That sounds a bit harsh, considering the nature of the road. >>
... considering he had cracked ribs, writtten of his beloved goona, had to change his family's name, his french miss nicole had to go, fifi has had to have name changed to an english one, and to cap it all, he is now forced to drive a van.
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which to add insult to injury is less reliable than a Renault.......
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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which to add insult to injury is less reliable than a Renault....... ------------------------------ TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
>>
Now come on! I will possibly believe the rest of the story, but a vehicle being LESS reliable than a Renault, is stretching it just too far.
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Would it make Algy feel any better if he hadn't noticed a junction at all? Then he'd have been going faster and sailed across it before the bus arrived.
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He got 9 points and a hefty fine
What an utter joke. Any attempt other reply would destroy the swear filter...
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I was heading for a local, well known, light controlled pedestrian crossing when the lights started to change against me; so I braked to a standstill. Then there was a loud "crump" astern.
"You stopped very quickly".
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I was stationary in the middle a rush hour queue.
Nothing had moved for a few minutes and the traffic was all queued up stationary behind me.
So in a totally static situation my rear bumper was suddenly reshaped.
I enquired of the driver who had closed the gap "What had happened to cause the crunch?"
"My foot slipped off the clutch!!!"
I once saw a driver trying a very last minute overtake into a roundabout but for his efforts he got a gentle biff by a truck.
The car left the exit road backwards. It then went backwards through the bushes in the central reservation to ram the front of an innocent approaching vehicle.
It was finally a low speed impact. Unfortunately I did not hear any excuses or otherwise.
The innocent drivers excuse must have been something like-
I was minding my own business, not speedy, when this other fellow reversed out of the bushes on the central reservation and rammed my bonnet with his boot.
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This is where the 'In Case Accident Kit'comes in handy. It contains a cheap disposible camera with flash, renewed ever 12 months, a dictaphone tape recorder, and some 'accident details' and 'accident witness' sheets. Turn tape recoder on detail time and location put in pocket out of sight., grap the camera and take photographs, long range all cars close ups and road layout, marks on road, debris and offending car views and reg plate. Fill in accident detail sheets and give out witness sheets if applicable. Another good reason for the tape recoder is that you will keep you mouth shut. Also obtain mobile and land line phone numbers as it may come to light the other party was on the phone. Sorry to hear of the accident, glad no one was hurt sounds expensive for the insurance companies. Clearly this is a no fault accident I would also report this as it falls into the 'Undue Care and Attention' element. Regards Peter
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Whilst waiting in my car outside my son's flat in London, my car was shoved in the rear by another car manoeuvring into position by the kerb behind me. I just sat there - wondering how much damage he would be prepared to take from my tow-bar - when he hit me again.
When I got out and asked what was going on, he said sorry, but he'd got his wrong glasses on, they were his reading glasses.
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"Its got ABS. It should have stopped".
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"I just passed my driving test in a Fiesta", said the guy who drove down the side of my parked car, sending my wing mirror off into someones front garden and giving me a nice stripe down the side of my car.
"My new car seems bigger". Yes, it was some old Japanese saloon, the size of which you could hold a small party inside.
Strange how the two cars differed in size.....must have taken all of his 2 IQ to work that one out.
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Just watch that first set of excuses morph into something completely different, like:
"The other driver clearly signalled for me to proceed!" or " The other driver came as if out of nowhere, they were going soooo fast!"
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I was rammed from behind when I stopped at a T-junction. The other driver merely said "I was looking to the right". To me it sounded like an admission (or statement!) of incompetence rather than an excuse.
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L\'escargot.
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Just watch that first set of excuses morph into something completely different, like: Oh yes.
200 yds from home in my road, as I was passing a parked car when the door was flung open and I adjusted it with by bumper.
First response was "I was late for the dentist"
When the claim went it "He drove into my door!"
Yes. I did drive into her door. That is true......Hmmmm.
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Just remembered an old boss's story.We used to work in Haslemere and would join the A3 at Hindhead traffic lights.
He was at the front of the queue, turning right towards Guildford, the road ahead was clear, but a driver pulled out from the garage on the L.H.S, just as he was getting it up to 50 mph,she then went to change gear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep, she'd just dropped her manual off at the gargae for a service and they'd given her an automatic courtesy car, and she forgot.
Fortunately only the cars were damaged
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I assume thats out of the BMW garage? typical BM driver......they dont know which end of a toothbrush to use.....
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Toothbrush ?
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Bloke to former colleague of mine, having just terminally re-designed colleague's Metro with his Audi:
"I didn't see you because I was distracted by a rare bird..."
My colleague said that that made him feel ever so much better about being stranded in a very lonely bit of Dorset on a grotty December afternoon with a written-off car and no mobile reception.
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Toothbrush ?
Yes? the thing you use to clean your alloys?
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Ah it did dawn on me later, I have someone who does that for me as I wouldn't know which end to use.
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Nearly had a good one tonight. Was driving along in a 30mph limit and had a woman overtaking a tractor coming towards me. I ended up stationary and she still only just managed to make it back on to her side of the road. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I wonder what her excuse would have been.
One thing some people don't realise is that if you find yourself about to have a head on collision you should use your brakes! This woman just carried on anyway and may even have speeded up. Doh!
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One thing some people don't realise is that if you find yourself about to have a head on collision you should use your brakes! This woman just carried on anyway and may even have speeded up. Doh!
No no no! It's up the other driver to use their brakes or whatever to get out of the way! :(
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I have mentioned this before on here, it went against me in insurance terms perhaps understandably.
A few years ago I was waiting at some lights when an ambulance with lights and sirens going came up behind, the ambulance squeezed through the two lines of vehicles and proceeded across the traffic lights, the lights were green as the guy in front of me pulled away to follow the ambulance across the lights. Half way across the junction he slammed his brakes on, I bumped him, he got out and apologised:
"sorry mate I suddenly though that the ambulance may have gone across on red and by following him I was jumping the lights"
Driving without due care and attention IMO, he went on to say:
"you see I was done for jumping these lights a couple of weeks ago and I dont want any more points".
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>> One thing some people don't realise is that if you find >> yourself about to have a head on collision you should use >> your brakes! This woman just carried on anyway and may even >> have speeded up. Doh! No no no! It's up the other driver to use their brakes or whatever to get out of the way! :(
This drives me mad-why do these people think it is OK to drive down the wrong side of the road,into oncoming traffic,forcing it to brake hard,all to save a few seconds as they pass a parked car.Should you dare to remonstrate with them you get a load of abuse as well!
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