WDB
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Sept 28, 2016 8:46:23 GMT
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Post by WDB on Sept 28, 2016 8:46:23 GMT
Saw a little accident this morning on my way to work. About a mile from the office the traffic forms a queue because of an overzealous lollipop man, who's out in the road to stop the traffic as soon as he sees a child closing a garden gate three streets away. There's a parallel service road leading past some houses and into a grid of heavily parked-up residential streets.
Some people, inevitably, use the residential streets as a means to bypass the queue on the main road. One such this morning took off from immediately in front of me and up the service road at a pace sufficiently inappropriate to draw an involuntary expletive from me. I then had a fine view from 100m away as he took the front end off a little Peugeot emerging from the residential grid.
I can't have been the only one to see it but I was the only one to park up and go to check. No injuries, both young, male drivers making phone calls as I arrived about two minutes later. Peugeot was a mess, with most of its front end gone. Blokey's white Seat looked less damaged but both front airbags were out. I'd estimate he'd reached 40-45 in his little burst past the parked cars in the service road, and would have had no view and no time to brake as the Peugeot's nose appeared. There were chunks of broken plastic everywhere.
Protocol here? I left both parties my business contact details and made no comment on fault, circumstances or anything else. Would you believe in 27 years of regular driving this is the first time I've been within sight of an accident as it happened? Not nice, heart still settling down an hour later. Anything else I should do now?
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sooty
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Sept 28, 2016 9:35:57 GMT
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Post by sooty on Sept 28, 2016 9:35:57 GMT
I wouldn't think you'd have to do anything else right now. Don't be surprised if neither of them or their insurance companies contact you.
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Post by Hofmeister on Sept 28, 2016 9:46:18 GMT
Unless there are injuries, no-one will be interested. If there are no injuries, its always best to keep a low profile as a witness.
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WDB
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Sept 28, 2016 10:37:31 GMT
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Post by WDB on Sept 28, 2016 10:37:31 GMT
I did ring the police, who turned out still to have officers at the scene 90 minutes later. They took some details, asked questions and gave me a reference. Personally, I think one of the drivers was driving dangerously - excessive speed in a narrow road restricted further by parked cars - but I didn't say that and I'll let the police make up their own minds from the evidence at the scene.
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Deleted
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Sept 28, 2016 12:09:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2016 12:09:41 GMT
And the scene would probably show that the car was driving legally along the road and someone recklessly pulled out of a driveway in front of him?
Seems a little unfair.
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WDB
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Sept 28, 2016 12:34:45 GMT
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Post by WDB on Sept 28, 2016 12:34:45 GMT
Unfair in what sense, Otto? That I might have misread Driver White's driving and that it would be vindictive to suggest to the police that he did anything wrong, or that the scene might not supply enough evidence to prompt the police to question it themselves?
Just to be clear, this turned out messy but minor, but if Driver Blue had been a metre further out, it could have been far worse. I've also mentioned the lollipop man; the pavements are swarming with schoolchildren at that time, which was obvious to any driver who bothered to look.
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Deleted
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Sept 28, 2016 13:46:30 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2016 13:46:30 GMT
Maybe I have misunderstood.
I took it that you felt the speeding car to be the idiot and the emerging car to be the victim.
But it seemed to me that without a witness it may be perceived that the emerging car was the idiot.
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WDB
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Sept 28, 2016 14:00:05 GMT
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Post by WDB on Sept 28, 2016 14:00:05 GMT
OK, that's more or less how I saw it, although I can say nothing of Driver Blue's behaviour as the first I saw of him or his car was when Driver White's car hit his. But it seems reasonable to suppose that he was making the best he could of exiting a difficult junction with his view obscured by parked cars, and that he had no time to register Driver White's approach.
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Deleted
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Sept 28, 2016 14:37:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2016 14:37:43 GMT
So, in your position I would make clear to emerging driver that I believed the other car to be speeding.
At least that is likely to push any insurance dealings to a more equitable share of blame and cost.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2016 18:52:59 GMT
I witnessed an accident from my bedroom window many years ago, during rush hour. Similar in a general way to the one WDB mentions. A car came down a main road at speed and hit another car. I went out, gave my details and left. Ten months later I get a phone call from a lawyer; "...would I give witness statement...?".
Well, no I can't because I can't remember the details ten months later. I even struggled to remember the incident until prompted and could not remember the make of the cars - unusual for me.
So, WDB, make a note NOW. Write it all down, time and date the note at the top perhaps with some evidence of the date and time attached. Or simply do it on the computer, save it and PDF it which will datemark it. This way, if you asked for evidence, simply present the document and say that this is my immediate recollection on the day of the incident. I cannot and will not say any more, as I may have forgotten a detail.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2016 19:02:21 GMT
>>save it and PDF it which will date mark it.
Do not rely on pdf dates. Ever. A pdf simply uses the computer date which can be change to anything.
Email it to yourself at one of the main stream email sites. Or simply print it and sign/date it.
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WDB
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Sept 29, 2016 9:25:50 GMT
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Post by WDB on Sept 29, 2016 9:25:50 GMT
Thanks chaps. I've typed it out and emailed it to myself, including a note that neither driver appeared to have suffered any injury, and that each car had only one occupant.
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WDB
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Sept 30, 2016 14:15:58 GMT
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Post by WDB on Sept 30, 2016 14:15:58 GMT
Wasn't here yesterday but I passed the same way this morning and noticed that the de-nosed Peugeot is still there. It's been moved to the kerb, so that it now looks as if it's been on the receiving end of a particularly Italian bit of parking, but I was surprised to see it at all. Perhaps the owner lives in that road and was only yards from home when the accident happened. Even so, wouldn't the police usually arrange to have it removed and send him the bill?
There was no sign of the Seat.
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Post by commerdriver on Sept 30, 2016 14:53:50 GMT
In response, slightly belated, to the original post, I reckon it is always worth giving your name as a witness and then doing what you have done and creating a contemporary reminder of what you saw and when as it may help clarify the situation for one or other parties. When my son had an accident a couple of years back, which looked to be a 50 50 from his story and a video we saw, the other driver produced a witness 2 or 3 months later who my son is pretty certain was not there at the time, and who on investigation proved to be a friend of the other driver's sister, despite claiming in his statement that he had no connection with the other driver.....
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Post by tyrednexited on Sept 30, 2016 15:27:17 GMT
I'm rather a believer in "what goes around, comes around".
Many years ago, in the centre of Nottingham, I witnessed a collision between a fuel tanker and a newish Ford Fiesta XR2, whereby the tanker cut a corner in the outer of two lanes, and sandwiched the Fiesta between the corner of a concrete abutment and itself. Though the car was reduced to half its width, the tanker didn't stop (and, if it had been a RH corner, rather than LH, the outcome might well have been fatal, given the damage sutained to the passenger side).
Having been hit twice myself in the previous few weeks (once by someone changing lane into the side of me, who "held his hand up", and once by a garage 'van pulling a trailer, which didn't stop, and it subsequently turned out the driver was disqualified, the garage covering themselves by stating he was driving without consent) I was rather prepared, and wrote the reg no of the tanker on the back of my hand with biro as it disappeared.
The (youngish) driver was in real shock, and, having helped manhandle the remains of the car out of the way (Central Nottingham was at a standstill), I hung about with him until both the police and ambulance arrived to make sure he was OK. The police had taken a number from someone else which didn't coincide with mine (which I was confident of) and a quick check by radio indicated that mine was a Volvo "tractor unit" belonging to a fuel company. I was asked for, and gave, a statement to the police, and when asked whether I thought the driver had known about the collision, I had to honestly answer that I would be surprised if he hadn't felt it, even if he hadn't seen it, but I don't have experience of driving an artic, so there is a chance that even a major bump would have been imperceptible.
Some time later, I received a letter from the youth (who'd obtained my details from the police) thanking me for my assistance and attention, and confirming that his car had been replaced new at no cost to himself, and his NCB had been retained. (and, as he was an estate agent, offering to sell my house for free if I ever needed his services ;-) ).
A year or so later, in a new job and driving to work, I collided at high speed with an 8-wheel coal lorry that pulled out of a side road in front of me (nowhere to go, as the road was banked, and he turned towards me taking up all the road). I was quite lucky, as a few inches to the right would probably have taken the top off the car, and possibly me!). Someone coming the other way in an Audi witnessed the whole thing, and though he didn't hang about, and the only conversation I remember was him saying "he wants f***ing shooting" he left me a card with a phone number, and subsequently provided a witness statement. The lorry driver was subsequently prosecuted for a number of offences, pleading guilty to all bar the charge of failure to provide correct details after the collision (I think there was a technical issue about the ownership of the lorry).
It made me glad I'd responded in the way I did to the first incident.
There was one mildly disturbing thing associated with it, though. I was notified in writing of the pending prosecution, and put on standby as a witness. Shortly before the scheduled hearing, I received a 'phone call telling me not to bother to turn up. It could have been anyone on the end of the 'phone. Luckily, I was at the time working directly opposite the local Magistrates Court, and called in to check, where it was confirmed that a plea of guilty had already been entered, and that the facts were not in dispute, only a debate on the final, technical offence was required, and that my presence was not an issue for that. Still seems an odd way to inform a witness they're not required, though.
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