Another Accident Thread

D

dyanamo

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Cape Town - Strand
Well here is what happened.

Driving around 40-60 kmph and i need to get into the right hand lane. I indicate my intention but nobody allows me to get to the right lane (needed to take a right turn at a robot). So i see a gap of about 15m and speed up to get into it. I get into it fairly comfortably but the driven behind me is not impressed and starts hooting at me. I then notice that the traffic in front of me came to a dead stop so i put on my breaks and stop 1.5m behind the stopped car (my car did not even skid).
Next thing there is a thud and the car behind me that was hooting at me rammed up my ass. Now I see this as partly my fault as I turned right but there was plenty of time to stop if the car behind me was watching what was going on in front of me instead of hooting and performing and slowed down to let me in when he saw my intention instead of speeding up to spite me (Elantra vs a Tata). For interest sakes there was at least 5 seconds of hooting and time to react to see the cars in front of us had stopped.

Now my question is we are both fully insured. Their is literally no damage to my car, 2 small scratches while his car got about 30cm shorter.
Im not gonna claim from my insurance as you cant even notice anything and not worth the excess. Will his insurance try claim from mine and if they do will i have to pay anything or is that covered by third party?
 
You're not in the wrong, even if they try claim... inform your insurance and have your car checked out anyway.

If they contact you, direct them to your insurance.
 
dyanamo said:
.....Will his insurance try claim from mine and if they do will i have to pay anything or is that covered by third party?
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doesn't matter....you will have to pay the excess...if they/you can prove that it was his fault they will claim the excess from him.
 
xrapidx said:
You're not in the wrong, even if they try claim... inform your insurance and have your car checked out anyway.

If they contact you, direct them to your insurance.
Click to expand...
Correct - do not say a word to him other than exchange names, insurance details, contact details, vehicle details and SAPS ref number. All other queries - direct him to your insurer.
 
satanboy said:
doesn't matter....you will have to pay the excess...if they/you can prove that it was his fault they will claim the excess from him.
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:wtf: No he won't - he'll only pay excess if he puts a claim in on his vehicle. or if he's insurance stipulates an excess on 3rd party claims, and that will only be once he's been proven to be in the wrong.
 
xrapidx said:
:wtf: No he won't - he'll only pay excess if he puts a claim in on his vehicle.
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He won't, if he claims directly from the other party's insurance. This is a big battle and it took me about 3 months recently, to get Santam to pay in full. Next time, I will claim from my insurance and pay the excess. The insurance companies will then fight it out and hopefully get your excess back in full.
 
The insurance companies usually just settle among themselves... I have yet to get my excess back.
 
From what i've been told, it's usually the guy who rammed into you from the rear's fault.
 
just report the accident at the police station as well. Always good to have the case number on hand incase insurance do need it.
 
Same thing happened to me.

Gap to my right. Nobody accelerated at all. Only when I indicated that I wanted to take the gap, did the driver behind me (on the right-hand side) start to accelerate in order to cut me off. I just changed lanes - I did indicate my intention.

The onus is on the driver behind you to anticipate sudden stops/emergency braking, and if he/she decide to sniff your exhaust fumes (for whatever reason) and you perform an emergency stop (for whatever reason) and said exhaust-sniffing driver parks his car's nose in your car's rear, then it's his fault ~ and problem ~ to pay.

(Unless said driver is a Zim national with no drivers license and an unlicensed vehicle... :erm:)
 
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People - you have the snake by the tail end. Go back to the driving school and read the question regarding 'changing lanes'! How on earth did you pass? A 15m gap between 2 vehicles is not enough to begin with, never mind squeezing another vehicle in there! You do that stunt in front of a 18 wheeler and it may very well be your last. Count yourself lucky for not been charged with reckless and/or negligent driving. The fact that the other motorist did accelerate his vehicle should havo been a sign to you that you are 'not allowed'. Keep in mind, there was no incoming traffic. You were doing a 'convenience' and no' necessity' move. Therefore, the other vehicle was entitled to change speed at will as long as is not bumping the vehicle in front.
 
If everyone went to your driving school, no one would ever be able to change lanes in traffic... Which is always these days.
 
SoWhat said:
A 15m gap between 2 vehicles is not enough to begin with, never mind squeezing another vehicle in there
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15m is about 4-5 car spaces. I'll be shocked to hear if you get this much space in average JHB traffic, even on a wet rainy day. Add rush hour to this, and it's close to impossible to find this amount of space between cars. I constantly have to gap into 2-3 car spaces. You just have to force your way in, otherwise you'll never be able to change lanes.

So yeah, if you really expect people to drive like this, you're in the wrong country on the wrong continent boet.
 
But the thing is why do people get worked up for losing a little space? it's not like they made you drive so much slower to re establish the gap, i mean 2-3 seconds of the peddle will give you that space again.

i like to think I'm quite courteous on the road, for example if I'm in the right lane and i can see a truck driving at 30km an hour and a driver is going To get stuck, i just ease off and give the other driver the gap to move over. why do people make this such an issue i will never know
 
wallsend said:
But the thing is why do people get worked up for losing a little space? it's not like they made you drive so much slower to re establish the gap, i mean 2-3 seconds of the peddle will give you that space again.

i like to think I'm quite courteous on the road, for example if I'm in the right lane and i can see a truck driving at 30km an hour and a driver is going To get stuck, i just ease off and give the other driver the gap to move over. why do people make this such an issue i will never know
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Same here. I allow others to move into the gap in front of my car & will not accelerate if I see somebody wanting & indicating that he/she want to move into said gap.

Having said that I think it's just stupid trying to cut people off when they want to move into a gap after indicating.

But what grates my carrot is people who moves into a gap without indicating.
 
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