Minor car acciddent - who is at fault

Minor car accident - who is at fault

Hi,

A friend of mine had his front car wing heavily damaged by a truck yesterday and there is a dispute over whos fault it was. Maybe someone here would know...

On a two lane road, the car was in the left lane and stopped at the lights. A truck was in the right lane and was indicating left (although my friend says he wasnt). The truck was there at the lights first and the car drove up on the side of him. When the lights changed the truck starting turning left and hit the front wing of the car.

My view is the truck was at fault. I mean if it was another car who hit my friend there would be no dispute but the truck driver claimed trucks get some sort of preference on turning left like this (they need to swing out a bit to turn in left due to the long trailer).

The gardai came and said it was 50:50.

Any thoughts?

Re: Minor car accident - who is at fault

Did the truck cross a white line of some sort in order to hit a stationary car or had the truck crossed line before car arrived into its position and stopped .

Re: Minor car accident - who is at fault

tonka said:

Did the truck cross a white line of some sort in order to hit a stationary car or had the truck crossed line before car arrived into its position and stopped .

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I am finding that out now.

I take it if the first case was true then the truck was at fault and in the latter the car was at fault?

My understanding is that indicating doesn't give any exemption from anything.

Just because he indicated (or claims he did) doesn't mean that he can take a corner without being sure he isn't going to cause an accident.

If your friend was in a legitimate lane and wasn't moving then I can't see how they could be at fault. If your friend started to take off while the lorry was beginning its turn then you could see how it could be argued that your friend contributed by driving into the side of the lorry.

From a common sense point of view trucks do get preference (from me at least) when there is any chance of them turning and running over me on my bike. But in the situation described (assuming either indicator wasn't on or wasn't working) then your friend seems to be in the right. Otherwise people would always be leaving gaps on the left of trucks in the right lane on the offchance that they might be turning left.

z

Re: Minor car accident - who is at fault

tonka said:

Did the truck cross a white line of some sort in order to hit a stationary car or had the truck crossed line before car arrived into its position and stopped .

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Heres my friends answer to that question.....

removed....

Aha, well then it sounds like the truck was in both the left and right lanes at the same time. Just because the left lane is particularly wide doesn't mean it's not occupied.

z

I hope you're not compromising your friend's interests by posting the details of the accident on a public forum such as this. You could easily be forearming the other party by forewarning them, if they or their advisors happen to see this thread. Your friend needs to get proper legal advice from a solicitor.

ubiquitous said:

I hope you're not compromising your friend's interests by posting the details of the accident on a public forum such as this.

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Dont think so, I mean this could be any accident anywhere in the world, there are no details about location, names etc?

PeterPP said:

Dont think so, I mean this could be any accident anywhere in the world, there are no details about location, names etc?

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well I guess the mention of Gardai mught give it away on the country

Was the car stoped or moving ?

If the car was stoped it can't be at fault... it would be 50:50 (or even 75(cars fault):25(trucks faults) if the car was moving and truck over the line...

jhegarty said:

Was the car stoped or moving ?

If the car was stoped it can't be at fault... it would be 50:50 (or even 75(cars fault):25(trucks faults) if the car was moving and truck over the line...

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The car was stopped. Thats my reckoning too, car cannot be at fault when it was not moving and the truck ht the car.

PeterPP said:

The car was stopped. Thats my reckoning too, car cannot be at fault when it was not moving and the truck ht the car.

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that’s how I understand it , unless the car was parked in a dangerous position (and it wasn't parked) it can't be a fault when hit by a moving vehicle....

Indicating does not confer a right, merely indicates intention. The other aspect to this is that your friend was probably in the blind spot of the truck. It would have been careless to enter this IF they were indicating.

On the other hand I've seen large vehicles vering to the right before turning left, but you don't see them leave a full lane of traffic inside, when stationary.

Any other witnesses?