Rear Ended on M50

W

Winter Bloom

Guest
Hi.

I realise that similar topics may have come up before, but I need some advice. Last Tuesday morning, I exited the M50 toll heading southbound. A tractor was spraying water onto recently laid tarmac in the centre of the road and that particular section of the road was wet as a consequence. When I slowed down (as the traffic was beginning to back up) I was rear ended fairly hard, by the car behind me. This car had been tailing me pretty close beforehand and obviously wasnt able to stop in time. When I got out of the car I could see that there was no damage done to my rear bumper as I have a toe bar. A girl exited the other car and began apologising saying that her "wheels just locked" and she skidded. She asked me was I ok. I assesed (hastily) the damage and could see that there was a fairly deep indent in her number plate. This was at 7:30 in the morning so the traffic was backed right up back to the plaza at this point and was down to one lane. Cars were begining to beep and there was no hard shoulder to pull the cars over . I had to make a call and I said it I thought I was ok and that my car was fine, so we left the scene without exchanging names numbers or insurance details . I suppose I was in shock and under a bit of pressure considering the half of the M50 was awaiting my decision. Lucky enough I took down her registration before I left the scene.
Over the last two days my back and neck has been very sore and uncomfortable and its getting worse each day (its 3 days since the accident). Im on painkillers and am getting very little sleep since, so I have arranged to see a GP .
Luckily I made a statement to the Gardai the next day and informed my insurance company of the incident (I think this was the right procedure). According to the Gardai they should have been called if I WAS injured . Apparently they can only contact the girl about the accident and request that she contacts me with her insurance details. So, now Im relying on the person who hit me to initiate the whole process. Can anyone advise me on what to do if she decides not to contact me? The Gardai cannot divulge her name and address. I have no witnesses and I unfortunately I didnt contact the Gardai, so what are my chances of getting her to accept responsibility? Any advice would be really welcome as I'm seriously stressed over this. Thanks

WB
 
Have you VHI or similar you can claim?

You can just claim off your own insurance and let them do what you pay them for and let them chase the car that hit you. If they can't find her it's not your fault (provided the reg is right, details of her car are right, car registered in Ireland) if they can't find her. So it wouldn't affect your ins.

If they can't, there are ways you can, ring the toll bridge and ask for the video camera tape, they wont give it to you but the guards can get it.

If it's a new enough car and you saw the reg and know what county it was sold in you could ring the garages around and find out if they sold it.
They won't give you the details for her but again you can let the guards and ins co. know and they can chase it.
 
I think you are supposed to notify the gardai of any accident, that way it is logged by them and you can then follow it up afterwards (they dont have to come to the scene, but the accident is officially logged), in your case the girl may just say that it never happened, without the gardai ever knowing, but as said above consult your insurance company. Any "advice" on here will be hear-say and not official. With something like neck injuries I would be getting "official" advice.
 
I am not sure that is true. My understanding was that the Gardai only have to be notified if a person is injured in an accident.
 
A bit of advise...I made the same mistake you did. A truck hit reverse instead of first removing my bomet and bumper in the process. I rang the guards who told me if no one was injured and the driver of the truck admitted liability I was to exchange details and deal through the insurance company. To this day i never recieved a penny towards reparing the car...or the physio i needed days following.
 
Always make sure you have a disposable camera in the glove box for when things like that happen. Comes in really handy, especially when it comes to making a claim.
 
The same thing happened me a few years back but I had persons name, no damage to my car, only sore neck, cost me about a 150 in gps etc but was grand after a bit never bothered me since, its like a sprained ankle, you will be fine in a while not worth the bother of claiming and anyway you WILL have luck for not claiming,
 
just a word on this

I was told before by both guards on an incident i had

That u should notify guards and insurance company of any incident on the road, even if there is no damage done to U and Your car, and the other customer /person is entirely at fault and admitting liability . This is in case that the other person turns around after the incident claiming any number of injuries or compensation for the car

I Had an issue in that a Guy on motor bike crashed into side of MY car once.
I Been young and naieve when the other person said that they did'nt want insurance companyinvolved and admited he was at fault and i took his car deteails etc
all well and good until i gave him list of quotes for the damage,
he denied that he was at fault then and it was really my word against his

I had told the guards after this , But they said that there was'nt alot they could do , cause they were'nt told of the incident at the time of it happening
I was told by the guards too to report everything to insurance company eventhough i'm not at fault

Cause supposedly if the other driver decided a few months on to claim against me for what ever reason, if the insurance company did'nt know about it .. they might not honour my insurance

I thought it all sounded bit severe but i guess Law can be very straight n'narrow sometimees if the letter of the law is'nt followed
 
Basicly the OP is looking to make a personal injury claim against the other driver, given that your car has no damage & you've no witnesses its your word against hers if the "crash" every took place.
This is going to be very hard for you to prove, I wouldnt hold out much hope tbh.
 
As there is no visible damage to your car it might be difficult at this stage to prove that she rear-ended you at all without witnesses etc. Best bet is to contact your solicitor? Agree with other poster about disposable camera.
 
Do you have Legal Expenses cover? Check your policy as if you do your own insurer should put you in contact with somebody who will make the claim for you (i.e. a Solicitor). Also I believe that your insurer can find out who insures the other vehicle, from the registration. If you don't have LE cover on your policy your insurer should still be helping to point you in the right direction.

If there was no damage to your car and minimal damage on the other side, I expect you will have a tough time trying to get compensation as the other party's insurer will probably argue that an injury couldn't have been caused by such a low-speed collision.
 
My understanding is that whilst you are legally obliged to advise the guards of an accident, they will only get involved if there is any injury. You should always always call them if the other driver is a non-national.
However if you do get the person's insurance details following an accident, you should always report it to their insurance company yourself.
I got sideswiped on the N7 at Christmas by a lorry. Driver spoke no English but the guards got his insurance details for me from him. Despite me contacting the drivers Irish employer he never reported it and I only found this out when I contacted his insurers myself. I got it resolved but it delayed things a months
 
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