(Fairly) near-miss. Was I at fault?

Hi all.

I had a bit of a close-shave while driving today which has been playing on my mind.

It happened on a residential street that I drive on quite frequently. There is a row of houses on the left hand side, outside of which there is always a line of cars parked by the kerb. Just past the row of parked cars the road curves pretty sharply to the left and goes downhill, meaning that if one was to stay on the left-hand side of the road up to the parked cars, it's very difficult to see oncoming traffic until the last minute. This is why, if there's nothing to stop me, I make a habit of moving right early so that I can see oncoming vehicles in plenty of time and can easily move back over to give way if need be. Today, however, I moved out a little too early, failing to account for a junction to my right hand side, where another vehicle was emerging. I noticed the other car was approaching the junction quite quickly, so I budged over a little towards the left, but remained partially on the right-hand side, thinking the driver would see me and stop. But unfortunately she didn't and continued to emerge into my path. Luckily we were both going slow enough that I could swerve in time, but she must have come no more than 6 inches from my front bumper.
I can't help but wonder, had this resulted in an accident, who would be considered at fault? I was initially under the impression that it would be unquestionably the fault of the other driver, as she failed to check it was safe before emerging. However, the more I think about it, I reckon I could be blamed too for being on the wrong side of the road; I didn't strictly need to be driving on the right hand side at that moment in time, I was only doing it to make life easier for myself.
Either way, I've definitely learned a lesson from this and will, in future, make sure to account for junctions before I move out to pass vehicles. But purely out of interest, what's everyone's take on this?

Reply 1

IWMTom

Perhaps I'm just tired, but I simply cannot picture this in my head. Do you have a street view location, and perhaps some diagrams on a road plan to help illustrate the issue?

Reply 2

username1921011

I wouldn't worry, whether your insurance company even bother to defend you properly rather than just paying out and holding you responsible is about a 50/50 chance.

First if I was the lawyer fighting against you I'd argue that instead of moving over into the wrong lane, lowering your speed so you could easily brake if encountering traffic would be more sensible than driving on the wrong side of the road.

Second I'd argue upon seeing the vehicle it was your responsibility to correct according to the standards of a reasonably competent driver which, by my reading, would be to ensure you are in the appropriate lane such that the vehicle which you know is approaching the junction can make a proper decision based on reasonable expectations expected of the reasonable person. Being on the wrong side of the road knowing traffic is approaching the junction is forcing people to make a decision beyond the remit of the reasonable driver, expecting them to foresee the unexpected.

You've also identified you moved over earlier than usual. If there was an opportunity to move over at a later stage and you did not do so then it's your poor decision making.

My point being I think it'd more likely go down as knock for knock.

Even if you are completely right it might not matter. My grandad got hit by a driver who admitted fault at the scene then changed his story and claimed my grandad ran a red light despite the fact this other driver ran his red light, my dad's testimony was insufficient as he was a 'biased witness' and the insurance company only caught him when my dad - note they couldn't be arsed - sent a formal request to the police for the camera data from the traffic lights (luckily a CCTV camera nearby had captured the incident) to settle the claim. The insurance company had already paid out on a split liability basis and had to be threatened with a court case before they backed down, note it still increased the premium as the insurers also count non fault accidents in their algorithm.

Reply 3

jmh70

Other driver failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to give way, drove too quickly, joined a road when it was unsafe to do so, a few points which fault could be based upon. Sounds like you were just passing parked cars and it is not unreasonable to pass wide and early to gain a better view of the road.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 4

jack0634

Well this is seeming pretty divisive already :s-smilie:

Here is a diagram of the road, as the first poster requested, which may be helpful:

One thing I didn't mention was the speed humps, which I think are also a factor. As you can see, the humps are very close to the line of parked cars, so if you were to go over the hump on the left, you'd end up right up the rear of the first car in line. And if you move out much later than I did here, you'd hit the humps at an awkward angle (that's no excuse, but it does influence the way people drive on this road).

I'm not claiming to be "in the right", morally or lawfully here. I realise I moved out too early and didn't account for the junction, so as far as that the near-miss was my fault. However, I do recall my driving instructor reminding me always to glance left at junctions for this exact reason. I just wonder which offence, if not both, would be taken into account: failing to take proper observations at a junction, or (arguably) driving unnecessarily on the other side of the road? Though as one poster pointed out, I realise it probably would go 50/50 as is typical nowadays!

Reply 5

IWMTom

Original post by jack0634

Well this is seeming pretty divisive already :s-smilie:

Here is a diagram of the road, as the first poster requested, which may be helpful:

Perfect, I understand completely now!

Realistically, the person at the junction should have looked both ways before pulling out, so they are partially in the wrong, however as you've said yourself, you didn't need to be on that side of the road quite then - you could have cleared the speed bumps and overtaken the parked cars, leaving the right hand side of the road to be clear for the other vehicle.

Insurance wise, yes, this would probably land in a 50/50 liability scenario as you were both in the wrong. In future, perhaps clear the junction before moving over.