*CF RTA Survey*

[Alan Waddington]

1. Van pulled out of side turning into me when i was cycling - Driver 40ish Male
2. I pulled out of side junction into oncoming traffic - Minor damage to front wing of both cars - my fault
3. Rear ended on A3 after I breaked heavily to avoid another car changing lanes without checking for available space. Whole thing really the fault of the guy who got away. Rear bumper and offside rear panel damaged - tailgate never did shut properly again - Driver 30ish Male
4. Rear ended at Roundabout, when other driver thought I was going to continue, but I stopped at roundabout - slow speed - tow bar took impact - no damage - Driver 30ish Male

Incidentally, I notice that most accidents in this thread are other people's fault - funny that

[abailey152]

Just one.....

I ran into the back of someone at a round-about. I was queuing behind the guy, then he pulled off (or at least I thought he'd gone). How the round-about is constructed you have to look almost over your right shoulder to view traffic on the round-about. I was looking as I was moving forward....and bang! He'd stopped for some reason. Not too much damage, but I've given this particular round-about a lot more respect and caution since!

[gazzae]

Never been involved in an RTA

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by gazzae

Never been involved in an RTA

Same here (although I did drive into a gate post about 15 minutes after buying my first car )

[MovedGoalPosts]

Originally Posted by Debsy42

I'll walk, thanks anyway

Aw shucks, I'm a safe driver if I want to be. Somehow, I've got full no claims bonus, and all my little dings have been injury free.

[punky]

Just the one. It's kinda difficult to explain, but i'll give it a go.

Accident Description: I was in the middle of a junction turning right. There are two lanes on the opposite road (If I was going straight on by the traffic light), and that turn lane (turning right, behind me) in that lane is always full, which blocks the view of the other lane (going straight ahead, in front of me), which has cars coming across me. So you always have to wait til the light goes red, then go. I waited, and when the light switched from yellow to red, the flow of cars going straight ahead stopped, so I nudged out (trouble is because of the bonnet, you already have 3' of your car in their lane before you can see), and a mini cab, was trying to jump across on yellow swiped the front of my car. I filed a police report, but they decided on taking no action.

Gender And Age: We are both men, I was 20 at the time, he was 40+.

Conclusion: I lost my no claims bonus, and £200 excess, but luckily, I wasn't charged the extra £300 I should have because I was under 21 (Thanx Norwich Union!! ). Unluckily, he had hire and reward insurance Despite the fact he just scratchd everything, the damage to me was still £1200. Anything with a small scratch on it had to be replaced. It seemed like the insurance companies did it knock-for-knock, as I think they said that liability was split 50-50. We were both at fault. He should not of tried to cross the junction that late into the signal (longish amber, he could of stopped), and I should of waited maybe a second or two into the red before going.

Behold, my magnificant MSpaint skills

[secular]

I had a spectaculer RTA involving a parked tractor.

2 Months after taking my test and driving my mums Nova with no incidents my Dad buys me a second-hand 2.0 Litre Injection Astra GTE. Now this motor has about four times the HP of the Nova.
I'm just 18 and I've spent a bit of money on the car - new air filter - head ported and the injector upgraded and I put it on a rolling road. At 5,500rpm the car produces 182 BHP. This works out at around 130mph+ in top.

Imagine the situation; an 18 y/o in a powerful car living in the middle of the countryside, unrestricted roads for miles. These are roads I literally know like the back of my hand.

To the accident in question, the day was a tuesday and I was driving back from a friends at about 5 pm so the sun was really low in the sky. There was a 90 degree corner with no warning signs but it was fine I knew the road.

What I didn't know is that a farmer (who my parents knew as a friend) has parked his tractor ACROSS the road - now this is a 9 Ton seddon I'm talking about - I come up to corner and slow down - as I enter the corner the sun blinds me completely - I let off but I know the road so I keep it in 4th. I never see the tractor.

According to the crash investigator he estimates I was travelling at around 70 - 80 mph when I hit the tractor. The impact flips my car over and to the right of the tractor, according to the farmer I completed 3 barrels and came to a stop upside down in the field.

Some distances -

The impact of my car rotated the Seddon 90degrees and destroyed the rear axle and wheels of the tractor.

The marks on the ground indicate that I travelled 10m+ after hitting the tractor IN THE AIR. The car came to a stop 25m from the site of the impact. I have no recollection of the events after the crash.

My Injuries - (yes, I was wearing a seatbelt - but the GTE had no airbag)

Compressed disk and 3 partially compressed disks - My back gets stiff when it gets cold.

Broken ankle, broken leg, 6 broken ribs, fractured skull, an amusing Vauxhall badge bruise over the fracture as my head hit the steering wheel, punctured lung, broken fingers and wrist - the same one as I just broke again, cheekbone smashed.

My face hit the windscreen so hard it split my eyebrow, nose and smashed my cheek. When I rub my face I still get shards of glass coming out - this is 5 years since the accident.

I wake up in the hospital 3 days later in traction. I was in hospital for 2 months. It sucked, and I've not driven since.

Countless moments of getting run over as a bike rider, the only interesting one is where a car knocked me off my bike - just drove through me and the car behind it ran over my arm - breaking it in 4 places. Suprising how hard you can hit with one arm.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by secular

I had a spectaculer RTA involving a parked tractor.

<snip>

Ouch, glad to hear you are alive and in reasonable shape considering.

One question. Did the insurance companies decide who was at fault. Looking at the diagram, you would have hit that doing 40 or 60 (the road limit). Seems a pretty daft place to park a tractor.

My Accidents.

Whilst learning I clipped wing mirrors on my dads car while he was passenger, no damage. After passing did much the same with the whole family in the car, broke the glass.

Worked for perfect pizza and drove their van, a 950 cc Ford festa popular. First and impressively no damage close shave was me whizzing through a gap between two cars that was a little tight and realising that both wing mirrors ended up folded into the sides, perpaps a little too tight! Big dent i put into that was reversing it into a space beside a wall i turned right not left and bent up the front wing.

Totalled my first peugeot 205, aged 18. An 1.4 XS, which actually did a pretty good job holding its own against the 1.6i. Anyway on the A414 between the Hadhams and A10 the car in front of me went round the bend, the one behind stopped and missed me. I did a 360 deg pirouette bounced off the hedge on the opposite side of the road and that was that. Luckily nothing coming the other way. Why - possibly new front tyres and older (4mm) rear tyres. I know now that the tyres with better grip should go on the back of a FWD car, so the front hung on and the rear lost it. Admiral insurance have never given me a competitive quote since!

Next accident was a couple of years ago (30). Guy in a white escort (30s) van backed into me in hertford town centre as he was trying to get out of the way of the bus coming toward him on the one way section in town. New front bumper on my car £250, no damage to his. The towing hook on his did most the damage.

Two weeks ago 33 backed into a car in a stevenage carpark. no damage to either. The other guy was suprisingly pleasant about it. Got out looked, shouted over, no damage done and drove off!