The wife had a car accident.
The wife left work and was lined up at the T intersection of "ROAD A" and "ROAD B" where traffic banks up
every day. She was the next car to pull out from "ROAD A" onto "ROAD Bs" traffic Island (Turning right/heading west)
The wife proceeded to the middle part of the road (The Island). She was the first car to the traffic island.
As traffic was coming from the left, she looked and waited for traffic to pass. A few cars went passed, then all was clear.
She proceeded to take off when CRUNCH. She then realised it was a car she hit from behind. This other car has come on the inside of the wife at the traffic island, whilst she was waiting on the island for oncomming traffic to pass.
1) If my wife hits a car from behind is it always her "fault"?
2) Can a car "push in" inside of a car at a traffic island?
I had a look at the road rules online today but I didnt have much luck- nothing really discusses "traffic islands". If in the eyes of the law its her fault, fair game.
But im not going to just pay an excess if the other driver is in the wrong.
Your thoughts?
I would say she has a duty of care to make sure she is clear. She hit a stationary car, I doubt it matters how it got there or whether it was morally right to push in unfortunatly.
I think lightwood is unfortunately right.
It sucks and you wonder wtf the other person was doing, effectively trying to push in, but I'd imagine it is hard to argue against hitting a stationary car..
I think in NSW its an offense to drive on a traffic island or those parts of the road painted in big stripes. If so its just fo this reason, so drivers know areas are in the clear or not, without having to look. However I think in a rear end collision the driver at the rear is always at fault.
Best to talk to a police officer or the insurance company. They will have more experience.
Bingo-Thank you.
I'll make sure this goes into the insurance report.
Btw, both cars were moving at the time of the accident (less than 5kms hour)
I'd say you're in the wrong for letting her out of the kitchen.
really!? Women driving cars? now i've heard it all.
I'm pretty sure if both vehicles were moving - she is in the clear. As per link posted - it's illegal to pass on the right of a turning vehicle regardless of duty of care as her attention should be to where she's turning and to her left to check for oncoming traffic - good luck with it.
Right and wrong is irrelevant. There's no forum for her to contest the issue. Surely you're not thinking of engaging a lawyer and suing the other driver are you? You give the details to the insurance company and they sort it out.
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..
Right and wrong is irrelevant. There's no forum for her to contest the issue. Surely you're not thinking of engaging a lawyer and suing the other driver are you? You give the details to the insurance company and they sort it out.
Right or wrong is relevent, if you don't end up having to pay an excess. Two cars have been damaged in this incident.
I agree the insurance company will sort it out no doubt, that being said, no harm in looking into the matter for my own self education.
Friend was in an accident a few months back where someone was REVERSING DOWN THE MOTORWAY because they missed the tunnel they wanted to go through. Friend was the third in the conga line that almost hit him, and waited a second or so to see what would become of the tyres screeching behind them. One car eventually cleaned up the six or so in the conga line in front of them.
The guy that was reversing down the motorway drove off and, according to the police at the scene, wasn't at fault (although they agreed he was a complete dick, how unfair etc. etc.).
Unfortunately if you impact with someone in front of you you are usually at fault. You have to maintain a safe distance to avoid an impact, with anything.
Hey Mr. Oath!
First rule is, don't admit any liability.
Not all accidents are 100% the fault of one driver only.
Reading what you said, it appears there was fault on both sides,.. maybe 50/50.
The other car was not free to proceed until the way was clear, and since a collision resulted, the way could not have been clear, to the extent that driving into that position put the other car in the position of likely accident.
The fact there was an accident is proof of that.
Secondly, since your wife hit a stationary car, it is proof that she did not check sufficiently to ensure that the direction she was about to move in was clear.
It happens to the best of us (except me of course 
) and there's not much you can do about it.
We just don't have sufficient eyes to check all directions at once.
Evolution will take care of that in a few thousand years and we will eventually have either eyes in the back of our head or maybe our eyes will slide around to the side of our heads so we can have peripheral vision out the back.
How long can she wait? It might take some time.
Until then, just tell her to be more careful.
Ooops, I mean "tactfully suggest" she be more careful. 
Select to expand quoteUnderoath said..
This other car has come on the inside of the wife at the traffic island, whilst she was waiting on the island for oncomming traffic to pass.
Fkn retard.. I hate it when turds do that.. on either side!
I don't mind if they come along the left side, provided they stop far enough back for me to continue to view the oncoming traffic. I will normally pull up as far to the right of the island as possible to stop anybody coming up that side. It also gives you the upper hand in controlling the other car ie, if they start to pull out, you can too and dictate to them what lane they/you use. Might seem a little aggressive (but it's not really).
I hope ya miss's doesn't get screwed on this one...
I would think that the fault would have to be allocated to the other driver, who was clearly undertaking an illegal maneuver (overtaking a vehicle turning right), during which an accident occurred.
It is possible joint liability could be apportioned though as technically she should have looked forward to ensure the way was clear, but generally if one vehicle is breaking a traffic law and it contributed to the accident then they are usually left holding the bag....
Select to expand quoteToph said...
I don't mind if they come along the left side, provided they stop far enough back for me to continue to view the oncoming traffic. I will normally pull up as far to the right of the island as possible to stop anybody coming up that side. It also gives you the upper hand in controlling the other car ie, if they start to pull out, you can too and dictate to them what lane they/you use. Might seem a little aggressive (but it's not really).
I hope ya miss's doesn't get screwed on this one...
I drive aggressively to this effect also, IMO few people realise these subliminal driving skills and being able to control traffic flow etc with these tactics. These are great to keep d!kc heds like the one that caused the accident at bay.
Good luck.
Select to expand quoteUnderoath said..
The wife had a car accident.
The wife left work and was lined up at the T intersection of "ROAD A" and "ROAD B" where traffic banks up
every day. She was the next car to pull out from "ROAD A" onto "ROAD Bs" traffic Island (Turning right/heading west)
The wife proceeded to the middle part of the road (The Island). She was the first car to the traffic island.
As traffic was coming from the left, she looked and waited for traffic to pass. A few cars went passed, then all was clear.
She proceeded to take off when CRUNCH. She then realised it was a car she hit from behind. This other car has come on the inside of the wife at the traffic island, whilst she was waiting on the island for oncomming traffic to pass.
1) If my wife hits a car from behind is it always her "fault"?
2) Can a car "push in" inside of a car at a traffic island?
I had a look at the road rules online today but I didnt have much luck- nothing really discusses "traffic islands". If in the eyes of the law its her fault, fair game.
But im not going to just pay an excess if the other driver is in the wrong.
Your thoughts?
In Dubai, women are not allowed to drive. Hence you should move there and enjoy no drama's with accidents and excess.
I hate the way that it has to be one persons fault with cars. The boat system is much better, where they work out a % blame for each captain. That recognises everyone has a duty to prevent accidents, regardless of what the actual rules are.
Yep the other driver is to blame, well here in QLD anyways. You can not try to overtake a turning vehicle.
I arse ended a stupid woman driver a couple of years back who stalled her car in the wet taking off from traffic lights. I slid and hit her. Not much damage to my car only a scratched bumper and bent bar behind the bumper, but $3500 damage to hers.
She had only just picked up the brand new car 2 weeks earlier and she was not licensed to drive a Manual vehicle. The insurance company knew this and I was still to blame even though she was driving illegally. I was with ANZ insurance at the time, when I switched to RACQ I was talking to one of there Accident Vehicle Inspectors about it, he said that they would have passed the blame to her due to not having correct licence.
Always take pictures of the scene of the accident, your car and theirs, their licence and rego plate as well as any other cars that may have seen what happened, even if they dont stop try to get pics of their rego plate, and if anyone stop to help, get pics of their licence and car as well. This is what the inspector told me to do next time. And also get who they are insured by as well, If they are insured.
Don't forget all the other driver has to say is they were in front and pulled out first, your wife followed her out and hit her. Did she grab any witness names?
I haven't really read the topic, but here's a good recommendation to use CommInsure...
We have been with CommInsure for about 7 or 8 years.
I have had to make 2 claims, because the wife is a general "hack" when parking...
CommInsure have been great to deal with. Sorted it out very quickly (both times), and no fuss.
We tick the "don't lose rating 1" box, or what ever it is called.
Both claims have been our fault. Policy Price has not gone up...
So finally, after paying insurances for 20 years... we finally get to "use" it!
Details...............
One of the claims we made... the wife had already made miscellaneous damage to the front bumper, via "touch parking" into columns, walls, etc! Then month later, rear-ended someone. Front end damage was about $10k (on our Suby Forrester). $500 excess... The silly lady that my wife hit, well she got out of her car, verbally abused my wife (rightfully! - sort of!), and drove off in a huff without exchanging details...! She had a big 4WD with a trye on the back... The trye made a huge imprint into the front of The Suby, and pushed the bonnet up quite a bit... Missed the head lights, and pushed metal back to within 10mm of the radiator... And the quarter panels got pushed back too... Weird... Only 10-15km per hour or so though... But I guarantee, the next weekend, the husband would have opened the back tail-gate (on the other car), to find some decent damage...! Her fault for driving off!...
