Hi,
I witnessed an accident on a normal road (single carriage) which was caused by the car in front stopping in the opposite lane and having the following car hit it. This was caused by the tractor they were overtaking indicating to turn right.
Any views??
Peter
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My take on what you describe would be that the driver behind was at fault for not allowing himself sufficient space behind the lead vehicle to stop safely. The lead driver obviously thought he needed to stop to avoid an accident with the tractor.
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Thanks for the reply but does it change anything if the first car pushes out into the overtaking lane thereby not allowing the following car the space to brake??
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In general if you drive into the back of someone it is your fault.
Why not give us the full story in one go rather than dribbling information out?
Edited by adverse camber on 11/10/2008 at 12:04
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Why not give us the full story in one go rather than dribbling information out?
Quite right. The second post paints a different picture to that in the original.
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Oddly enough, this has happened to me - not the 'accident' part - but quite close enough.
I can't understand this 'space to brake' idea you have though - the following car must always leave enough space to brake in the space it makes for itself. It's like saying you're always justified (or not to blame) for crashing into the car in front. The car behind (the car) shouldn't have been that close.
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The following car can not assume anything until he can see that the road is clear for his overtake.
A tyre blow-out on the lead car, for example, would be un-avoidable by that driver, but might need the following car to brake/avoid.
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How can it be illegal to stop when the alternative is to crash into a tractor? No it isn't illegal.
Is this the scenario?
A tractor is being followed by Car A (immediately behind) and Car B (behind car A).
Driver B decides to overtake Car A and the tractor, commences pull out and accelerate.
Driver A more or less simultaneously decides to overtake tractor,pulls out ahead of Car B and accelerates.
Tractor indicates right.
Driver A brakes hard. Driver B, unsighted and too close, collides with Car A.
In these circs you might have some sympathy with Driver B. He has had to close his safety gap to begin overtaking, whereupon Car A has cut in front of him and stopped.
In practice this could be one of those accidents that's not one's fault, but which one could have avoided - e.g. if Driver B had time to react and back off as soon as Car A started to move out, rather than assuming he would complete the manoeuvre and ploughing on regardless, then that's what he should have done even if A was jumping into 'his' space.
Somewhere between poor or aggressive driving on A's part, if indeed he started his manoeuvre when B was already well into his overtake, or a lack of defensiveness on B's, if he had the opportunity to hang back when he saw A pulling out.
Unless the whole thing was captured on film, B is going to get the blame unless A volunteers for some.
Edited by Manatee on 11/10/2008 at 12:54
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Or was it that Car B saw that Car A was overtaking and decided to tack on behind, without being able to see clearly if there was room? I have seen this manoeuvre several times recently on an A road with limited overtaking areas - and a couple of near hits.
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>>In these circs you might have some sympathy with Driver B. He has had to close his safety gap to begin overtaking, whereupon Car A has cut in front of him and stopped.
Of course car B should have pulled out to get a good view before closing on A. No excuse for taking up the safety space.
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>>Of course car B should have pulled out to get a good view before closing on A. No excuse for taking up the safety space.
What I was hypothesising was that he had already done that if he was going to - but then he can't overtake without closing the gap at some point! Remember it is the tractor commencing a right turn that triggers the events, not oncoming traffic.
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Due care against the Tractor Driver failing to ensure OK to do right turn.
Due care against the one than ran up the backside care in front.
Obligation on ALL to stop and exchange details.
Get the office open PU.....
dvd
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Due care against the Tractor Driver failing to ensure OK to do right turn.
From what I read in the OP the tractor driver did not actually turn, he put his indicator on.
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