"I know someone who was at lights and the guy in front put his car in reverse instead of first (on some cars they are next to one another) and shot back and smashed into this guy's car and then tried to claim he'd been ****-ended!"

Hope his name wasnt Stuart Mallebone, I had this done to me, he reversed right into my car (I was at a standstill), smashed it up, and after getting out, acted appologetically.

Imagine my surprise when I get a letter saying it was my fault etc, then, before court, he came up with one of the "witnesses" you mentioned, and I got the blame, losing a large amount of money I could ill afford in the process.

If you do this, you should get locked up, its more of a **** than I can tell you.

 

fourpenneth worth time...

Paul M, same thing happened to me at a junction. Bosh in his boot. I also fear it was deliberate as the road was clear, I knew him and at the time we agreed no damage to his car. Subsequently he tried to get £400 off me for damage!!!

I was upset, as far as I was concerned it was his fault, but it taught me a lesson. Look at least twice at junctions, including in front of you and don't follow too close... EVER.

I am continually spotting mark points and counting to 3 and at higher speeds 4.

I'm not holier than though coz it happend to me but you should accept that the law will almost certainly find against you and learn from the mistake, which was to trust the driver in front of you not to behave in an erratic manner.

Dave

 

On a similar vein, I had a woman in a Morris Minor roll backwards towards me when waiting at a roundabout on a hill. Despite me beeping at her she continued to roll back. I had to put the car in reverse and reverse about 20 feet to avoid her hitting me. Lucky for me there was no-one behind. I subsequently found out that if she'd hit me it would have been my fault! [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

 

Why does Juan continue to spew his sweeties all over this thread. READ what has been stated by myself and you will LEARN. God I am bored with such childish behaviour.
This is a serious post about a serious thing, even the Insurance Companies have got wise (Radio 1).

 

Hi alan i can sympathise with you! i think (IMHO) alot of people dont live in the real world, alot of moral high grounders and hollier than thou attitudes, no one ever speeds (yet they have all chosen to buy 215bhp plus cars) everyone indicates and everyone leaves a good 25 foot gap from the car in front pulling away fromm the lights. just have a look in the next traffic queue tomorrow and see how many do leave such great gaps? very few probably as they are not expecting the **** in front to slam on! even coppers proceed fairly prompt pulling away from the lights to the car in front, try slamming on when he/she is behind you and see if the busys pull it up in time. so just a note for the morning i hope all you people going into the major citys remember what you have posted and keep 25 feet from the car in front at all times cause i would hate someone to reverse into you for a claim and you were sat right behind them. fcking hell we will have gridlock from lands end to john o groats. and no racing through amber lights cause your late someone may slam up when you least expect it. were not perfect no one is and if anyone reckons they are there bullsh1t1ng. what goes around comes around. cheers Lee

 

Lee P,
I dont think most of the posters on here are saying that they ALWAYS leave a 25ft gap ALL the time, and have never speeded, what people are saying, including myself, is that, if you drive to close, so that when someone in front slams on (for whatever reason) and you go into the back of them, then unfortunately, you were too close and legally it's your fault!

 

This thread seems to be going the way of "everybody drives too close so that makes it OK". Sure we all drive a bit too close at times, and sure at times we all break the speed limit.

So, we are doing 40 in a 30 zone and PC Plod pulls us over. How far is "Everybody else does it so that makes it OK" gonna get you? Nowhere is my guess.

Alan, I feel for you in a way because at the end of the day the person in front caused the accident - if she hadn't slammed on, then this thread wouldn't be here and your front bumper would be still firmly attached.

But, if you were keeping a reasonable distance back the accident wouldn't have happened. Sure she slammed on twice, but I wonder how much bravado there was in accelerating away after the first time she slammed on. (I am not making any accusations - who am I to do that when I wasn't even there?) Realising that she was taking your driving to heart, I think the best bet would have been to ease off and keep out of her way until it was safe to overtake.

Sure, you might see it as your right to keep moving and why should you make the effort off keeping out of her way? Then again, what is important - bravado or getting to your destination with your car intact and yourself and your child safe and sound?

 

aye.

read carefully dipwit and you will see that I am not saying others don't do it. Just that if they go into the back of someone, be it a slammer or not, they accept that its their fault. You only get caught by em if you're too close. Its that simple.

ffs! How can you fail to understand that if you were a safe distance behind you wouldn't have hit her. why were you accelerating 4 meteres from the back of her car after she had already slammed on? Why don't you answer that question? probably because you were 'showing her' that she can't mess with you that easily. but she did.
Its obvious from your posts that you are one of these idiots who doesn't have regard for other road users or their property. your attitude sucks. problem is you still won't learn not to be an idiot. Think of your kid mate.

sorry if I sound holier than thou to some but this guy is a jerk.
I live in the real world and have never had anyone slam on me, and very rarely been in a situation where I thought I wouldn't be able to stop should something bad happen in front. Thats the best way to drive - assume the worst. Makes you, your passengers, and your drive more comfortable.

I'd be interested to hear how many other times people have braked in front of you.

best regards

 

I'd just like to say that after reading this thread I was more aware of keeping a "safe" distance from the car in front on my way home last night. However all that happened was that people kept pulling out into that gap I'd left effectively making me too close to them. So I slow down again to ensure a "safe" distance from the car in front which has just pulled out and what happens.......yes you guessed it somebody else pulls into the gap. Now if this had carried on I'd have never got home last night.

Cheers

Guy

 

Guy,

This is the one area that I disagree with Paul Ripley on. On modern crowded roads and motorways, it is very hard to maintain a safe distance from the car in front because cars keep moving into the safe distance that you have left. If the person who has suddenly moved into your safe distance - and before you have a chance to create a new safe distance - has to brake hard in an emergency, there is a good chance you will hit the back of them. In inner city areas the problem is magnified - loonies in Central London will move into a gap that is 0.0001mm longer than their car.

 

Jerome, when I was in Milan I saw people move into spaces that were a good foot less than the length of the car at some speed. Seems about the norm...

 

I wonder if JUAN and ALANJACK are one and the same, and there's a bit of Devils Advocatting going on here?

My personal take on all this is that the thread has encouraged me to be more aware of my own spacing. Its impossible to be a mind reader of the guy /gal in front, and its a case of assuming the worst will happen and planning for it.

For my sins, I cycle a lot at weekends, and one thing you learn very early on our roads, if you intend to remain alive, is that you can't trust any other road user to be predictable. It only takes one nutter you "trust" to wipe you out. I'm always on the defensive when on the bike. Seems the best way to behave on the road regardless of what form of transport you're using.

Cheers,

Richie

 

Jerome I too agree that Paul ripley is being far too optimistic (like a lot of posters on here ) about maintaining gaps on motorways. It simply doesn't work.

I d like to know what Mways Ripley goes on because they sure aren't the same ones we use.

Also, his so-called "Dangerous Moments" series in the Telegraph always seemed totally innocuous compared to the real life dangerous moments I see daily on my travels due to appalling driving standards in this country. I reckon he drives solely in the Channel isllands or something!

 

too right!

Ripley never mentions the single most dangerous moment in any drivers career: approaching any large Volvo, particularly if its an old model,from behind.

This usually results in oblivious volvo/tank driver carrying out a sudden totally unindicated maneuver into ones path.

 

Juan,

Sorry, but I laughed out loud reading your post.

You have obviously never driven in Central London then?

The whole safe distance situation is worse there than on the motorways. There is so little road space, and so many people desparate to change lanes to gain another 3 millionths of a second, that it is often virtually impossible to maintain a safe gap. You just try to maintain a "safe as could be expected in the circumstances" gap.

 

One thing that I have learned in my driving career involving an MR2 and now a 300ZX is that you can never trust another road user with anything. Sure, they may be indicating and yes, there may be a turning coming up, but they may have forgotten to turn it off from before.

I have been guilty of tailgating, I admit it, but then I add up just how much damage would be done to my car if I hit the person in front and realise that no matter what, it just isn't worth it, so I back off.

And every young (and some not so young) male driver I meet on the road appears to want to race - what's that all about? Some people can't stand being overtaken by a blonde female in a flash sports car or simply to be behind same and then try to hitch a lift in my boot. I do approximately 300 miles a week and I have seen so many accidents that I just don't bother getting edgy if someone cuts me up now. I just pull back. I'm sure my family would want me to get anywhere half an hour later and alive, then attempt to be on time and dead because I drove erratically.

Slamming on the brakes is an indication of dangerous driving, or at the very least driving without due care and attention, due to what it could potentially cause the person behind to do. However, no one brake tests their car without a reason and that reason is usually because they feel that the car behind is simply too close. I don't condone either action.

In the Highway Code it states that you should simply slow down to try to avoid these situations. Once got down to 7mph on the M1 at 2am once due to someone attempting to sniff my exhaust gases from an inch away. 2 perfectly clear lanes to his right, but no, he has to stick right behind me in the slow lane. Muppet.

On the accident front, I always tend to carry one of those 1 film-wonder cameras just in case anything happens so that I can get an instant photgraphic record of where the cars are, conditions, road, everything.

 

If I follow someone and they start driving in an erratic manner I will drop back a bit more to give myself a bigger safety buffer, it's not rocket science, honest. There are enough idiots on the road trying to cause accidents already, it's quite satisfying to spot these potential situations developing and avoid the accident happening, regardless of how stupid and at fault etc the other driver/s is/are being. I would hope that if I had a momentary lapse of concentration and made a mistake that other drivers around me would accord me the same courtesy.

Good luck explaining it to the insurance company, especially if you mention the third party's erratic behaviour before your shunt.


Hos,

Re your comment :
"The safe thing to do if in a 30mph zone is to slow down to 10mph. The car is breaking the law by being too close and if they over take in a 30 zone. they are breaking the law even more."

Is it really illegal to overtake traffic in a 30mph speed limit? It's going to be annoying following those cyclists ahead of me in 30's from now on.

Moray

 

OK! question (to the chappy who originally crashed). If you found yourself behind this person again in a similar situation, would you give more room? course you would knowing what the driver is like. It is therefore best to assume that all road users may do silly actions like the person in front of you, then it won't happen again.

I appreciate that we are all human and make genuine mistakes from time to time, and bad road users don't help things, hopefully the person in front of you will get their comeuppance someday.

 

This woman will get her comuppence next time she's behind me and were BOTH driving on our own.
I wonder how old Juan is ? He talks like he's 17 or so and seems like the kind of person who'd tie a firework to cat to please his tired brain cell.
Don't mention me in the same breath as this tugger.
This man has annoyed me for one reason only he IS ignorant.
I beg him to post on this board when he gets HIS comuppence.
By the way, I only have a cracked grill on the Scoob and you wouldn't notice it. The woman had a scratched bumper.

 

Tiz but a fender bender then so no huge loss, but never the less seem 2 have stirred quite a few feelings on issues of tailgating & observance her chap
Si

 

you see Alanjack,
you ARE one of those who won't learn from your mistakes unlike most people. You've just said you will be at it again tomorrow. Well next time I hope you don't injure someone thats all.

and why don't you tell us why you were right up this woman's @rse doing 25 mph in a 30 limit in first gear again straight after she had already slammed on in front of you? You seem to forget to answer that one each time.

grow up mate. Why do you only have 2 years NCB? you're either young and hotheaded or have lost some through various claims that you have been made / have been made against you.

Leave a reasonable gap and stop endangering people. What a pr@t!

Man I'm not sure how someone as infantile as you managed to afford a nice car

 

Fight fight fight, lmao in the red corner Juan & in the blue corner alanjack. Lets have a clean fight no bitching or snipping, ah sod that this is much better, pmsl!!
Si

 

heh :-)

Sorry about my previous post. I am being childish!

I should follow alanJack's example and act like a big man and take responsibilty for my actions.
Hmm Don't know if I'm up to that yet. Maybe I'll just act like a kid instead and hurl childish insults instead. D'oh there I go again!

If I am unfortunate to have an accident and run into the back of someone Alan, I will come on the board and let you know if you really want to. Honest - I really will. Obviously I hope you will have a long wait but I will accept that I c0cked up by hitting another car up the backside if that happens. That will be the difference. How childish of me

luv and kisses,
Juan

 

Alanjack,

It is possible to rearend someone and still have the claim go against them. I personally have been in this position, but the circumstances were different. A number of years ago on a dual carriageway, I found my self overtaking a tanker the driver of which inexplicably decided to move into the outside lane without warning and without indication [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]. I ploughed into the rear of said wagon upto the windscreen , very unpleasant I'll tell you, the consequences still scare the $h1t outta me now had I been travelling 5 mph more!
Well the driver claimed all sorts, and I stated my view of events. I did have 4 witnesses traveling with me.
3 years it took to sort out, and other than my loss of NCB, and associated costs etc. I didn't make any other claims, it was settled in my favour.
My advice, get drivers legal protection and let them do the hard work, every rearend collision isn't so cut and dried.

Cube.

 

You are to blame - if you hit someone from behind its your fault. Cut and dried - tough.

 

Cheers Cube,It's much better reading normal sensible posts.

 

There is a saying that some female friends of mine keep spouting on about... you make love like you drive. I wonder if the same is true about posting on a BBS. Aggressive, taking things personally, rising to goading resulting in conflict instead of backing off.
Dunno, just a thought.
KF.

 

Got word from my insurers today and the Bitch in front was blamed for the incident.
I hope this serves a lesson to all drivers who try and stage a claim, the insurance companies are getting wise so don't do it your just being stupid.
PS my insurance has been reduced by £1042

[Edited by alanjack - 9/21/2002 10:28:23 PM]