[Closed] Bumping a car at a roundabout

It's your fault.

I've done the same.

It was my fault.

I've done the same, it was my fault. It was a knackered old fiesta, youngish girl driving, I bumped her at about 5 mph, minor damage to rear bumper, nothing on my car. Cost my insurance company £15,000.

Driving into the back of a car is almost always your fault - legally and morally.

Your fault. Not even up for debate.

Sorry. Your fault, that one.

There was no need to be eyes right until the vehicle in front of you had moved off and you were sure your way was clear.

You were just rushing the process by trying to be a step ahead.

... but you have to have your eyes to the right to pull away

You don't. Once you are sure there's nothing coming round, you can look forwards, then pull away.

Having said that, I've done exactly what you did. Was my fault.

I had a chap hammer his breaks on at green lights and I gave him a big bump . Was most surprised to find him extremely apologetic , and we were both driving pretty old cars , so nothing else was said..

It was mrs_oab's fault.

She did the same.

It was her fault.

Two day old (to us) car she was driving too...

I know i will get the blame on here probably

Yep .... and everywhere else 👍

but you have to have your eyes to the right to pull away

Briefly yes, but not at the expense of looking where you are going 😆

Ps. I’ve done the same.
And it was my fault.

I’ll never do it again though, lesson learnt.

And I’ve had it done to me twice 😳

Crash4cash?

either your fault, or classic insurance scam

they pick roundabouts because you will be looking to the right, not where you are going, when you should be looking where you are going, not still checking that it's clear to proceed, which of course it will be because you won't have proceeded if it wasn't

definitely watch out for an insurance claim for 4 whiplashes, irrespective of the number of people in the car, and the fact that it was such a light graze

I've done the same but was going at a fair old clip watching the traffic on the roundabout only to suddenly realise the car in front was hanging about rather cautiously so I did the honourable thing and rammed it. Apparently it was my fault and you're not supposed to ram stationary cars. Who knew?

The victims wanted to avoid going to insurance as the damage was imperceptible but the BMW dealer they took the car to reckoned it was a 1500 quid job, so the insurance company earned their premium that time.

Easily done - although I've not yet done the same thing, it has been close too often. Recently I've started to look only at the back of the car in front and not to look right until there's no car in front of me.

Been there, done that...as trail_rat says

There was no need to be eyes right until the vehicle in front of you had moved off and you were sure your way was clear.

Done that, was a bit keen to get to work that day.
Luckily for me was a long time ago, guy was a bit hacked off but no obvious damage so I got a light ticking off and we both carried on..

I've done it too! Was following my mate to his house. Roundabout looked clear so I went.. he didn't, as he was making sure there was enough space for both of us (there was! 🙂 ) and I boshed his company car. My fault and an absolute nightmare to get sorted 100 miles from home!

Recently I’ve started to look only at the back of the car in front and not to look right until there’s no car in front of me.

Yep, this is me. Or at least 80% of my attention is in front with the Merest flicks to the right. Until I know they are gone (proper gone not thinking about going gone)

Everyone should go drive on the continent - roundabouts the wrong way around just mess with your mind a little bit and make you think a little harder again.

I did similar on my bike once. Riding quite fast and about to turn right car ahead of me waiting to turn right. He started to go thru a gap and then stopped. I ended up sitting on his boot! absolutly my fault.

Am I the only one who's been hit from behind at a roundabout? He wasn't expecting me to wait for oncoming traffic and tried to blame me... Insurers put him straight.

definitely watch out for an insurance claim for 4 whiplashes, irrespective of the number of people in the car, and the fact that it was such a light graze

The girl I bumped included the trauma of not being able to attend the gym for two weeks following the incident in her claim. The car was a write off as well apparently. I queried it with my insurer and the guy just said "yeah, we know it's dodgy but there's nothing we can do, it's not worth the hassle."

either your fault, or classic insurance scam

It's still your fault even if it's a scam, that's why it's successful. Just watch the car in front until they're properly gone.

Bumped a car on a roundabout in Worthing like this once. Both got out, no damage so the guy said no worries and off we went.

It's so easy to look right, see nothing coming and falsely assume that the car in front has obviously moved off.

Am I the only one who’s been hit from behind at a roundabout?

No. Happened to me too. Chap behind decided to go, unfortunately he was third in the queue and the chap in front of me didn't go so I didn't either.

No its not njee - usually the scammers have removed brake lights - then its not your fault

I have had it done to me before. Unfortunately I was on a bike at the time 🙁

Happened to me too, a couple of days before due to be dropping the car off at the dealers in part exchange. To be fair what they knocked off the value with the cracked bumper was less than my excess.

Annoying, my fault but felt slightly better when checked my dash cam that they had pulled onto the roundabout then stopped.

I luckily haven't had a crash like this (probably as i only drive one or two days a week) but understand how it happens. Just give roundabouts loads of caution and if approaching at speed make sure you have enough braking distance to the car in front.

The roundabouts round where I live are absolutely terrible and people seem unable to use them properly. I've had some really close calls where other drivers ignore lanes (on roundabouts where the lanes are actually drawn on for you) and just cut you up. On the bad roundabouts I now wait for other people to go first just to avoid the say 1 in 10 chance someone will duo that.

I once (15 years ago) had a very stupid crash by turning right in front of an oncoming car that I just didn't see. To this day I have no idea how I didn't see it. I'd just left work and was pretty stressed about something else from what I can remember. That was a light bulb moment for me and I ditched owning a car for the next 5 years and biked / took the bus everywhere. So I'm not immune to stupid crashes / mistakes.

No its not njee – usually the scammers have removed brake lights – then its not your fault

That’s not black and white at all. A lack of working brake lights doesn’t mean you can just drive into someone who stops in a wholly legitimate place. Ultimately if you’re watching the car in front brake lights are an irrelevance anyway. How do you pull out of a roundabout behind a cyclist? Are you not at fault if you run them down?

It’s your fault.

I’ve done the same.

It was my fault.

I'll add a "me too" here also.

Donkey's years ago now, I was second in line to enter a roundabout. Roundabout was completely clear, guy in front pulled away, I set off, looked round the roundabout, still clear, looked forward again to find (too late) that he'd driven forwards about two feet and then inexplicably stopped. Thud. My fault, lesson learned.

The only crash I've had was similar to the OP, it was dark but you could easily tell if cars were coming or not (headlights) from the right at the roundabout. I'd slowed down to a crawl, saw the only car in front pull onto the roundabout, looked right to double-check no cars, started to accelerate as I turned my head forward only to see the other car had stopped on the roundabout and I couldn't stop in time.

Only hit it at max 10mph, front of my metro was damaged a bit and the back of their car had an obvious dent, they were fine and casually mentioned it was the second time they'd been hit that day. Ended up costing about £3k on insurance and I'm sure they just made one claim against me for all the damage (although in reality there was no chance it was all me). Still it was ultimately avoidable and my fault but annoying all the same.

Yep, also done it. some 20 odd years ago into the back of a nearly new Toyota Corolla. I had the police come round to interview me and then say I was likely to be prosecuted for driving without due care (which to be fair, was right). That seemed very harsh! Luckily, the whole claim etc got bogged down, the insurance company waiting for the 'prosecution' which was dropped by the cps. I paid no more for insurance and never even had to pay my excess. That's a win I think!

PS - it's your fault!

It's unfortunate that you didn't have a dashcam.

Then you could have reviewed the footage and clearly seen that it was your fault.

i had the opposite a few months back. turning right on a roundabout and a van pulled out quickly as I went past them. thought it was pretty close as I just cleared them.

got to work, and noticed a streak of paint on the rear bumper where they had just scuffed me.

but yeah. 100% the OP's fault. classic roundabout ****up.

I did it aged 18 in my parents' VW Kombi at a T junction. The mini in front of me moved then changed his mind, I was looking right, declutched and sent the mini flying right across the road. The driver and his pal turned out to be two of my former school teachers, the passenger was pissed because his wife had just had a difficult labour. He got me by the throat and shouted "You did that deliberately didn't you!" then tried to throw me off the railway bridge. My old English teacher waded in and pulled him off. I had to pay £7.00 for a new bumper for the Mini and there was no damage to the VW as the front bumper is solid steel.

I did the same, 20 years ago. Car started rolling, I'm looking right to see if anything's coming around rdbt, car in front stopped to light a cigarette. My fault of course.

I've come ever so close to doing the same. The driver in front may be an unpredictable ****wit, but it still would have been my fault for predicting their behaviour and driving in to them.

I got hit on a roundabout by a car in front of me! I’d been following her for several miles at less than 30mph, arriving at a roundabout she indicated right, I thought ‘hallelujah!’ and carried on, and there was a loud bang as she forced her way past me and smashed my front offside wing in!
When asked what she thought she was doing, she said I was driving too close, which I wasn’t, and when I pointed out she’d indicated she was turning right, she said she’d changed her mind!
And yes, I do know it’s a woman’s privilege to change her mind at any time, but I’m certain that doesn’t include breaking rules as laid down in the Highway Code.
That was last August, and so far my insurance company have still failed to get anything back from her insurer! It may yet go to court...
#rollseyes

My pet-hate is mini roundabouts. You approach in the opposite direction to someone else and you're both turning right. You decide to go around, only for them to cut over the top (or avoid it altogether) and drive in front of you...
Who thought of mini roundabouts? They're like that bag of odd bits that you get with a new bike and you can't work out either what they're for or what you're supposed to do with them

Driving the college mini-bus to a practical in the Lakes, my mates in front of us in his Landy and in front of him is the lecturer in his car. We come to a roundabout my mate in the Landy does as the op and rear ends lecturers car, then the bugger puts it in reverse, everyone in my mini-bus is shouting "you're rolling" but my foot is hard on the brake, it's Landy boy coming backwards at us. We are no longer friends.

I did exactly the same as the OP, and assumed it was entirely my fault. The driver in front said, as the OP, that he saw a car coming from the right. In my case he'd also stopped unexpectedly about 10m before the roundabout, and I'd stopped behind him no problem. When the whiplash claims came in my insurer (LV) suspected a scam, asked me for more details, sent a PI round to take a formal statement they could use in court and refused the other driver's claim.

Thirty years ago, I ran into the back of a mini at a roundabout “if I’m quick, I can get out too” I thought. The nice old couple were on their way to the crem, for their son’s service.

Desperate.