I've used a satelite phot (cheers google earth) to show the road layout, and I've marked on the 2 vehicles involved in a crash.
Vehicle A is coming down a sloped road, which was covered in ice and snow, and B had just turned off a main road, across the road A was driving on in an attempt to either go down the smaller side road or do a u-turn, the vehicles are marked in the positions just before impact.
Who is to blame?
Superficially both of them as they should be driving with due caution for the road they can see ahead.
Without further information[1] it is impossible to apportion blame.
[1] eg one of them wasn't paying attention, was going too fast, was pissed, off their head, had a defective car etc etc.B
Middle of day, good light conditions, no one had had a drink, both cars in excellent condition, impact at about 5-8mph, front of car A hits passenger door of car B, that is to say, car B is parallel across the lane A was driving in
Ah - so you mean B was turning right after left, ie straight in front of A?
That isn't clear to me from the photo - it looks like B is going straight up the road A just came down with a parked car to avoid - which is obvious enough.
So did B start the turn befor A was in sight and did A not see B due to the parked car?
Car B turned left off the main road in order to either go into the side road directly in front of him, or to swing the car around in a u-turn, whichever manouvre he was attempting, he was surprised to see car car A on his left skidding down the hill about 8 feet away from him. Car A was just as flabberasted to approach a t-junction, only to find car B appear in the lane straight in front of him and had no chance of stopping. If Car B had looked left he would have seen the oncomng vehicle and stopped, and this was the only opportunity to avoid a collision and it wasn't taken.
The main road and the t-junction were free of snow and ice, and therefore car B was going at some speed when he took the corner(s)
Then I would say B was at fault or at least bore the greater proprtion of blame.
A was disadvantaged by the hill and could not be reasonably expected to assume someone might appear from his right side across his path.
B should have been able to see A coming or if the parked car was obscuring the view, B should have proceeded with extreme caution and very slowly.
I take it you or someone you know were in car A?
immediately before the accident (and that is what it seems to me) and *B* turns right in front of *A* -- then *B* is clearly at fault.
Besides, irrespective of the parked car. *B* should have stopped and made sure that the road was clear before turning right across the the other lane and taken into account that in the conditions at the time.
Eepecially the fact it would be difficult for any oncoming vehicle to stop (even if very slow moving) on a downwards slope with ice on the highway.
Are they any more factors that have been left unwritten here?
Cash
Didn't you like the answers?
TF
Why do people keep mentioning a parked car? The car you can see in the photo is not likely to still have been there!
Well obviously the satelite shot was taken in summer, some years ago, but on the day of the collision, there were parked cars on that corner where car B turned left, although probably not exactly in the position the one in the photo is in.
I would say that neither driver could see the other one until about a second, or maybe 1.5 sec before impact
What did they say ?
Well, that is a fair point - though it may be a favourite parking spot.
If the car wasn't there, it goes against B even more.
Quite agree with you Andy, my error. Now if there was not parked car there at the time of the accident (or any other obstruction for that matter), then the cause of the accident is a 'no-brainer' - *B* is at fault.
Cash
From that photograph, then I would say that both drivers shouldn't be on the road, but *B* is still at fault, that vehicle crossed into the path of an oncoming vehicle - full stop!
Cash
There were only one or two definitive answers and then most of the thread went off on a tangent about highway code and the legality of u-turns, besides, this is a satelite shot rather than my piss-poor attempt at painting a picture.
In article , Phil L scribeth thus
B if he/she crossed the path of A..
I've uploaded a new picture showing a zoomed-out shot.
The yellow dotted line was the path of 'B', the red blob is a parked car and 'A' is in green.
The blue star is where the collision occured
time, on the basis that AIUI, Google satellite images aren't real-time images, and can be of an area weeks, months or even years earlier.
Irrespective of the presence of snow and ice, car B is turning across the road down which car A is traveling, when he should have given way, so B is to blame. Unless of course car B remained on his side of the road but pointing towards the side road, and car A lost control and skidded across the road to the opposite side and hit car B. In which case I would say that technically car A is to blame as car B did nothing wrong, and the driver of car A lost control of his vehicle, however accidental that might have been.
But without a courtroom full of independent witnesses, I'll bet the insurance companies just treat it as another 'knock-for-knock'.
Whoever was out of position when the accident occurred: As the image is marked, both are in the correct positions and would not have collided.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.