Near rear ending!!

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Near rear ending!!

watchyourbaK

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Where would i have stood legally, in the sense of being at fault if i had hit the back of the car i nearly did today as he had NO brake lights working at all:eek::eek:, and he must have really stood on his brakes to stop to let of all things a blooming bus out!? I was not tailgating at all, if i had i would have had a nasty accident but it has deffo made me more careful as there are some idiots out there.

Just wondering as usually rear ending someone is your fault but in this situation?!?!

Thanks

Rory
 
I'm afraid it's very difficult to prove it wasn't your fault when you rear-end some-one, even if their brake lights aren't working. If you could get the brake lights examined by an expert, he/she could prove they were't lit at the time of impact; if they were broken.

If they weren't lit at the time of the crash it could, possibly, prove they were broken before the impact.

But, it would probably need a fatality or near fatality to get that kind of expertise. Either that or you'd have to pay for the service yourself, which would almost certainly cost the equivalent of your No Claims Bonus and/or Excess.

The only other chance would be if an independant witness is prepared to make a statement that he/she also saw that the other car's brake lights weren't working.
 
Just to add to the Beard's post, if you rear end someone then the chances are their rear lights could be damaged in the process. Either that or they could argue that the impact caused the bulb filaments to break.

Also I'm fairly certain that a signalling bus pulling out has right of way so both you and the driver in front should've read the road ahead a little better ;)
 
Just to add to the Beard's post, if you rear end someone then the chances are their rear lights could be damaged in the process. Either that or they could argue that the impact caused the bulb filaments to break.

Also I'm fairly certain that a signalling bus pulling out has right of way so both you and the driver in front should've read the road ahead a little better ;)

Surely if your past the stage where its not safe to stop to let them out, and have to slam your breaks on like they did...

Edit - As it says in the highway code...'when you can do safely'...from what OP says...doesn't sound very safe.
 
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Highway code rule 223

'Buses, coaches and trams. Give priority to these vehicles when you can do so safely, especially when they signal to pull away from stops. Look out for people getting off a bus or tram and crossing the road.'

Hmmm that sounds more like a recommendation than a rule.... :chin:
 
I've been behind cars with no brake lights before and it would be very easy to go into the back of them even if they were braking normally. If they slammed on the brakes you did really well not to hit them. I expect someone else hit them up the back later on.
Maybe you should have told the person their brake lights weren't working?
 
i think there are quite a few people out there who do it on purpose to get an insurance claim.

i remember seeing an episode of casualty where someone removed his brake lights as a means of meeting woman by causing them to crash into the back of his car.

leaving work the other day i almost rear ended someone at low speed (sub 20mph) until i realised they had no brake lights atall, then i left a massive gap between him and myself and watched him approch a roundabout and brake certianly hard enough to put the brake lights on if they had been working.
 
You've got to be careful these days. Some people are driving with brakelights they know to be faulty on the off-chance that someone will hit them and then they can sue you, particularly during this credit crunch. And I'm not sure that absence of brake lights is even a valid defence when you have run up the back of somebody.
 
i think there are quite a few people out there who do it on purpose to get an insurance claim.

i remember seeing an episode of casualty where someone removed his brake lights as a means of meeting woman by causing them to crash into the back of his car.

leaving work the other day i almost rear ended someone at low speed (sub 20mph) until i realised they had no brake lights atall, then i left a massive gap between him and myself and watched him approch a roundabout and brake certianly hard enough to put the brake lights on if they had been working.

I remember that episode :LOL:
 
Surely if your past the stage where its not safe to stop to let them out, and have to slam your breaks on like they did...

Edit - As it says in the highway code...'when you can do safely'...from what OP says...doesn't sound very safe.

The OP says he nearly ran into the back of someone because their brake lights weren't working. He didn't say the bus pulled out causing everyone to brake suddenly. By reading the road ahead the OP would've seen the signalling bus before the person in front braked, and using foresight would've approached with caution knowing that there was a likelihood that the car in front of him would brake to let the bus out.
 
The OP says he nearly ran into the back of someone because their brake lights weren't working. He didn't say the bus pulled out causing everyone to brake suddenly. By reading the road ahead the OP would've seen the signalling bus before the person in front braked, and using foresight would've approached with caution knowing that there was a likelihood that the car in front of him would brake to let the bus out.

haha...I'm getting confused with another thread now lol...
 
Most people don't give a stuff about the condition of their cars and won't bother to replace a bulb out until MOT time (if they bother with such things) as they CBA getting services done unless it's in warranty :bang:

On a side-note, I hate busses that pull out when you are overtaking and alongside them and can clearly see their mirrors (so assuming they can see whichever brightly coloured blob I happen to be in at the time). Many times I have nearly been sideswiped by such blind/ ignorant bus drivers :bang: should point out that if I'm behind and haven't moved alongside to overtake, I'll flash them out unless I'm in a massive rush (y)
 
when a bulb is broken when lit and not when lit the filament breaks differently
and 1 week after getting car i almost went into someone
accelerating from roundabouts and lights were at red as i came off in rain skidded quite a bit was 3 feet from car in front by time i stopped (he was stationary all the time)
 
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