Basically got an interview at the police station tommorow.

I was caught up in the middle of a 3 car accident but was luckily the only one who didnt get hit suprisingly.

Basically i was coming down a main A road, and indicated to turn right, there was a set lane, clearly marked out which you pull into to turn right, allowing for traffic behind you to pass freely, and you wait in the turning lane until on coming traffic has cleared so you can turn right into the road.

Ive been using this road/junction/turning for the last 18 months with no issues.

Today i approached the lane to turn right, when a vauxhall zafira mpv newer shape being driven by a middle aged man, pulled out quick, he spotted me, slammed on his brakes, stopping in the middle of the road, he then got t boned by a passat coming from the opposite direction, right next to my drivers door, it made one hell of a bang, the passat was going some, all that happened was i got showered with the glass and debris of two cars, i panicked and pulled left, didnt even check my mirror or anything just initial instinct to move out the way, as i did, a car coming from behind me swerved, hit the embankment span out and took out a road sign.

So some old guy has pulled out, got t boned at about 60mph by a passat, and ive caused someone to take evasive action and they have span out into a roadsign pole.

The guy who i caused to spin out wasn't injured and wasn't too bothered and he could see the reasons why i took evasive action, im just glad the passat didn't swerve to avoid the zafira because he would have hit me head on, and i was doing about 20 - 30 as i braked for the lane, as the older guy pulled out, and bang, happened so quick, i didnt know what to do, where to go, who to go to, another car came tanking up the road and nearly took out the guy i caused to spin out and ended up spinning out himself and ended up facing the wrong way on the wrong side of the road.

The zafira driver is in critical life threatening condition in hospital, the passat driver broke a leg, an arm and has facial injuries because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt, the other guy is ok was just shook up, basically the police are coming to interview me tommorow about what happened.

I don't really know what to say other than it was the zafira guys fault, he went to pull out and didnt look left and see me, he only saw me after id approached the turning lane, he panicked, stopped and then got t boned by the passat, and then obviously i swerved to avoid being part of the sandwich and caused a car coming in the opposite direction to spin out?

Could i be in trouble for causing the other car to crash? Or will it all be nailed on the zafira driver, at the minute, myself, the passat driver and another witness all blaming the zafira driver and all said he pulled out without checking left, blocked the road and caused an unavoidable accident.

 

logic would dictate that it would all be nailed on the zafira driver.

however it doesnt always work that way and it wouldnt surprise me if the insurers decided you were at fault for the spin off car and fucked you for it.

 

my friend was involved in an accident on the motorway where he moved for the fast lane, realised there was a car in his blind spot so pulled back into the middle lane.
the woman in his blind spot panicked and hit the central reservation and span across 3 lanes of traffic and ended up smashed in the hard shoulder
my friend was cleared of this after a bit of a court battle with her trying to sue him and her insurance company trying to blame him but he was let off as his vehicle never contacted hers and she was deemed to have overreacted!
different circumstances to you i know but your outcome may be the same?

 

I would have thought the Zafira driver would get the rap for neglecting to look left in the first place, and he directly caused the rest of the things that happened..

 

Sounds like 2 different 'accidents' to me. You were careless in not observing what was going on around you which resulted in an 'incident'.

However I don't remember being taught to brake and swerve wildly to avoid a collision. So you could use that to your benefit.

Are you 100% sure a woman cannot be shouldered with the blame as that would immediately exonerate all involved male parties.

 

He is not careless at all. He was driving normally and did what he needed to avoid an accident after a blind arsehole put everyone in danger ( ie Zafira )

If other drivers are not observant enough to plan ahead, then they are careless or dangerous.

Even the guy behind should have seen the impending accident from the Zafira and Passat and aproached with caution.
But unless you made contact with the person behind, there is no way they can hold you in any way responsible for damage etc to his vehicle.

Stick to the story you have, draw diagrams if necessary and have everything clear in your head, sequence of events etc all written out if need be before going into the interview. Dont for one second second guess what you did. You drove in a sensible manner at all times yourself under the circumstances.
There was nothing else you could do based on what the other motorists were doing. You placed yourself properly on the road, indicators etc

 

The police have been and gone and are not taking it any further with me, but will be in touch if they need to take the Zafira driver to court, 3 cars wrote off and 2 people injured because of someones lack of due care, its not looking good for the Zafira driver, everyone else has been cleared of any blame or wrong doing, i didnt swerve fully back into the main road only just went over the white line (talking A road here the lanes are designed for lorries etc) everyone is claiming on the Zafira drivers insurance, im just lucky i didn't get hit, ive never had to hoover the outside of my car before, glass all down the cracks and crevices of the windscreen and scuttle, some how inside the boot, few scratches but ive managed to polish those out.

Thanks for the replies.