KB legal team question

[Bounce001]

A question for all you legal people out there!

My partner was driving to work (car) the other morning and stopped at an unmarked T intersection waiting to turn right. He gave way to 2 cars coming from his right and there was another car coming from his left that he could safely pull out in front of as it was a good distance away. As he went to start to pull out, a car came flying over the brow of the hill to his right. My partner stopped about 2-3 feet out of the intersection. The car slammed on its brakes and clipped the nose of my partners vehicle. We will measure the skid marks today - they are good ones! The other driver could have safely crossed the white line to avoid my partners car but did not.

A person came out from a nearby house and my partner asked him to call the cops but they didn't show up. My partner now suspects that the other driver may have asked him not to as he was talking to the person while my partner was sweeping bits off the road.

During the exchange of details, before it was stated that we had no insurance (I know... ), the other driver asked if my partner could please say it was his girlfriend driving. We suspect he was not following the conditions of his licence but cannot be sure about this. The other driver said that they only have 3rd party insurance.

Now the other driver is saying that it is my partners fault and wants us to pay an estimated cost of over $2500 to repair his vehicle. The vehicle is not even worth this amount. When he came around so we could have a good look at the vehicle I noticed that his 2 front tyres were almost bald and definately not to a warrantable standard. I have photos on my phone of the damage and of one of the tyres. The wof on his vehicle also expired on the day it happened. Partners vehicle is warranted and registered.

The people involved in the accident were my partner (driving alone) and the other driver who had his girlfriend in the car.

My question is - Who would you say is at fault?

[Scuba_Steve]

collect evidence incl tyre mark photo's & length etc this could end up court decision.
It's hard to say who's at fault without full facts (no offence but this still constitutes 3rd hand info), given the (implied) responses from the other driver it sounds like he's got something/s to hide. Might be worth visiting the person who came out, they might have seen something or at-least be able to inform you whether the cops were cancelled by the other party involved

[Bounce001]

I know what you are saying about 3rd hand info but partner is at work. We are collecting as much info as we can. And yes the licence thing does seem dodgy. Not sure if the person that came out saw the accident or not but are leaning towards not as partner said that when he was talking to him he said he didn't hear anything and only noticed it when the cars were parked in his driveway. A guy my partner works with drove past the accident and we are wondering if he was the driver of he vehicle that was coming from the left. Partner is going to talk to him today as he could be a possible witness.

[willytheekid]

..REPORT THIS TO THE POLICE!

Don't piss around, get the police involved straight away (this Should have been at the scene!...if they didn't turn up...call them again!!), the idiot driver had a "friend" as a witness, your husband did not!.
...more time means they can swap tyres, get wof, confirm "there" story etc etc.

Ring the police right now!

[Bounce001]

Reported this to the police yesterday but they didn't really want to know - said it would likely be a civil matter and end up in the disputes tribunal where it would basically be a case of who's word they take. Didn't even want to take a statement or give it a case number.

[meteor]

If he's travelling at a speed that's so great he inhibits you crossing the road in the time a normal prudent driver could reasonable do so then he is at fault. His skid marks can be measured and a speed can be estimated from them (if you know the calculations, friction coefficient etc etc.

A couple of things... No insurance? WTF, and he's probably disqual or forbidden if he suggested to say his GF was driving. Either way, very dodgy.

[Bounce001]

The intersection in question is dodgy at the best of times. As you come to the T there is a hill to your right that you have to extremely careful of. Anyone who knows the road always slow down on the hill in case of cars coming out of said intersection. It is a narrow back road and while it has a 100km/hr limit, I would not consider it safe to travel at that speed on that road.

[red mermaid]

Don't pay the other driver a penny unless a court orders it, and on no account do not admit fault to any person.

[Bounce001]

We won't! Have not admitted fault at any time. He was going to drop around quotes this morning and he has been told not to bother as we won't be accepting them and not to contact us until we have sought legal advice.

Really peeved off as now we are not going on holiday in case we need the money. Was to be our first holiday away in years.

[Scuba_Steve]

might be worth having a chat to the lawyer people at you local citizens advice bureau too, not sure what their hours will be like over this time period tho

[Bounce001]

We are waiting to hear back from our lawyer. So hopefully will know more once we have spoken to her. From the brief chat we had with her last night, she told us not to have any more contact with the other driver and to get as much evidence as we can - especially if we can find out more info about his licence. I suspect he was driving on his restricted and his girlfriend has not had her full licence for two years as required for her to be a supervisor for him driving.

[Bounce001]

Update:

Just spoke to partner who has just spoken to cops on phone. Going in to make statement this afternoon.

Sorry but I forgot to add partners vehicle was stationary for about 3-4 seconds before impact. Cops seemed to think the licence thing was very dodgy and the fact that his vehicle was stationary at impact implies other driver at fault.

[skippa1]

Hes bluffing you and trying to get you to cough up for the damage. If you havent yet, dont give him your address, dont pay him anything. He has something to hide, to say that aboutr his GF driving.....tell him to go to hell and dont cancel your holiday. If you ever got to court,(he wont take you, he has some sort of issue with his licence) they could order payment if you were found to be at fault. If you dont have the coin, you can go on $5 down $5 a week for the rest of his life .....

[skippa1]

PS, I have had issue with a little shit head on a similar thing a couple of years back, he knew my address and mysteriously in the night all four of my wifes tyres got slashed

[Bounce001]

He already has our address and has been here. While yes, he is younger, I don't think he would be the tyre slashing type. If he is, we also have his address. We have never admitted fault but offered to get him on to a good, cheap panel beater - tis xmas after all! He can go and shove that now.

If he does want to go to small claims - cause I thinks that is what it would go under - it would be dragged out until the xmas after next and yes he would be paid at $5 per week!

We aren't worried about the damage to our vehicle - it won thanks to the bull bar! But if he wants to get nasty then he can pay for that too.