Car Accident - (Police Sent Fine after We Sent Dashcam Footage)

[Deactivated] on 09/02/2024 - 00:11
Last edited 11/02/2024 - 13:55 by 3 other users

Hi all, would love some guidance on a car accident my wife had. I'll try and explain best I can but note I'm not trying to get out of paying money out, just want an idea of how the law works.

This happened in some roadworks. Two lands converged down into a single lane (right lane ended) and my wife navigated that part of this without issue. However as she approached the cones, a car in the left hand lane tried to stop her coming into the lane for no apparent reason. Regardless, my wife managed to get in front of that car and joined the traffic in the single left lane and entered the roadworks. I don't have a great explanation how she did that but I don't think it's relevant to this.

In this single lane roadwork, it actually tracks past a petrol station which has an entrance at the front of the roadworks and an exit towards the end of the works. Between the entrance and exit, there is actually another lane to the left of the single lane .. but it's got hatches drawn all over it so you're not supposed to drive there. After my wife got in front of this other car, the other car then proceeded to drive down the hatched part of the road attempting to get in front of my wife.

My wife did see her and if I'm being honest, it looks like a game ensued with my wife stopping this other person from getting back in. However, at the end of the hatched section, the road then converges to be a single lane when this other car didn't slow down. To me it looks like a game of chicken then happened with this other car cutting in front of my wife and hitting the front wing and damaging it. The other car drove off and she didn't get any details but we did have a dashcam in the car.

When my wife got home, we called the police and reported the incident. They sent out a link to upload the dashcam footage (which we did) and we then lodged an insurance claim. Fast forward a couple of weeks and a infringement notice arrived on the doorstep stating that my wife failed to yield and please pay $288

Now I don't particularly care about the money, it's not a lot and there are no demerit points for this so it's not that big a deal. However my question is around the car insurance side. If my wife gets a fine like this, is she automatically at fault as far as the insurance is concerned? Does she now lose her no claims discount etc? Or is the blame for an accident treated separately by the insurance company from any traffic offence? The other car was 'off road' and it does seem unfair to get this ticket but I understand the cop's approach would just be to let the court decide (which I doubt we'd bother for $288).

Any wisdom would be appreciated.

Thread closed: OP disabled account —Mod

Automotive

closed Comments

    • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2024 - 22:12

      Yes, right from the point where she merged 50m away from the roadworks starting.

  • Hangryuman on 10/02/2024 - 14:15
    +1

    I'm reminded of my first drive in Athens Greece traffic - I was terrified that there was traffic drifting and merging all over the wide road with no clearly marked lanes - the guy I was buying the kombivan from simplified it by saying the only rule was to avoid hitting another car.

    drivers playing chicken is gambling with your life, and a failure to heed that basic rule

    as I advise motorbike learners - 'assume everyone is trying to kill you - your job is to avoid that'

  • sinizter on 10/02/2024 - 17:48

    You sent in the whole footage from the beginning of the aggression, didn't you?

    Failed to yield for your wife at the initiation of this drama sounds right, and the same for the other driver towards the end.

  • syousef on 10/02/2024 - 18:26

    What state? It's 3 demerit points in NSW.

    https://au.news.yahoo.com/what-are-the-road-rules-for-mergin….

    • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2024 - 22:11

      Vic, no demerit points on the infringement notice

      • syousef on 11/02/2024 - 01:12

        Lucky. Vic seems to be the only state for which this offence doens't attract demerits.

  • wisb0 on 10/02/2024 - 18:35

    upload the footage

    • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2024 - 22:11
      -2

      No

  • NoComment on 10/02/2024 - 19:46
    +1

    One lesson for us all is don't send video of yourself driving like a fool to the police then attach your personal information. Talk about wanting vengeance only to have it blow up in your face.

    Tell your wife to calm down and stop playing games while on the road.

    • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2024 - 22:10

      I think she will know better the next time

  • drfuzzy on 10/02/2024 - 22:11
    +1

    Your wife failed to yield
    You sent evidence to police she failed to yield
    You now pay fine for failing to yield

    I don't see where the rocket science is here

    • [Deactivated] on 10/02/2024 - 22:13

      Helpful but the original question was whether getting a ticket equals automatic blame in the eyes of the insurer. From my research it would seem to be entirely separate so I'm not concerned

      • kerfuffle on 11/02/2024 - 06:30

        How do we know? We're not your insurance company.

        I really hate people who vandalise their own thread when they don't get the confirmation bias they're after.

        • [Deactivated] on 11/02/2024 - 09:07

          Thanks

      • askbargain on 11/02/2024 - 10:08
        +1

        you don't notify insurer unless your licence gets revoked/suspended etc.

        but I look forward to your at fault accident in the future :)

  • dbmitch on 11/02/2024 - 13:24

    OP deactivated the account after the absolute rinsing they received for being told they were indeed the idiot and didn't get the 'confirmation bias' they hoped for.

    Now I question if it was even his wife or Just him trying to detach his own mistakes onto another.

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