UK car accident solicitor explains how to claim compensation for an accident cause when a car is filtering in a road causing collision leading to serious injuries such as a broken patella and a fractured wrist.
Tailgating car accident claim question
I was driving my car on a 30mph residential road when another car attempted to filter between two cars in the right hand lane. This caused me to apply my brakes sharply and a car which was tailgating my vehicle collided at force in to the back of my car causing me to be thrown forward smashing my knee on the underside of the dashboard and banging my wrist against the steering wheel.
An ambulance attended at the scene as did the police and took details of the accident location together with skid marks and points of impact. I was taken by ambulance to hospital in Liverpool and was diagnosed with a broken patella – requiring the insertion of screws and wires; and a fractured wrist – requiring immobilisation for a number of weeks.
The vehicle driver that was tailgating my car has indicated that he did not expect me to brake so sharply, so I wonder who I can make a claim from for this RTA – whether the vehicle that was tailgating me or the car that was filtering.
I am aware that the driver who was tailgating me was not prosecuted as he attended a driving awareness course.
Car accident claim solicitor response
From the facts that you have described it seems that albeit a car should not be filtering between other vehicles the reality of the cause of your collision was the driver of the vehicle which was tailgating your car.
This driver should have kept a safe distance given the speed he was travelling at and the road conditions. If a safe distance was maintained then should you need to brake sharply for whatever reason there would be sufficient braking distance to avoid a collision with your vehicle.
This was not the case and as such a collision occurred – your vehicle was damaged and you suffered injury to your patella and your wrist. Your primary claim is therefore against the vehicle driver who was tailgating your car.
This is also supported by the fact that the driver had to attend a drivers’ awareness course. Had he not attended this course he would have received three points on his licence and a fine. The police have therefore recognised that he was at fault and the driver has accepted this by attending the drivers’ awareness course.
Should the driver that was tailgating your car feel aggrieved it would be for him to take action against the car that was filtering – to suggest that his liability should be met by that car driver. I do not however believe that a claim would be successful against the filtering car.
You have a serious injury to your patella and a fractured wrist – both of these injuries should be described in an independent orthopaedic consultant report instructed by a specialist road traffic accident solicitor.
This will allow your solicitor to value the amount of compensation for pain and suffering. It might be that you have a substantial lost income claim in addition to the pain and suffering. Even if you are being paid whilst off sick from work there is still a potential future lost income claim or alternately a claim for a disadvantage on the open labour market (your reduced chance of future employment should you find yourself unemployed in the future).
In any event your claim would be quite substantial and it is important that you use the correct specialist road traffic accident solicitor who is familiar with high quantum matters.
Click tailgating car accident claim to speak to me in person about your claim or to commence a claim for a broken patella, fractured wrist and other financial losses including lost income.
