Singapore Expats

Three lane road near Sentosa. I'm on the fast lane. Lanes are not merging so there is no real reason to change lanes. Car in the middle lane wants to cut into my lane but there is no space. He cuts anyway. I horn but don't brake. He keeps coming and I don't give way so we touch.

We both stop. My front left scratched. His right back scratched. Both maybe 500 damage at a local paint shop. We exchange phone numbers and both make pictures.

I texted him that if he pays my damage I consider the case settled. He replied that we both should pay our own damage. Alternative is to file report and let insurance sort things out.

I feel I had the right of way. I was in my lane and there was no space. He forced his way. True I did not back off but I also don't want to get muscled by a big black BMW who thinks he can have his way.

So who's at fault here? I mean what will insurance decide?

Any ideas how to handle this?

Pointy71 wrote:Three lane road near Sentosa. I'm on the fast lane. Lanes are not merging so there is no real reason to change lanes. Car in the middle lane wants to cut into my lane but there is no space. He cuts anyway. I horn but don't brake. He keeps coming and I don't give way so we touch.

We both stop. My front left scratched. His right back scratched. Both maybe 500 damage at a local paint shop. We exchange phone numbers and both make pictures.

I texted him that if he pays my damage I consider the case settled. He replied that we both should pay our own damage. Alternative is to file report and let insurance sort things out.

I feel I had the right of way. I was in my lane and there was no space. He forced his way. True I did not back off but I also don't want to get muscled by a big black BMW who thinks he can have his way.

So who's at fault here? I mean what will insurance decide?

Any ideas how to handle this?

You're meant to report all accidents to a local reporting station (at Vico etc). IF you don't you risk him making a huge claim against you in the future.

No sh*t. report it asap. Otherwise you will an insurance claim for 15K instead of .5K There was a case of that in the news recently.

Hopefully, you had enough presence of mind to take lots of pictures of the damages to both cars, the location of the accident and the vehicles before they were moved following the accident.

SMS is right. Insurance fraud (via escalation of charges by owners in cahoots with body shops) has been a problem here.

I have pictures, a witness and an sms from him stating his damage is $500.

My wife once hit a traffic police guy (in his own time) and he didn't even file report but settled.

Thought I could simply settle without any report...

The law and your insurance policy say that all accidents with damage MUST be reported to your insurer within (I think) 24 hours. You get into huge problems if you do not and then the other party lodges a report.
Legally you were in the right in your accident. You are not the 'at fault' driver. Even if you do not intend to make a claim you MUST report it to your insurer.
If one month down the line the other driver claims, you will be in deep do do.
Report it now, get your damage fixed. You do not need to claim under insurance but you should use one of their recommended repairers (list will be on line or with your policy). Because if you do not use their repairer, down the line, they can get antsy if a claim is lodged by the other guy, or if you have a second accident.
So even though you are late, report it to your insurer before he potentially puts in a claim. You will lose nothing. It will not change your policy if you or he do not claim

1st thing, just get this thing very clear and straight: The accident like your case, that is front to rear collisions, it is almost always considered as the fault of the vehicle at the back. Its your mistake. You should have kept a safe distance and braked. It will be very hard to prove that the other person changed lane and came into your way.

Also you need to go to IDAC and report your accident within 24 hours, or else your insurance may not even cover you.

Dont believe the other person. He might go to IDAC and make a report that you hit him from behind and its your fault. Like I said earlier there is very high chance that he wins and even best case for you is like 50-50.

You should have really braked man. Its ok, if you brake and the car behind hits you. It would be considered, the car behind's fault and you can claim from his insurance.

Wd40 wrote:1st thing, just get this thing very clear and straight: The accident like your case, that is front to rear collisions, it is almost always considered as the fault of the vehicle at the back. Its your mistake. You should have kept a safe distance and braked. It will be very hard to prove that the other person changed lane and came into your way.

Technically it is very easy if the damage is on the side of the wing and not directly on the front. It clearly shows the cars hit side-to-side and not front-to-back. You are right that if the damage is purely front and back, then it is usually the car at the back that gets the blame but if the damage is on the side it is easy to prove one car was changing lanes.

Of course the issue then is who was changing lane and this is where a witness statement is required.

The accident was NOT front to back but side to side. My front wheel rubbed his rear wheel.

I reported the accident to my insurance as advised. Police report was not necessary. Police report is only needed when:

1. Somebody is injured
2. Government property is damaged
3. A foreign car is involved

The accident was registered as "report only". That means I'm not claiming yet but am free to do that at a later moment. So we can still settle without insurance OR I can submit a claim against the other at a later time.

Anyway, we settled the matter today privately so no need to take it further.

Pointy71 wrote:The accident was NOT front to back but side to side. My front wheel rubbed his rear wheel.

I reported the accident to my insurance as advised. Police report was not necessary. Police report is only needed when:

1. Somebody is injured
2. Government property is damaged
3. A foreign car is involved

The accident was registered as "report only". That means I'm not claiming yet but am free to do that at a later moment. So we can still settle without insurance OR I can submit a claim against the other at a later time.

Anyway, we settled the matter today privately so no need to take it further.

Good. Reporting protects you - even if it is a PITA.

katbh wrote:You are not the 'at fault' driver.

Unfortunately (s)he is. They both are. If someone behave like a *beep* and violates traffic regulations it does not make another someone to enforce his or her right.

Pointy71 wrote:The accident was NOT front to back but side to side. My front wheel rubbed his rear wheel.

I reported the accident to my insurance as advised. Police report was not necessary. Police report is only needed when:

1. Somebody is injured

I kind of was and the police said they would consider injury if one got hospitalized and taken from the place by an ambulance

x9200 wrote:

katbh wrote:You are not the 'at fault' driver.

Unfortunately (s)he is. They both are. If someone behave like a *beep* and violates traffic regulations it does not make another someone to enforce his or her right.

That can't be right you know...

If that is true we can all stop following traffic rules. Because if I ignore the rules and cause an accident I can always say the other should have done his bit in avoiding the accident. It will always be 50-50 if your theory holds. You're basically saying if two have an incident, both are to blame.

So the Ferrari driver who hit the taxi could say 50% taxi drivers fault; he should have seen me coming running a red light and stop.

Pointy71 wrote:
That can't be right you know...

If that is true we can all stop following traffic rules. Because if I ignore the rules and cause an accident I can always say the other should have done his bit in avoiding the accident. It will always be 50-50 if your theory holds. You're basically saying if two have an incident, both are to blame.

So the Ferrari driver who hit the taxi could say 50% taxi drivers fault; he should have seen me coming running a red light and stop.

The difference is that you saw that guy coming.

What's the point of trying to demand your right of way and ending up in an accident?

It's a waste of your time, money, energy and sometimes your life. Don't you think?

Pointy71 wrote:

x9200 wrote:

katbh wrote:You are not the 'at fault' driver.

Unfortunately (s)he is. They both are. If someone behave like a *beep* and violates traffic regulations it does not make another someone to enforce his or her right.

That can't be right you know...

If that is true we can all stop following traffic rules. Because if I ignore the rules and cause an accident I can always say the other should have done his bit in avoiding the accident. It will always be 50-50 if your theory holds. You're basically saying if two have an incident, both are to blame.

No, I did not say anything like this. You clearly saw what was going on and had possibility to avoid it yet you chose to enforce your right of way. This can be done only by the police and also not in just any situation. Your responsibility was to act the way to avoid accident. You may get away with this (I've heard at least one story where police acted strange) if you are lucky or sufficiently convincing but this is not a clear cut situation.
Following your logic if you see somebody jaywalking this gives you the right to run over this person.