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Rear end shunt approaching roundabout with damage to front of first car: who is liable?
Last night I was involved in a low speed low impact collision at a roundabout at a shopping centre. The person in front of me was coming up to a roundabout. There was already another car on the roundabout signalling to take the exit we wanted. There was sufficient room on the roundabout for both the car in front and myself to turn before the person already on the roundabout took the exit we were to take. However the driver in front of me braked suddenly causing me to shunt into the rear of them. I believe there was plenty of room for the driver in front of me to have moved onto the roundabout and taken the turn without causing the person on the roundabout to slow down, Therefore I believe the drive in front of me caused the shut through hesitation. The damage to both cars is very minor, my car has a cracked number plate and there is a small fracture on the bumper of the car I hit. The other driver who was on the roundabout was no way involved in the collision. I have taken pictures on my mobile to show the minor damage and details were exchanged but I would like to clarify the legal position of the event. There were parking attendants at the Shopping Centre who did not witness the incident but have said they will testify that both parties were uninjured and have said that there may be a chance that they can retrieve evidence from CCTV footage if necessary.
Although roundabout accidents are often settled on a 50-50 basis, circumstances such as this which involve a rear end shunt with no frontal damage to the car in front almost always means that an insurer will adjudge the driver of the rear vehicle to have liability as they should be proceeding in a manner where they should have been able to stop. Thus if this becomes an insurance matter it will almost certainly result in 100% liability being awarded against you. As the damage appears minor then it may well be worth considering settling outside the insurance system, especially in your case.
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