Q I crashed avoiding a car. Who’s at fault?

‘It’s most likely to be mostly, if not fully, his fault’

I was involved in an incident where I avoided colliding with a car that changed suddenly into my lane at a roundabout. They were on the inside lane in very slow moving traffic (around 5mph), and I was between two exits. The driver of the car did not indicate before turning into my lane and I had to swerve to avoid him. I went down and damaged my bike quite badly. The driver was adamant that they were not at fault.

And my insurer said that I am at fault as I avoided a collision with the other party. Surely this is not right? It seems unfair as the reason for my evasive action was due to their sudden change in direction without indication.

Richard Gray, by email

A

I think you are referring to him being in the offside lane and you to nearside as with roundabouts the inside lane is often thought of being the one by the centre of the roundabout (that is on the right) whereas otherwise the inside lane is on the left side. If so, and if he did not indicate or look properly and simply cut you up then it is likely to be mostly his fault if not entirely his fault. However, there was an unhelpful Court of Appeal (and therefore binding on lower courts on similar facts) case in 2003 called Grace v Tanner which was decided 50/50 and as a result a lot of roundabout cases are often settled on a 50/50 basis. In your case, I would say you should do better than this, if not succeed in full.