at that point it becomes “he said/she said” unless there happened to be either a police officer there to see it, or video evidence (dash cam.)
Apropos of the Uber self-driving accident (the Uber car was technically “in the right,” but was not following defensive driving procedures): the other day I was driving down an unfamiliar four-lane road when I came to an intersection. The light was green, but the car in the left lane was stopped (and was not signaling for a left turn). So, I naturally slowed down as I went into the intersection, because (even though I had the right of way), the stopped car made me concerned that there might have been something I couldn’t see in the intersection (it turns out, he was making the left, and just not signaling).
He would have been, but it may have been difficult to prove.
Many years ago, I was in a car with my friend who was driving. It was a 70’s car, nice big boat. Anyway, we were coming off the interstate and rounding the cloverleaf when he lost control a bit, and we ended up doing a couple spins on the way down.
He managed to get control as we approached the road, but first we jumped the curb separating the lanes, and then straightened out. A half second later, we felt a thump on our rear.
Guy had a compact car, with the entire front end caved in, our bumper was at an angle.
We were very honest with the police when they arrived, which is good for the other driver, as without our corroboration, there is no way he could have proved that it was our fault.
I’m reminded of this incident.
Far as I know, I was the only bus passenger who acted as a witness.
I would think if the cops had come, the green-light-stopper could perhaps be charged with impeding the flow of traffic, but “DH” still would have been responsible for not following too close and stopping in time regardless of why green-light-stopper stopped.
The whole “whoever hits a car from behind is at fault” reasoning is the reason that “swoop and squat” auto fraud is so lucrative. A driver swerves in front of another vehicle, slams on the brakes and then claims damages and injuries. Very difficult to prove he was the instigator.
One of the reasons why many drivers are installing dash cams.
The other driver would have been at fault, generally speaking, unless you’re pulling onto an interstate or freeway, where some states have strange laws about accommodating entry to the highway (not all states do).
I had an accident once where a woman suddenly pulled out in front of me from another lane. She tried to claim that I hit her because I was traveling too quickly, rather than that she cut me off and I couldn’t brake in time, or avoid her (we were on a bridge). The police officer listened to both of us and then proceeded to tell her why she had clearly cut me off, based on where my car had hit hers. Ruled not my fault and she was cited at the scene. (CA, FWIW)
Regarding the instances in the thread where accounts matched at the scene of the accident, the police will look at physical evidence as well, particularly if accounts don’t agree. Things like where the cars impacted each other will tell them a lot about who may have cut off whom, skid marks may indicate rates of speed, and so on.
That was not my experience when a similar incident happened to me.
Rainy day, traffic stopped suddenly. I stopped in time. The car behind me didn’t and slammed me into the van in front of me. The driver behind me was completely at fault. His insurance paid for everyone’s repairs.
Many years ago my husband was involved in an accident. It was a rainy night, and the road was slick. A car was stopped in the left lane waiting to make a turn. The big Cadillac in front of our little Honda hit that car which spun out into the intersection; the Caddie stopped right after the impact; husband hit (more like tapped, really) the Caddie. The Cadillac had a trailer hitch which put a dent in the bumper of our Honda. No damage was done to the Cadillac. Husband was not issued a ticket.
The car hit by the Cadillac sued (well, for you nitpickers, the driver or his insurance company sued) and as such things work, husband was included in the lawsuit. He went to give his deposition more than a year after the accident. When the lawyers got around to asking him how much damage was done to our car, husband replied, “Well, it’s an older car so we never bothered to get it fixed. It’s in the parking lot – let’s go down and take a look.”
We heard later we’d been dropped from the lawsuit.
Just about the only easy get-out-of-jail-free exemption to the rear car pays doctrine is exactly the situation you had: the blameless middle car(s) in a 3+ vehicle sandwich. Now had you tapped the person in front and then gotten slammed from behind you might still have been blamed.
Another way to look at the sandwich case is not that you should pay for anyone hit in front of you, but rather that the actual general rule is rearmost car pays. As #2 of three you’re not rearmost. But if you’re #2 of two then yes, you’re rearmost and you pay.
When I was stationed in Turkey in the 1980’s, we were told that, in a accident, each car was assigned a degree of fault. Reason: if one of the cars had not been in that place at that time, the accident would not have happened.