fault at a road accident?

[hulltyke]

Merry xmas all
here is my question, we have just had an rear end accident in our car. A dog ran into the road forcing us to brake sharply, not full on.
A driver who was behind us ran in to the rear drivers side bumper, causing us to need a new bumper. The damage to his car was to the passenger side bumper and wing.
It was a double lane road (not a duel carraige way), the road was damp, but visablity was good, our speed was less than the speed limit for the road (which was 30mph), if the driver had been travelling at the correct speed and distance, i dont think he would have hit us

Who's fault was the accident, ours or his?

can anyone help?

[Andy Boz]

Him, too close to you.

[almcd007]

What have you done wrong - all you have done is brake hard for the dog. Dont worry about it.

If he was travelling at a safe distance and paying a little more attention - he would have maybe seen the dog too and braked and avoided you. The insurance company will deal with it on your behalf, but you should come out of this blameless.

Most of rear end shunts are the driver behinds fault for travelling too close.

Don't worry about it. Let your insurance company know and give them his Ins co details and it'll all be sorted out.

Merry Christmas !

[ianess]

Almost certainly 100% his fault for not being able to stop,BUT if there isn't a lot of damage some insurance companies may settle on a knock-for-knock basis. Dig your heels in....you don't appear to have been to blame in any way.

[furrycheeky]

Only slight worry here I have is the fact that seemingly the damage is not exactly fron behind but rear corner to front corner.
Given that people will do anything to get of blame, the other driver could say you swerved into his lane while braking (or skidded) and thats what caused the damage. With 2 versions of events 50/50 could be the result.
Hope I am wrong, and the other driver takes it like a man and admits his error.

[lewisgcox]

as a general rule, if anyone rear-ends you, it's their fault. especially if they're travelling too close to you. also, British law states that one must emergency stop for dogs and horses, and no other animal. although if i saw a cow in the road, i think my reaction would be to slam the brakes on... good luck, and as previously said, try not to involve insurance if possible, because he could try and get out of it.

[oldhamfan]

If someone hits you in the rear, it is their fault, as they 'fail to maintain sufficient braking distance'. It matters little what you were stopping for. What if it was a child?

I hit someone in the back once who performed an emergency stop for a speed trap; I was at fault.

Good luck.