I do not accept liability.. can i be forced to accept it without it being taken to court?

[milo_11]

I overtook the middle lane of a 3 lane motorway, and pulled out into the 3rd lane to overtake it. at the point i checked my mirrors (while i was doing 70mph) a BMW was roughly 80-100 yards behind me in hte 3rd lane. This would indicate a safe distance for me to pull out. I did so, however upon being next to the car i was overtaking the BMW clearly then appeared to be speeding and hit me from behind. while i was trying to overtake, i had a good 4-5 seconds of watching the BMW come speeding up behind me but as my van is only a diesel it had no guts or oomph to speed up and move out of the way. he hit me.

He is claiming he was doing the speed limit, and on his solicitors report of my negligence, it was claimed that I was 'driving too fast under all circumstances'.
my solicitors have rolled over and given in to his claim and said I am fully at fault. they listen to what his statement says, yet dispute mine. there were no witnesses that stopped, so at this point, it is his word against mine.
Why would they take his word over mine, considering he has nothing to support his version of events which is vague, and i can clearly state everything i saw happen, as it happened?

Also, can i tell my insurance company I do not want them to pay his damages and I want to be taken/take it to court? As my solicitors (provided under legal cover) have wiped their hands clean of it.... I feel I would stand a good chance of him getting more than 50% of the blame....

[New Judge]

Well milo, I think you’re wise in putting this to bed (at least on AB). As I said in my first answer, none of us can say from your description whose fault caused this incident and certainly none of us can say what a civil court would rule if it was put before one. I think this has been adequately borne out by the variety of answers you received.

The world is littered with incidents such as this where each party is convinced he is right. Insurance companies (and often solicitors) take a pragmatic view and try to minimise their losses and I think you would be well advised to do the same, painful as it may be.

Your original question asked

“Also, can i tell my insurance company I do not want them to pay his damages and I want to be taken/take it to court?”

Yes, you can, and they will be more than pleased to be excused liability. Once you have done so you will be on your own. If it goes to court and if (as I suspect) you are unsuccessful or at least only partly successful, you will have a bill for the damage to your own vehicle, possibly one for the damage to the Third Party’s vehicle, your own legal costs, and your opponents legal costs. And don’t be surprised if between now and then the driver of the other car develops mysterious symptoms of injury such as “whiplash” which caused him dreadful pain and suffering and meant he had to take six months off work. You may find yourself liable to recompense him for all or part of this and the repair bills to the vehicles will pale into insignificance. And you will not be able to turn to your insurers for help. Once they are out, they’re out and will not want to know (especially if the matter has gone to court without their knowledge).

This is precisely why you pay your insurance premiums, to minimise your losses when such incidents occur.

[milo_11]

''If I'm in the outside lane on my motorbike gunning it the last thing I want to see is someone pull into my lane !''

i can just as much 'gun it' in my van as you can legally on your bike, at 70mph. if you want to go faster, go to Germany in the Autobahn... and please, if you cant post any constructive critisism like everyone else has, dont post anything at all... i only have to look at some of your previous questions to realise i have already wasted my time responding to you...

thank you judge, i shall be taking that advice (and from others who advised similarly) and just dropping the matter.
thank you also to those that showed me support!

I am finished with this subject :)

[Nosha123]

"thank you also to those that showed me support! "
what??
and stuff those that happened to disagree with your opinion???
You wanted advice and you got it... Just because you dont agree with it all seems a bit harsh to be rude!

Actually.. I have to say I started off thinking you were the driver in the right.. but I can also see the standing point of others who state you are in the wrong as you failed to notice the speed of the approaching vehicle and you changed lanes into the lane HE was already in! So perhaps your solicitors are right?

[Nosha123]

"i can just as much 'gun it' in my van as you can legally on your bike"

I doubt it.. seeing as your Berlingo struggled to find any oomph to overtake it!!!

[milo_11]

‘’(and from others who advised similarly) and just dropping the matter.  ‘’
This implies those that did not agree with me and felt I would not get anywhere as they fele it was my fault.

If the implication was not clear enough to who I was referring, I apologise… but don’t be so quick to judge me nosha… you fail to address my last post on the 3rd page at the bottom…

 ‘’thank you people for your opinions and input whichever way you felt the wrong was done.  ‘’

If this is not thanking everybody regardless of wether they were against me, neutral to me, or for me, I don’t know what does…

if i did not agree with the advice, id be saying something more like mdoo would:
'I am still waiting for an answer', when someone has clearly just answered it albeit not in my favour...

as it is, i have clearly stated i am taking the advice given by those who feel it was my fault and those neutral saying it oculd go either way or dead agsint me and i would be wasting my time.

again, dont be too quick to make accusations at me dismissing those who i disagree with, as i will give those people the time of day too, as i have done, depending how their attitude is.

[milo_11]

mdoo, you do not 'own' a lane(re:my lane), nor have the right to use it as a bike racing lane. i have a motorbike too and also know the temptation is all too much there, but i dont, as i consider there are in fact other road users who not only I could seriously injure myself form treating the outside lane as a ‘gunning’ lane… but I could hurt others.

If I have misunderstood your attitude to this, I do apologise, but this is the response to the attitude I feel you are giving…

[milo_11]

''legally on your bike"

I doubt it.. seeing as your Berlingo struggled to find any oomph to overtake it!!!''

i was doing 70mph, and u obviously missed the word 'legally'... i shouldnt need to increase my speed further as there is no other legal limit in britain above 70mph.

[TWR]

Hi Milo, I have not looked at all the answers but! did you find out what are he / she came from? the time the person left? the time the accident happend has the speed from his departure to the accident scene been calculated? did I see in one of your replies that he HIT the middle of your drivers door? if thats the case please correct me if I'm wrong, your fault, the mirror you have on your van, what type is it? does it give you the correct rear view vision? my meaning by that, does it show traffic farther back instead of their correct postion? the person speed can be calculated & if found the car has been speeding then that person will get done! why? if the person was travelling at the right speed he / she would not have been in the particular spot when the accident happend.

[milo_11]

To be honest, not a lot of that is relevant although appreciated your insight/thoughts are for it.
I got hit on the right/rear door, with scuffs half way across the left rear door…
Time is irrelevant as I do not know how long he was with me for when we stopped, cant take into account slows in traffic/clear paths ahead… there are faaar too many variables in that equation that cant be proven, let alone precisely figured out to give his specific speed, as every second would count.
Mirrors show traffic as it is, not smaller/further away. People would generally only be done over an average distance/average speed by the average speed cameras… as if even the average speed cameras are not calibrated properly, then they wont even count as evidence…

Again, thank you for your thought, but I will be leaving this one as a loss.

[TWR]

A case that was brought to court when I was on HGVs by myself, this Idiot passed me on a blind bend, there was a tanker coming from the op direction he was that close ( Tanker) I could see the fear in his face knowing there was an accident going to happen, as it happens one never did I reported this clown to the police, in court he was asked by my request where he worked, what time he finished, this cost him 3points & £60, there found that the idiot had been doing over 80mph on an (A+ B road up to the point where he near caused the accident, thats why I commented on where he / she came from.

[milo_11]

ahhh right, ok... considering the guy has lied about his actual speed, i doubt he will be willing to tell the truth on the times, and again, there are no witnesses to help, as much as id like to take it further, i am just accepting this as a loss :( its just one of those things...

[factor-fiction]

If you were doing 70 mph and he was 100 yards behind you when you joined his lane but he then caught you up in 4-5 seconds I calculate he must have been travelling at 110-120 mph

[milo_11]

i estimate between 80-100 yards, and it was about 7/8 seconds (roughly)... from the point i started to move over(when i believed it was safe to do so), about 3 seconds went, then from the point i was of no return (started overtaking) was the 4/5 seconds

[boxtops]

Really, you are still going round in circles on this one, milo - as we said a while back, it's his word against yours, however right you think you are. There is no evidence he was on the phone or distracted or whatever, any more than there is that it was safe when you pulled out. I'm not doubting you or believing him, there is just no evidence either way, IMO.

[milo_11]

yeah i know, people ask questions, i find it rude not to answer >.< ive already stated twice now that im just gonna leave it be and not pursue anything... im just answering peoples questions... i guess i should put this then:

*********ok guys, thank you for your help, its sorted out, im not pursuing it, every possible enquiry has been asked in this post so theres nothing really new to add to it, go enjoy reading others as i shall do =D*********

[TonyV]

Milo - have followed this thread without making comment so far, but can no longer resist.
Taking your version of collision as what happened and you were aside the car you were overtaking when hit then yes the BMW was travelling to fast or being driven without due care and attention. (although there is no evidence of this)
If you take it to court and BMW driver is found to be 80% to blame for accident, as you think in your original posting it's not a 50/50. What are you going to gain from the judgement?
You will still have a claim against you, so your no claims has gone.
What are you trying to achieve - to prove BMW driver is a liar about his speed?
Lying although how distastefull is a human trate with some
I would just let it go and get on with life - think yourself lucky to walk away