Advise about car accident

james92

Hi all
I had a car crash today on a motorway. im on 3rd provisonel licence. no one else was involved. had a blow out in the back weel. and car is wroth off. the advise i need is will my insurance cover me for being on a motorway as a L Driver, when i called my insurance they told me i didt have to ring the cops becase no one else was involved and they got some one to take the car away. and they didnt say any thing about me being an L Driver. and do you think i should tell the cops.

Thanks all

Seth Brundle

Tell the 'cops' about what? Did you damage anything (not including your car or your ego)? If not then don't waste your time and their time.
As for being on a prov licence - the insurance company are very unlikely to take that issue further as there were no other affected parties. If they did then everyone would just say "My da was with me"!!!!!

mike65

If no-one else was involved the is no need to ring the Gardai and they would'nt want to get involved anyway.

Your insurance only covers you for fire, theft and THIRD PARTY (ie someone you hit) I can't see you having Comp insurance on a L plate.

(what /\ he said!)

Mike.

james92

Thank for geting back to me. I wrote my car off and damaged the barrier fence on the motorway hurt my neck as well but i will live.

james92

I have fully comp insurance cover they even gave me a car for 5days.

Seth Brundle

What kind of damage?
If the barrier has been damaged that its effictiveness has been comprimised (i.e. not strong enough to stop the next accident) then you should report it. Its possible that you are legally obliged to!

mike65

If you belive the barrier damaged then phone the local council roads dept and report it. Just say you noticed it.

Mike.

DonJose

How did the accident happen? How fast were you going?

james92

I was going about 110 kilometers on the motorway and i got a blow out on the back wheel

TJJP

james92 wrote:

I had a car crash today on a motorway. im on 3rd provisonel licence.

Theory goes that L drivers shouldn't be on Motorway, add to that that you were unaccompanied (?) on third provisional (lone learner permitted on second provo only).

Its a bit dodgy to say the least, I doubt the Gardai will be delighted and would expect your subsequent motor quote won't be pleasant.

Still, I would suggest you have a responsibility to report barrier damage which you could do in confidence.

ScouseMouse

The cops wont be interested. They are only interested if anyone has been hurt. In your case you are fine. If you dont believe me, just go up to any guard and say, give them the outline. They will tell you that it is not necessary.

james92

Thanks every one for geting back to me.
keeping the info coming

commited

How old are you?

Probably not worth claiming on the car unless it's worth upwards of €4000.

Now might be a good time to pass your test!

james92

im 29 and the car was a mazda323 Lx. 2000.
iv never been in a crash befor, naver evean had atip and have no penalty points.

bazz26

I would have your neck checked by a doctor first and worry about the car another day.

Biro

james92 wrote:

im 29 and the car was a mazda323 Lx. 2000.
iv never been in a crash befor, naver evean had atip and have no penalty points.

Still, you're probably not that long driving, given that you're on a 3rd provisional. Which means that even though you're 29 your insurance is fairly high. Whats the value of the car? Approx 4k? Maybe a bit more? Might not be worth claiming for it, your insurance will go up for the next 5 years and you'll pay for it indirectly that way, plus you won't be able to change insurance companies, as you'll have had a claim in the past 5 years. (and they take it very seriously if you don't divulge this info).
I'd weigh up everything and consider not claiming if I were you, as you'll pay in the long run. Also be sure to take on board what you've learned from this event,
not being smart here but just saying that no point in a lesson that'll cost this much when nothing is learned!
There are ways of controling a car in the event of a blowout, I've seen a program on it, where they simulated a front tyre blowout at 60mph. Interesting stuff.

DonJose

You can count yourself lucky that you were not speeding. A lot of board members here think its perfectly safe break the speed limit on the motorway. Had you been doing 140km/h you would most likely be a column in todays newspaper.

OldmanMondeo

Biro wrote:

There are ways of controling a car in the event of a blowout, I've seen a program on it, where they simulated a front tyre blowout at 60mph. Interesting stuff.

If that was the Fifth Gear with Tiff Neddle, they were only driving around 30 - 50 mph on a dry road. Driving at 110kph on, what was most probably a wet road, you would do well to control the car.

OP I would check if you have bonus protection on policy. You might be able to claim without losing the NCB. I would report it to the Guard's, just in case something comes up down the line. Noe, get yourself to a Doctor and get the neck checked out....

EDIT: the only lesson to be learnt, is to regulary check your tyres, lumps bumps and pressure. A good tyre will not blow out for no reason...

Biro

OldmanMondeo wrote:

If that was the Fifth Gear with Tiff Neddle, they were only driving around 30 - 50 mph on a dry road. Driving at 110kph on, what was most probably a wet road, you would do well to control the car.

No, it was a few years before fifth gear was about. The trick is not to break. Having said that I know that when something like a blowout happens, the first instinct is to break!

OldmanMondeo wrote:

EDIT: the only lesson to be learnt, is to regulary check your tyres, lumps bumps and pressure. A good tyre will not blow out for no reason...

Very true and good advise there. Tyres are the most important things on your car.

commited

DonJose wrote:

You can count yourself lucky that you were not speeding. A lot of board members here think its perfectly safe break the speed limit on the motorway. Had you been doing 140km/h you would most likely be a column in todays newspaper.

:rolleyes: I strongly doubt it.

peasant

commited wrote:

:rolleyes: I strongly doubt it.

You doubt what exactly?

A blown tyre (not just punctured, but ruptured) on the rear axle at 140 km/h will have you hit the barrier/ditch before you even realise what's happened.

Unless you're a professional stunt or rallye driver, there will be nothing you can do about it, other than hope and pray that you hit whatever you're going to hit at the least damaging angle possible.

OP, count your blessings.

Blitzkrieger

Had a blowout at 70mph before and the car just kept going. The back end felt twitchy but I could control the car fine. There was a fair bit of stuff in it weighing the back end down though.

Esel

superscouse wrote:

The cops wont be interested. They are only interested if anyone has been hurt.

Depends. If you lose it on a bend and end up in the ditch, a wall, a field, a bus shelter etc. a passing cop way well decide to do you for dangerous driving or careless driving, if s/he reckons that you were at fault for losing control. Just because no-one has been hurt does not mean the cops are not interested.

mike65

mike65 wrote:

If no-one else was involved the is no need to ring the Gardai and they would'nt want to get involved anyway.

Your insurance only covers you for fire, theft and THIRD PARTY (ie someone you hit) I can't see you having Comp insurance on a L plate.

(what /\ he said!)

Mike.

Who pays for the armco barrier..
Does the council claim off james92s insurance if he reports this accident to the gaurds.

Seth Brundle

ronoc wrote:

Who pays for the armco barrier..
Does the council claim off james92s insurance if he reports this accident to the gaurds.

If he admits to causing the damage then his insurance will pay for it - if he tells a few porkies then the taxpayer pays.

commited

peasant wrote:

You doubt what exactly?

A blown tyre (not just punctured, but ruptured) on the rear axle at 140 km/h will have you hit the barrier/ditch before you even realise what's happened.

Unless you're a professional stunt or rallye driver, there will be nothing you can do about it, other than hope and pray that you hit whatever you're going to hit at the least damaging angle possible.

OP, count your blessings.

I doubt another 30kmh would have definitely killed him. He could easily have been killed if the same thing happened at 10km/h slower in a different set of circumstances.

It's generally the car owners fault that a tyre blowout occurs however (75% of blowouts due to low pressure).

peasant

Another "mere" 30 km/h sounds so benign, doesn't it?

But, remember : f = m * s squared

force equals mass times speed squared ...so speed has a major influence on the forces involved, far more than the figure "30" suggests.

I never mentioned "definetely killed him" btw

ballooba

In terms of best practice in event of a blowout.

I understand you keep the wheel steady, don't touch the breaks and let the car slow down naturally?

That's if you're on the straight, if you're on a bend then stick your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye.

peasant

A real blowout (ie an exploding tyre) will rarely allow you to keep the vehicle "on the straight", as one wheel will suddenly loose all rubber, settle down on the rim and loose all traction. The "settling down" movement combined with the loss of traction can be enough to send the car into a spin ...even on the straight.

There are also flying and flapping bits of tyre at high speed to consider that can do all sorts of damage.

If there is a deflated tyre left on the rim, your chances are much better.

commited

peasant wrote:

Another "mere" 30 km/h sounds so benign, doesn't it?

But, remember : f = m * s squared

force equals mass times speed squared ...so speed has a major influence on the forces involved, far more than the figure "30" suggests.

I never mentioned "definetely killed him" btw

Where did you get that equation from? The sky? Certainly no Physics or engineering book.

Force = mass * acceleration
Momentum = Mass * velocity.

You might have been thinking Kinetic energy = 1/2 * Mass * velocity squared, which is actually more relevant to this argument.

And nope, 30km/h isnt "benign", but I've seen people write off cars doing 50kph, so circumstances have as much to do with the severity of an accident as well as speed.

Oh and I was talking abotu that as regards death...

DonJose wrote:

Had you been doing 140km/h you would most likely be a column in todays newspaper.

You asked what I doubted, I answered

Biro

ballooba wrote:

In terms of best practice in event of a blowout.

I understand you keep the wheel steady, don't touch the breaks and let the car slow down naturally?

That's if you're on the straight, if you're on a bend then stick your head between your legs and kiss your arse goodbye.

Quality post!!