rear end collision after changing lane.. who is at fault?

[Alanito]

a view days ago i was driving with my bike ( honda airblade) under a highway flyover near chatuchak. in order to drive on a U-turn bridge, i changed from the left lane to the middle lane, when i heard loud break sounds and about 2 seconds later got hit by an other bike in the rear. 

 

I got away with some scratches and bruises, but the other guy (also a foreigner) claimed to have broken his leg (turned out later he didnt).

 

i talked to him, and he told me he has an  insurance that will pay for it.

 

He was asking for an ambulance and went to hospital, while i went with the police to do the paperwork. 

 

later he called me and told me his insurance refuses to cover his costs, and he has no money to pay for it too.

 

in a view days i got an appointment with the police and the other guy, and i worry he will try to make me pay for his costs, since his insurance doesnt.

(i forgot to pay my insurance for this bike too) 

 

The question is, who is reponsible for that accident?

I was asking the police for cctv recordings, but they said there are none.

 

So I can only say what i know out of my perspective:

 

I was driving on the left lane of 3 lanes and intended to go to the right one which went up on the U-turn bridge.

before i changed the lane i used the signal light and checked in the mirror if the lane was free. I didn’t see anyone in that lane nearby, so i changed the lane.

maybe a second after i heard the loud sounds of a break and 2-3 seconds after got hit straight in the rear.

 

at that time i was driving somewhere between 60-80 kmh, so he must have been driving a lot faster than that, if he couldnt reduce to my speed in 2 seconds of breaking.

 

I also assume he was driving on the left lane as well (since i didnt see him on the middle lane), and changed the lane at the same time like me. 

both bikes where sliding straight behind each other and ended up on the right side of the lane directly behind each other.

there is a long white scratch his bike left on the road, starting at the left side of the middle lane and ending on the right side.  this backs up my theorie, but i fear it wont be enough to prove it.

 

I was first convinced that it was not my mistake, but when talking to the police, they said that its probably my fault, cause i was the one changing the lane, and since i didnt see the other bike, i cant tell where he was driving.

 

I actually dont want to ask anything from the other guy. i just got minor injuries and the bike wont cost too much to fix. but i fear he will try to make my pay for his hospital costs..

 

Anybody has any thoghts on who is at fault and what i should do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Alanito

[Alanito]

[johng]

I very nearly got wiped out in a similar way...crazy fast lane splitting "big bike"...even though I indicated,used mirror, and did "life saver" look over shoulder before changing lanes...the MotoGP rider still had time to sound his horn and gesticulate as he zoomed by !

[stubuzz]

If that red circle is where the accident took place, you are at fault. You changed lane too late and you would have had to cross the solid white lines to enter the U turn lane.

[canthai55]

From the OP - " (i forgot to pay my insurance for this bike too)  "

Expensive lesson.

[Gecko123]

I would say....

You moved into the right-hand passing lane, causing a collision with another vehicle. Your motive for changing lanes is not really relevant. You had the responsibility to verify that it was safe to do so before executing the lane change. Unless you can establish comparative negligence on the part of the other driver (excessive speed), I suspect that you are largely at fault. If the minor damage to the rear end of your motorcycle was caused by the collision with the other vehicle, this will undercut the claim that he was driving at an excessive speed.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Gecko123

[steve187]

op you will have to take this one on the chin, you pulled into his lane

[brokenbone]

it was his lane, he has right of way, you have to wait until its clear

[Alanito]

actually the problem has just solved itself. but thanks for the answers. 

@Gecko123 at the time of impact i was driving between 60-80 kmh. and the damage is minor cause in the back of my bike there is a steel carrier mounted to the frame that took most of the impact force.. it still would need quite a lot of force to bend the back of the bike up like that.

[steve73]

I was always led to believe that if you run into the back of someone you are ALWAYS at fault - irrespective of the circumstances.  And this includes someone deliberately cutting you up and "break-testing" you.  When  overtaking you are responsible for ensuring you can do so safely no matter what the other person decides to do.  

 

I'd certainly be interested in hearing from anyone who would disagree.

 

OP... please don't leave us wondering... How has it resolved itself?

[samsensam]

18 minutes ago, steve73 said:

I was always led to believe that if you run into the back of someone you are ALWAYS at fault - irrespective of the circumstances.  And this includes someone deliberately cutting you up and "break-testing" you.  When  overtaking you are responsible for ensuring you can do so safely no matter what the other person decides to do.  

 

I'd certainly be interested in hearing from anyone who would disagree.

 

OP... please don't leave us wondering... How has it resolved itself?

 

indeed. that's why safe stopping distances at different speeds is included in the basic driving test. in my country anyway.

[manarak]

40 minutes ago, steve73 said:

I was always led to believe that if you run into the back of someone you are ALWAYS at fault - irrespective of the circumstances.  And this includes someone deliberately cutting you up and "break-testing" you.  When  overtaking you are responsible for ensuring you can do so safely no matter what the other person decides to do.  

 

I'd certainly be interested in hearing from anyone who would disagree.

 

OP... please don't leave us wondering... How has it resolved itself?

actually, this is not true.

it's the simplistic rule of thumb that is repeated to everyone because it's simple and convenient and encourages maintaining safe distances.

in reality, there are circumstances in which courts rule that the breaking is unreasonable or even criminal incase done intentionally.

especially incase of changing lanes, the driver who changes lanes has the duty to be especially cautious because - at least under German traffic code - lane changing is only permitted if the manoeuver puts no other vehicles at risk. indicator and checking the mirror is clearly not enough, looking back over your shoulder is mandatory to fulfill that legal requirement.

 

of course, there is always the issue of proof - clear advantage to dashcams.

 

and responsibility for accidents can be shared. I guess that's what happened here, the OP didn't perform all necessary checks and the other guy drove recklessly.

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by manarak

[Agusts]

I reckon the other guy must have been changing lane too,  but the opposite direction, I have seen it many times, near misses when two changing into middle lane from different original lanes, hard to say whose fault, but from right to left lane has priority I think,  OP pulling out,  the guy behind pulling in, if OP hit him from behind pulling out definitely his fault,  but he hitting OP from behind like that , who knows, but that's what usually happens though,  as they are pulling in from fast lane at higher speed, they hit slow guy pulling out ... 

In any case no evidence. 

[manarak]

9 hours ago, Alanito said:

actually the problem has just solved itself. but thanks for the answers. 

@Gecko123 at the time of impact i was driving between 60-80 kmh. and the damage is minor cause in the back of my bike there is a steel carrier mounted to the frame that took most of the impact force.. it still would need quite a lot of force to bend the back of the bike up like that.

another thought I had - is the U-Turn in the photos the one you wanted to take?

if yes, you switched lanes too late.

[OneMoreFarang]

Why did you not see him?

In my experience some mirrors have a huge area which they don't cover, the infamous blind "spot".

The impact maybe 2 second after you looked sounds like he was maybe in that blind spot and not with excessive speed.

If you didn't see him at all and you think you didn't see him because he was far away and very fast, how fast do you think me must have been? The damage does not look like impact with a lot faster speed.

 

As far as I can see you changed the lane for whatever reason and you put yourself and your bike in front of where he was driving. That sounds very much like your fault.

If you both would have been in the same lane for some time and he would collided with you then it would be his fault. But it seems that is not what happened.

[OneMoreFarang]

On ‎2‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 6:35 AM, manarak said:

another thought I had - is the U-Turn in the photos the one you wanted to take?

if yes, you switched lanes too late.

I agree but I think the U-turn does not matter at all.

He changed the lane and then the collision happened. It does not matter why he changed the lane.

It's not the responsible for riders to observer if someone in front of them changes a couple of lanes. The rider in front must make sure he changes into an "empty" lane.

[fruitman]

I guess you didn't see the u-turn in time?...why did you try to go over the solid line? Did you have enough time to indicate properly?  

 

I always look over my shoulder as well when doing such movements, and never steer abrupt so the bikers behind me have time to anticipate.

 

I would say it's your fault but this is thailand....

 

Yesterday we were having a walk, from behind came a jogger which was a farang. Suddenly the farang crossed the road but there was a Thai on a racing bicycle just passing him....the cyclist had to break hard to avoid him.the farang even didn't notice what happened at all i guess. Later the Thai passed us walking with his bicycle at hand...guess he got so shocked from it that he didn't dare to cycle there anymore. But it was the farangs fault, he suddenly crossed the street without looking..it happened 3 meters away from us.

 

 

 

 

[JimmyJ]

"(i forgot to pay my insurance for this bike too)"

 

OK.

[fruitman]

25 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

"(i forgot to pay my insurance for this bike too)"

 

OK.

In that case i would sure make him pay.....what a **##$**

 

And what about a real motobike driverslicense?? plus international dl??

Edited February 13, 2019 by fruitman