The motorway can be a scary place to drive. With cars travelling at such high speeds and in close proximity to each other there is no doubt that confidence and elevated levels of concentration are needed. Many people aim to avoid motorways – always ensuring to set any sat nav to ‘avoid motorways’ preferring to take a longer route instead. This being said however there are people who enjoy the motorway because of its ease to get places. Whatever your thoughts on the motorway I would hazard a guess that most would not anticipate having an accident whilst travelling on one that was not their fault.
There can be many reasons why accidents can happen on motorways. I have discussed a couple below.
Undertaking
When I say undertaking I mean going past someone in a slower lane. This is not only illegal but also dangerous. Undertaking could cause a situation where a driver changes lane from the fast into the middle lane in front of another car. The driver then doesn’t see or expect another car to come down a slower lane and change into the middle lane, potentially causing a collision. In this type of situation the person undertaking would usually be at fault as they should not be undertaking. In order to avoid such accidents occurring drivers should not undertake and should use the motorway correctly by driving down the slowest lane possible.
Changing Lanes without checking
The average trip down a motorway may mean merging and changing lanes quite frequently. This manoeuvre should always be completed safely – the mirror signal manoeuvre (MSM) process is the easy way to remember how to do this safely. This ensures that you always check the way is safe and clear before even committing to moving lanes. This ensures accidents are less likely to happen and that other road users are not panicked when you place your indicators on to move when there is someone driving next to you.
If you have had an accident on the motorway and it was not your fault then you may have a claim for compensation. At The Injury Lawyers we have a vast amount of experience in dealing with road traffic accident claims and we work on a genuine no win no fee basis.
If you have been injured in a Road traffic Accident and would like some free advice feel free to give us a call.