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Roundabouts are natural hotspots for accidents. Even the most confident of drivers can struggle with staying in the correct lane on a roundabout they’re not familiar with, and drivers also have a tendency to join a roundabout without correctly checking for oncoming traffic.

The major problem with roundabout accidents is that, on occasions, it can be difficult to tell exactly who is at fault. If someone goes in to the back of you on the entrance to a roundabout, or someone pulls out on you whilst you were already on the roundabout, the other driver should be at fault. But what about if the other diver changes lanes on a multi-lane roundabout and hits your vehicle? Or what if you go in to the back of someone because they sharply pull across you and cut you up?

In these circumstances, you may need to rely upon any of the following to prove your case:
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If you are involved in an accident as a passenger, and a collision took place, you generally should have a successful claim. As a passenger, unless you did something reckless like pulled the handbrake or distracted the driver or had some kind of impact on the accident, you shouldn’t be at fault. If one car hits another and you are a passenger in either of the vehicle, you should be able to make a claim.

The reason why I highlight the point of there being a collision is that, for a collision to take place, someone must have been at fault in the vast majority of circumstances. If there isn’t a collision, say you are a passenger on a bus and the bus suddenly stops, then you may not have such a strong case. It all depends on the reason as to why the bus stopped. If it stopped because another driver negligently pulled out of a side road, then it isn’t really the fault of the bus. If the other driver can’t be traced, it could be difficult to claim against them directly.
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Most of us, at least those of us who drive, will have practised the emergency stop. Its part of learning to drive after all. But the question is when should it be applied and in what circumstances would it be unreasonable to perform an emergency stop?

Clearly an emergency stop is required and is reasonable in the case of an emergency, such as if a child or person ran out into the road.
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I would say that 95% of the accident claims we see which involve a roundabout are caused by people who are in the wrong lane or are changing lanes. The Highway Code stipulates that you should take note and act on all the information available to you when approaching a roundabout. This includes traffic signs, traffic lights and lane markings which direct you into the correct lane. Therefore you should be checking the lane markings and signage to ensure you are positioned correctly for your exit.

Motorists which stay in the left hand lane and proceed all the way round the island in this lane until they reach the exit travel across roundabout exits – which other vehicles are attempting to exit at that point in the correct lane. Liability unfortunately is not always clear cut as often the parties involved will argue that they were positioned correctly on the roundabout.
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Accidents on roundabouts are one of the most common types of accidents we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers. A frequent cause of many roundabout accidents is when a motorist is in the wrong lane for their exit and position themselves incorrectly when travelling around the roundabout.

The Highway Code’s rules on roundabouts stipulates that you should take note and act on all the information available to you, when approaching a roundabout. This includes traffic signs, traffic lights and lane markings which direct you into the correct lane. You should be checking the lane markings and signage to ensure you are positioned correctly for your exit.
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Concertina collisions are more commonly known as “pile ups”. They involve more than 2 vehicles which have been shunted into one another.

When this happens on a motorway it can be a very serious, frightening and dangerous type of road traffic accident!

Usually, the innocent parties in this type of accident are stationary in traffic and the “at fault party” is the driver that notices the stationary traffic in front of them too late and impacts with the rear vehicle, who then shunts into the vehicle in front of them and so on and so on…
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A whiplash injury is caused when you experience a sudden jolt or movement in your neck and it causes the soft tissue in the neck to be stretched and strained. Although whiplash does normally just affect the neck area, it can also cause great pain and discomfort in the shoulders and back.

Physiotherapy treatment is the most common rehabilitation treatment for this type of injury and is usually recommended by your GP if your symptoms are persistent as taking painkillers long term is not an effective way of treating a whiplash injury. However, in many cases, a course of painkillers will be sufficient for minor whiplash injuries and will see the client through until they have recovered. Therefore not all clients will need a course of physiotherapy.
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Generally speaking if Driver B caused their vehicle to crash into the back of Driver A’s vehicle, then Driver B would be at fault.

This is, of course, a typical rear end shunt scenario whereby liability is usually attached to the driver who drove their vehicle into collision with the vehicle in front.

As a driver myself, this must be the correct decision as you have no control over the vehicle that’s driving behind you. However, in some strange and unusual circumstances, Driver A in the above scenario could be held at fault.
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Slowing down, stopping and emergency braking can be hazardous to road users, simply because of the fact that the driver behind could be following too closely or not paying enough attention to what is in front of their vehicle.

The gap between vehicles travelling in average conditions should be at least 2 seconds according to guidelines. This should be enough time for the driver behind to see the brake lights and begin to slow and stop themselves.

The amount of road accident claims that we receive here at The Injury Lawyers involving vehicles being hit from behind, tells us that a very significant number of drivers do NOT follow the two-second rule!
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If someone asked me what I considered to be a ‘dead cert’ for a claim for compensation, I would say a passenger claiming compensation for injuries they received whilst involved in a road traffic accident. 

A passenger would have to do something highly unusual, possibly extreme, to be considered to be at fault for causing an accident on the road.  Under current law, you can be compensated for any injuries you have got through no fault of your own, which is why passenger accident claims are often the most straightforward.
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