A few months ago i was involved in a car crash in jaoshi (Ilan) driving my bosses infinity QX4 (expensive car) While quietly driving on the east coast highway a driver made a sudden U-turn about 15-20 meters in front of me, i slammed on the brakes and hit his right rear panel. After a breath test he was found to have a 0.83 MG/L blood alchohol level (he was stumbling all over the place and can’t remember anything he said ie: completely pissed) initially his insurance company (fubon) refused to pay for any damages on the grounds that ‘i hit him’. I requested a report from the accident determination commitee in Luodong to determine blame, immediately after which fubon offers 70% of damages. This amount still leaves me NT40-50’000 short of fully repairing my bosses car. The report states the he should not have been drunk and should have let me pass first, and that i should have slowed at this point in the road although i was driving under the speed limit.
does anyone know where i stand?
should i hold hold out for 100% of damages
should i accept 70% and sue the guy for the rest?
i’m not looking for anything extra, just enough to cover everything. the guy got away with an NT8000 fine and i’m heading to be out of pocket for an accident i didn’t cause.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Have the traffic authorities rendered a decision on who is actually responsible for damages? If they have and you’re not satisfied, you have the right to appeal, though faillure of the appeal means you have to foot the entire cost of the proceedings.
the accident determination comittee concluded that the causes of the accident were:
1: Mr Lin was drunk.
2: Mr Lin should have waited for me to pass him before turning.
3: I should have slowed down when passing this gap in the road.
According to the insurance company including me in the report makes me partly liable.
As drunk driving is such a high offence in taiwan does that not make Mr Lin wholly responsible?
I stated that i was driving about 60 km/ph, if i had slowed down to say 50 or 40 would the accident not have occurred?
how can i convince the insurance company to pay up?
I don’t think it works that any offence makes you wholly liable.
It is also true that you should keep a safe following distance so that you could stop in time to avoid hittingthe vehicle in front if they stopped suddenly.
I don’t the legal details, but I would also say you are partially at fault.
I agree with Bri. If he’d simply jammed on his brakes and you’d rear-ended him, you’d have been entirely at fault for not keeping a safe distance.
While this of course is not quite the same thing, there are similarities in that you weren’t maintaining a safe stopping distance. At least that’s how I see it.
Sorry, I misunderstood. So he was travelling toward you from the opposite direction and cut in front of you at the last second?
Then I’d say he was entirely to blame, especially since he was drunk. I hope you press the insurance company as hard as you can.
As 21p so often says, Apple Daily is your friend. Search 21p’s posts – he’s listed phone numbers, email addys, and street address for Apple Daily here. Tell the insurance company they can expect a phone call from a sleaze reporter in the near future.
Don’t brush this advice off – sometimes it really can work.
dude, u just won da lottery, can damages for da car, and $100k NT in pain and suffering,
the guy was drunk and hit you from the opposite lane, it would be impossible for you to have avoided that accident unless you were stopped. Since you were driving under the speed limit U R safe, sure the committee is correct in if U were driving slower the accident couldve been avoided, of course since if you were driving at 2km/h no one would hit you from the front, omg, what a stupid report…
I have to agree with many others who have posted here.
It seems that you have been given a verdict that is aimed at appeasing all parties. What you need to do is push for a fair verdict? In many countries I believe that drivng under the influence nullifies the responsiblities of the other party in a crash to some degree - and although I think that you should definitely argue this or something similar.
Also, have you been back to check if there is a ‘no u-turn’ sign there as this will no doubt help.
Finally, if you were driving at or under the speed limit, yet it has been decided that you should have driven slower, then surely the roads authority needs to administer that problem and you can’t be held accountable for their incorrect signage.
It seems to me that you 100% in the right, and you need to stand your ground to show that the party in the wrong needs to pay ALL the damages.
