Lane Change Accidents (Adjuster Explains)

Insurance Adjuster Bryon explains lane change accidents. How do they happen? Who is at fault? Why do they happen? And how does your insurance company handle them? Also, how can you avoid being involved in the first place?

Disclaimer:
I am not a lawyer. I cannot and do not provide legal advice. Any legal information is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice.
Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, I encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals.
The information provided by Adjust Your Drive is for general informational purposes only. All information is provided in good faith, however we make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of any information presented.
Under no circumstance shall we have any liability to you for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of or reliance on any information provided. Your reliance on any information presented is solely at your own risk.

[Jmarpi]

Your video was helpful in understanding how insurances handle this type of accident. Lane change accidents are so frustrating!

[navydoc]

Love your video boss, but I "SWEAR" by all that is holy, that someone or something is snoring in the background! :) I love it!

[MaynardOwns]

The lady who hit me said “did you signal I didn’t see you” I didn’t change lanes I was in the lane the whole time and she chose to not look

[jamslam]

I was in a lane change accident. A crazy driver swerved into my lane and wrecked my car. They refused to accept responsibility. Too bad for them, my dashcam caught everything so their insurance had no choice but to accept 100% liability.

[raymondluma]

I had a driver hit me on my driver side while she was changing lane and later lied that I was speeding .

[KennethN]

I was in an accident where a lane change happened going less than 5-8mphs...There was no damage to the vehicles. The driver of the other car stated that she was sore and hired an attorney. Now the adjuster has called me notifying me of that change in stance. Seems like the other person is trying to capitalize from a system for a false claim. What are your thoughts and or suggestions.

[MrJCJR]

Who is at fault if the person directly behind you changes lanes at the same time as you but accelerated faster and hits you un the drivers side door? The other driver said they were going straight to the cop but cop noticed tire mark on my door so said we were both changing lanes and said it was 50/50.

[diamondsandgold]

My situation is road construction that came down to a single lane. People were rolling at 1mph and then stopping. I had 2 car lengths of space, and considering the speed I made a lane change that had me 50/50 but had to stop for several seconds for the traffic and then a semi rub against the back corner of my bumper. But there’s a second hit by the back door too. I feel like he rolled into me on purpose considering there being 2 intentions. I was said to be at fault. Anyone?

[MNRick]

I recently got hit by a guy who was changing lanes on a city street. In this case the damage was on the front passenger corner of my car and the rear driver corner of his car.

At the scene he was saying that I hit him but he was changing lanes when the accident occurred and when i reported the claim to my insurance, they said it was his fault.

To me it's a clear case of the other guy didn't look. I have my car in the body shop now, hopefully the other driver's insurance reimburses me for my deductible and rental costs.

[MaynardOwns]

I just got side swiped and I need a way to prove I was in my lane and the other driver left their lane. No dash cam. I do have LKA wonder if they can check to see that it never went off

[yahyahsmith]

Wondering if I was at fault….I’m driving on the highway. There’s a car pulled over on the shoulder (side of the highway) then there’s a car stopped right next to them on the actual highway. ( In the right lane). Im driving in the right lane when I notice the car is just sitting there. Mind you im going 65 mph. I try to stop but notice im not going to stop in time so I look in my side mirror, saw it was safe to to get in the left lane so I put my left signal on and swerved into the left lane. Approximately 2 seconds later I got hit from the back. If I hadn’t changed lanes I woulda probably caused a pile up from running into the back of the car that was just sitting on the highway.

[chrisfisher]

What does it mean if you are rare ended followed by a side swipe?

[Magicinstalls]

Of course you're like every other adjuster and you've left out the third scenario where the driver behind speeds up and rams into you and spend you into a center divider. I'm dealing with an adjuster just like you because that's exactly what happened to me. A victim of road rage…

[reginaldwilliams]

The person just says, "I was changing lanes. "... is a way to prove it...

[StealthTheUnknown]

What pisses me off about all these animations is that the vehicles are all traveling the same speed. Being side-by-side at the same speed (pacing) is incredibly dangerous, particularly when done in someone’s blind spots.

We need more effort put into traffic flow and passing - get people OUT of the left lane except to pass or prepare to turn left, ensure they ACTUALLY PASS and don’t just pace (that’s legally considered traffic obstruction, it just doesn’t see the enforcement that speeding or other laws do), and move right when clear of traffic to be passed. Loosen up speed limits in the left lanes for the purpose of passing, as much as 20-25 in some areas where it is safe to do, to ENSURE that people pass and don’t stack up into rolling road blocks (everyone in a big cluster, side-by-side and bumper-to-bumper seems a lot like the recipe for a pileup accident, no?).

We should really, really stop normalizing this side-by-side stuff. It’s actually so bad in some places, that people will ACTIVELY CHANGE SPEED TO MATCH ME, JUST SO THEY STAY NEXT TO ME. I’ve tested this behavior at up to 20 miles per hour over the limit.


This was someone I intended to pass, AT the speed limit, because they were 10-15 mph UNDER when I first encountered. They soon matched my speed as I got next to them, and stepped it up WITH me as I went 5, then 10, then 15, then 20 over . . . What the fuck gives??? Why do we do that? If I’m generally just cruising, I’ll SLOW DOWN from the right lane to let leftward motorists pass expediently. We’re not in a race, I want you all to actually make it to your destinations. I’m not trying to beat you or get there first. Nobody should take it that way. Getting passed just means the driver who passed you is comfortable cruising at a higher velocity than you are. Big deal.

And there’s the problem for so many people: ego. Getting passed is a bruise to their ego. They’re emotionally driven. Just drive and arrive, leave the ego in the rear-view and stop taking things personal. Getting passed isn’t offensive. Repeatedly getting run off the road because people like to box me in and then change lanes into me, IS offensive - I could die! I could understand the offense at being passed if I swung a sword over your head every time I did it - which could be construed as a LESSER threat than having kinetic energy actually directed AT me - but I don’t, I literally just scoot past you and get in front of you. The problem’s with you (whoever is reading who has their ego out of check and lets such inconsequential petty insults to their ego affect their mood.) Fix it.