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Hi
I was travelling North on Cashmere Rd , Chch ,
coming up to the Barrington St roundabout
I was following a woman who was in front she kept .looking down
as she was driving in my experience looking at something
She negotiated a 1/4 of the turn & stopped abruptly on the roundabout
in line with Barrington St
I unfortunately hit her from behind
We moved away from the intersection & parked up Nth of the roundabout
She admitted at the scene she was on the phone
& was looking at her google map
WE swapped details ,the police were not called , no injury
Her story radically changed when she got to make a claim with her insurer
My insurer says I'm strictly liable because I hit up the rear
& determined I didn't apply the "2 second rule"
I said surely there must be mitigating circumstances
They said no Accepted my claim but making me pay a $400 excess !!
Whats your thoughts ?
Can I request Police to revisit & Interview ?
I'm thinking of an OIA request to see what she actually said in her statement
I'm happy t have my insurer put one of their investigator on to it be & be interviewed properly
Thanks in advance
Best regards
Paul

Hi Paul,
This scenario can be broken into two parts.
1, Cause of crash
2, Road rule broken
Sometimes these are one and the same, but in your case the cause of crash was the fact the car in front stopped and you hit from behind. If the police attended you would have received an infringement notice for failing to stop.
The second is infringement worthy- the other driver was using the phone and so would have also received a fine if the police attended, but this would not absolve you of the 2 second rule (and drive behind a car with enough room that you could stop in an emergency)