Dashcam footage captures bus crash - but who's to blame?

Social media is divided over this footage, captured on dashcam by an HGV driver and released onto the internet. It shows the driver of a Mazda saloon attempting to cross a junction – but being hit halfway across by a double decker bus.

The footage, captured in Kingston upon Thames, shows the HGV pulling up to a junction and stopping, while coming from the opposite direction, a black Mazda does the same. The car slowly moves across the junction, while the driver waves his thanks at the driver of the HGV.

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But as it moves into the outer lane of the road, it stops suddenly, before a double-decker bus comes into shot and slams into the Mazda's bonnet.

The footage has sparked debate on social media, with the HGV driver Nick Elliott claiming he did not wave the driver across at all. Writing on Facebook, Elliott said: "Car driver tried blaming me saying I waved him across when actually I put a hand up... to tell him to wait whilst I was looking in my left mirror at the bus."

But it's sparked serious debate, with commenters blaming the bus, the Mazda driver and Elliott in equal numbers. "Car driver's fault 100%," said Peter Atkin. "He who turneth right must give way unto his brethren."

But Pawel Grabiszewski thought otherwise, telling Elliott: "That was your fault. Too many idiot drivers want to be polite, but don't think about the consequences just like you."

Even the bus driver wasn't left blameless, with John Smith saying: "Looks like he had lots of time to react to that car stopped in front of him. Unless he was speeding."

In law, however, the Mazda would likely get the blame. Regardless of whether the HGV had waved him across the junction, his vehicle was still in an oncoming traffic lane – and the bus had right of way.

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