Lane Change Accident

[shawnamin]

My question involves a traffic accident in the State of: NC
Ok so i am a 17 year old kid. I was driving on a road with 3 lanes going in each direction i was in the center lane not the middle turning lane but actually in the center lane (Both lanes next to me going in the same direction). I needed to go into the lane to the left of me. i signaled and looked in all of my mirrors. There was enough room for me to merge. I start to merge when i notice the car behind me speeding up and getting very close to me. I immediately pull back into my lane(the middle lane) This is when the collision occurred. I know that i was free and clear of her car and back in my lane before the collision. I believe that she swerved into me out of shock or something. She was also on the phone (she claimed that she tried to warn me or avoid the crash but i don't believe she honked her horn or tried to actually avoid me, because she was on the phone so she had one hand on the wheel other on the phone. Either she did honk which means she must have let her hand off the wheel and her car pulled into mine or she didn't get to honk (and just lied about trying to warn me and she just swerved into me out of shock or something. Now the reason why i believe she hit me is because my car has a distinct tire mark. By the curve of the tire mark you can conclude that the front part of her tire hit my car. And since the front part of the tire struck me you can conclude that she started to go right. (When you turn your steering right the front part of your tires stick out, when you turn left the back part of your wheels stick out.) Remember i was on the right side of her and she was on the left side of me. What do you guys think?

Those are pictures of damage, i am in the grey car, she is in the blue. There is really no damage but the other lady insist that she gets her whole bumper painted.
Also where the collision occurred the road started to split into 4 lanes as we were approaching and intersection and there was a left turn lane beginning. So essentially she could have merged in that left turning lane to avoid the accident if she truly thought i was merging into her. which is what she is claiming i did. I just gave a statement to my insurance and they claim that it is going to be my fault. The lady stopped recording my statement before i could show her my photos and explain how she swerved into me. So my agent just assumed it was my fault before i could even give my full statement. What should i do.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Basically, you pulled into the turn lane, didn't have time to complete your merge due to the presence of another car in that lane, and believe that it's because the other car sped up (not, for example, because you underestimated its speed, underestimated the distance involved, or didn't see the car). I'll grant that it's possible that the other car sped up, but it's still your job to make sure that the lane is clear and that you can change lanes safely before changing lanes.

You also believe that the collision occurred because the other driver attempted to swerve around you and hit you after you pulled back into the center lane - although that would in fact seem not to be an evasive action but one that would make an accident inevitable. Also, it doesn't make sense - as you indicate, she could have avoided you by pulling into the leftmost lane and I can't see how or why she would have pulled right like you suggest. To the extent that you created an emergency situation, claiming, "I think she only hit me because she was trying to avoid a collision" doesn't seem to do much to transform the accident from your fault to hers.

Nothing in your pictures suggests to me that you couldn't have caused the accident while pulling into her lane. You may not think that the scrape down the edge of her bumper merits repainting the bumper but it's pretty much par for the course that there's no other way to repair minor scratches - if you paint part of a bumper you'll see a transition from old to new paint, and may create a flaking or peeling problem at the transition point.