My accident right in front of the police | Caught on dashcam

I feel extremely guilty for no reason. I am open to criticism of any kind. Was this my fault??

scorpio2107 recently shared this with other BHPians.

Some backstory

I am a relatively new driver, having driven for only the last 4 months. Being a member of team bhp, I always practice defensive driving.

I never knew that such a small accident would leave me so shaken. I was shaking throughout the interactions with the police and the auto driver. It is only now that I understand the trauma that people go through in major accidents.

The Incident

We had just left our apartment and was approaching this junction. Contrary to what it looks like in the video, this is not a four-way junction. The road that goes straight (the one I'm on) is the main road. The road to the left is a pretty busy road that merges to the main road. The road the auto-driver comes from is a small alleyway road that ends in a dead-end.

As you can see from the video, we have police right in front of us. I am driving very slowly and cautiously. When I am about to enter the junction (in theory I could just fly by as I have the right of way, which I will never do!), there is already an Innova blocking my view of the alleyway road. I cautiously approach the junction and the moment the auto driver appears in the video is when I am looking to the left to make sure no cars are approaching. He then flies out of the road, not stopping or looking and the moment I spot him, I slam on the brakes (I'm in a Scorpio which is a large car and takes time to brake) as well as the horn. He should have stopped and looked before proceeding, because I have the right of way.

As you can see from the video, the police officer resorts to blaming me first but later in the video say it is both of our faults (not heard).

I am posting this here as I am not sure whose fault it is. I feel extremely guilty for no reason. I am open to criticism of any kind. (Was this my fault??)

Aftermath

In the end, we decided to give the auto driver 300 rupees on persuasion of the police. The Scorpio suffered lots of paint transfer and a few scratches. I buffed the paint transfer as soon as possible but there were still a few scratches remaining.

This incident has taught me to be at least 10x more careful at junctions. I can only imagine if I was a bit faster and the auto had tipped, what it would do to me.

Drive Safe guys!

Thanks to scorpio2107 once again! Check out BHPian comments for more insights & information.