🟢 Adjudicate this then. Traffic experts only need apply! 🟢

mumsie

You're an insurance assessor, and your decision is final.

Determine who is at fault.

If fault is shared, assign a percentage of blame to each party.

stokefc

Normally it's the person who run in the back of the Mini
Someone could have run into the back of the person who hit the Mini then it's their fault but also there's the criminality aspect, the Mini breaked suddenly forcing the driver to hit the Mini for insurance purposes this is why you should drive with plenty of space between cars while driving, did a animal run in front of the Mini forcing it to stop suddenly
I don't know an advanced driver should know

stokefc

These are great @mumsie , makes you think

Enut

Probably a crash for cash attempt. It's almost always the fault of the driver that goes into the back of the car in front so scammers are now slamming their brakes on 'for no reason' and in this case as they are passing a traffic island, thus limiting the following car from swerving to avoid them. Then they claim for the damage to the car AND things like whiplash, although I think the insurance companies are now wising up to it.
It's still the dashcam car's fault as they are way too close ('only a fool breaks the two second rule'), BUT their dashcam footage may help them, especially if the mini driver has previous for this sort of fraud attempt. @Essexphil will probably know more about the legal aspects.
As a side note, many of the new cars have 'driver assistance', this will lead to them automatically braking with no driver input due to things like cars waiting to join from a side junction, pedestrians walking along the pavement on right hand bend or even passing close to road furniture (signs etc). I followed a Tesla recently through town, you would have thought the driver was drunk but I suspect it was the car 'helping', but certainly the erratic braking for no reason was a concern, I gave them plenty of room as I had no idea what the car was going to do next, ironically it then turned right without indicating, so maybe it was just a bad driver after all.
Some hybrid electric cars will now 'brake', well at least illuminate the brake lights, when the driver eases off the accelerator as they are harvesting the electricity to charge the battery. It's another feature that can just confuse the driver behind. Combine these 'advances' with the general poor quality of driving these days and quicker and quicker cars (especially the electric ones) and you definitely need to keep your wits about you out there. Drive safely everyone!

mumsie

I'm undecided on this one.

It's definitely the car behind fault with the not stopping in time.
The mini braking without any visible reason must be taken into consideration but I'm not sure if it is.
Maybe the mini drive could say they sneezed or the engine just seized up or there could be a valid reason as to why the sudden stop, maybe they had a stroke , there could be something medical going on, which may or may not open a can of worms when it comes to car insurance.

Maybe the mini driver opened a can and it was full of worms and that panicked them.

The mini driver needs to be careful what reason they give for stopping as insurance companies make their monies from not paying out if they spot any irregularities.

Essexphil

Pretty much as everyone has said.

Unless it can be proved that the braking was deliberate as part if a criminal enterprise, the fault rests with the following car.

VespaPX

When we get to driverless cars, whose fault will it be?

legascaac

Dash cam clears the car behind , brake checked by front car , beside an island, no reason to do it , the car behind had no option to swerve as island beside them , although the car behind was gaining slightly but it’s the normal on roads . The car in front is at fault but without a dashcam the car behind would off got the blame . Car in front has deliberately brake checked car behind at an island as the car behind is closing in on it slightly . Stupidity !!!

mumsie

VespaPX said:

When we get to driverless cars, whose fault will it be?

The manufacturer of the car is answerable.