Friend got in an accident

In that situation, she should have reacted and slowed/stopped well before she arrived 10m away. Of course it's too late by then. Inattentiveness has caught up with you. A three point turn isn't a sudden manoever. If you're looking far enough ahead, you'd see the car in the process of the turn, directly in your path, and get ready to slow or stop. Despite who's in the wrong, the whole thing could probably have been avoided with just a little patience and common sense/courtesy from both parties. When he noticed the van coming, he should have remained stopped and waited, and when he didn't, she should have been aware enough to compensate for his error and stop, instead of charging impatiently through like a bull at a gate. As mrfxit rightly says, The law states the car is at fault, but realistically they both contributed equally to the collision in my view.

The reversing driver isn't always held to be 100% responsible.

AFK v ZUL [2013] NZDT 347 (4 September 2013) [PDF, 57KB]
Negligence / Apportioning of damage / Applicant reversed out of car park and was struck by a trailer being towed by the Respondent, who had entered the car park through the ???exit??? and was passing behind the Applicant as she reversed / Applicant did not see Respondent as she was looking in the direction from which it would be expected cars would come / Held: the Respondent failed to exercise reasonable care when entering the car park through the ???exit??? / however, the Applicant also had a duty to ensure the way was clear before reversing, and failed to fulfil his duty / the Respondent was primarily responsible for the collision as he was performing an unusual manoeuvre / contribution set at 70 per cent for Respondent and 30 per cent for Applicant / Respondent to pay Applicant $999.75.

WHY--car stopped. driver looked. Saw moving van 10m away and reversed anyway. where was the possibility of the van making even ineffectual evasive manouvers?

As I said already. van should have started making an effort to avoid the potential hazard well before then. She obviously wasn't well enough aware of her surroundings and never saw the car at all or understood what he was trying to do. If I saw a car in the middle of the road in front of me, halfway through a turn, I sure wouldn't be thinking about roaring around behind it, hoping he'd seen me. or if he had, that he'd remain stopped.

I'm not arguing the car wasn't at some fault. But why wasn't the woman in the van paying close enough attention so as to be able to take action well before she was 10m away? Trouble these days is, nobody pays enough attention, they all think they own the road, common sense no longer exists and they're all in too much of a bloody hurry. How dare another motorist impede their progress for even a few seconds. Don't bother being courteous, understanding what's happening and waiting for the guy to finish turning. just keep driving and stuff your van past in impatience, and end up in a crash. The way I see it, they both stuffed up here, plain and simple.

Anyway, what's done is done in this case, I wasn't there and it's only my opinion, which I feel is the common sense approach to it all.