It’s a wet day today at The Injury Lawyers camp – the rain has been coming down quite hard over the weekend and today, and the roads are wet and pose a possible hazard. We should all take extra care on wet roads; rather obviously, we must ensure to keep a greater distance between vehicles, keep speed to a sensible minimum, and keep an extra eye out with the rainwater clogging up our windscreens. But even without the rain, accidents are still so easy to be involved in – and they are all too common.
In fact, just last Friday I managed to dodge a road accident on my way home from work. Whilst driving down a residential road, another vehicle clearly had not looked in to my road before emerging from a side road, and ended up pulling right out in front of me. It was certainly a nerve-racking experience; the car-lined residential street was in no way capable of allowing two vehicles to pass next to each other.
A head on collision was marginally avoided as I managed to swerve to evade the offending vehicle, narrowly (and I mean, narrowly – there were millimetres in it!) missing a circular metal barrier for a pathway tree on the side of the road. In fact, the barrier itself had already been bent inwards and was pressing against the tree. Clearly someone has already hit it sometime before me – which turned out to work in my favour. Had the barrier been fully extended, I would certainly have hit it! A bit of a miracle it may seem (although I hope whichever poor sole hit it before me wasn’t too badly hurt).
So, the moral of the story is to show just how easy it is to be in a road accident. Had there have been a collision between myself and the offending vehicle, I would have had a non-fault claim for compensation for any injuries sustained. I imagine I would have suffered some form of whiplash given that we would have ended up head on in to each other. My car is only five months old – generally if the front end of your vehicle is smashed, you are looking at a write off if the engine has been moved or damaged in any way. But luckily for me, disaster was narrowly averted.
This type of circumstance is actually quite common. Vehicles emerging from side roads on to major roads must make sure they do not pull out in front of a correctly proceeding vehicle on the major road. All drivers must take heed of give way signs and the rules of the road. If a driver pulls out in front of someone and causes a collision, they are negligent – and they are liable to compensate any victims they injure through their insurers.
Road accident claims are generally very straightforward to pursue, but it is always essential to speak with an expert independent personal injury lawyer for the best advice and guidance on how to move forward with your claim.
As specialist lawyers, we operate on a genuine no win no fee – we do not charge you for a successful claim and you keep 100% of any compensation that’s awarded. If the claim is not successful, we still do not charge you. It’s as simple as that!
So, if you’re unlucky enough to be unable to evade an accident like I did on Friday, give us a call for a free, no obligation chat on your options.
