Being a regular user of the roads, or maybe you would say more than regular as I drive approximately 70miles a day to work and back, I have become accustomed to the hazards of the roads. These hazards are numerous and come in all sorts of different forms.
It can be seen that a vast proportion of road accidents occur at meeting places for cars; junctions, roundabouts, and the like. Accidents at these places are often caused by drivers rushing and not employing the necessary care and attention.
Roundabouts:
Now it is granted that roundabouts can be large and complex, with many lanes that can be confusing as to where they lead. Yes, these situations on roundabouts, when you are not familiar with the particular roundabout, can be nerve-wracking. This being said however it is no excuse to start trying to shift lanes at the last minute, causing other cars around to panic and try to move out of your way. Much of the time on a busy roundabout especially if it is rush hour, there is nowhere for other cars to move to – and you cannot expect them to cause an accident themselves in order to make room for you. Hence from this you can see the problem that meeting at roundabouts can cause. When utilising roundabouts it is important not to panic; if you miss your exit, you can simply go round again and change lanes when it is safe to do so.
Side roads:
When pulling out of a minor road onto a major road it is crucial to give way, and in many instances, there are give way signs also indicting this. If you are driving down a major road and a car pulls out of a minor road negligently and causes a collision with you, then you may have a claim for compensation. This being said however, there has been an example in case law where the driver of a tractor coming out a minor side road successfully sued the driver of a car driving down a major road with whom it collided. This was due to warning signs for farm traffic to which the car driver should have taken heed of.
At The Injury Lawyers we have a vast amount of experience in dealing with road traffic accidents. We work hard on behalf of our clients to get them the best possible amounts of compensation. So feel free to get in touch.
