At The Injury Lawyers, the most common type of claim we deal with is that arising from injuries from a road traffic accident. With a new procedure which came into place after April 2010 that streamlined the claims process, obtaining compensation got a whole lot more efficient and faster.
Before, a road accident claim could take a fair few months or even a couple of years under the previous system; now you could receive payment confirmation within a couple of weeks and have your claim settled in less than a couple of months. Anyone put off claiming for compensation for their injuries out of a car crash should not do so if this is on the basis that the matter is likely to drag on – it is in fact unlikely it will drag on!
In the most part, people also seem to think that it is only the driver of the motor vehicle that can be compensated. For instance, if someone goes into the back of the driver’s motor vehicle, the driver in the vast majority of circumstances can obtain compensation. That said, if it was the driver who caused the accident, then the driver cannot be compensated for their injuries as these injuries are not due to someone else’s negligence. But what if you are an innocent passenger?
Well you can claim compensation too! If you are a passenger in a vehicle which is hit in the rear by a negligent third party driver, you and the driver of the vehicle in which you were in can more than likely obtain compensation. The accident was not your fault and you have suffered injuries due to a third party’s negligence. Ok, but what if the accident was caused by the driver of the car in which I was a passenger? Again, you the passenger can make a claim for compensation because you have suffered injuries because of the driver’s negligence. However, the driver would be unable to also make a claim for compensation because the accident was his or her fault.
Basically, in any sort of road collision, you pretty much have a guaranteed claim for compensation.
A driver has a duty of care to the passengers they carry; it is on them to drive carefully and ensure that they do not come to be injured. Further, just because a passenger does not have car insurance does not mean they cannot make a claim for compensation – they can; it will be from the negligent driver’s insurer. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people are seemingly overlooking the fact that they can be compensated for their injuries when they can. Indeed, passenger compensation claims are far easier than any other type of road traffic accident claim because it is highly unlikely that the accident was their fault, and this can be easily established.
One of the common problems we hear of at The Injury Lawyers however is that some passengers don’t want to ‘sue’ their friend, the negligent third party driver. At the end of the day, what you have to realise is that, although it is your friend that was driving, it is not them who will be paying you compensation – it is their insurer – and that this will not affect their insurance premium any more than having already been involved in a road traffic accident.
If you have been injured as a passenger within the last three years and wish to make a claim for compensation for those injuries, get in touch today for some free legal advice, and if you are happy to go ahead with a claim, we can get the ball rolling today!
