Just this week I wrote about almost being in an accident when a driver cut me up on the exit of a roundabout. Last night the same sort of thing happened – but more to do with the wet weather. So I thought I’d do a quick blog about compensation claims and wet weather.
All drivers ought to know that extra care needs to be taken during periods of wet weather. The road surface is slippery and water may have accumulated in puddles or fords which pose a serious risk of skidding or aquaplaning, losing control, and crashing. A driver cannot really use the excuse that of ‘the weather’ to defend a claim – if a driver fails to stop due to skidding or losing control of the vehicle in wet weather and hits you, they are still at fault.
Last night a driver decided to cut me up and change lanes in front of me to avoid a ford that had accumulated in the road in his lane – he obviously didn’t realise that, firstly, I was there, and secondly, the water was in my lane anyway! So when I had to almost slam my brakes on and completely lost all vision as his car kicked up a tidal wave that covered my entire windscreen reducing my vision to literally nothing (it was like being in a car wash), I think avoidance of a collision was left to fate.
Luckily once the water had subsided and I could see again, I hadn’t hit him – and he had (I assume) swerved back in to his lane at some point when realising I was there. He waved his arm out the window apologetically, so I assume he knew what he had done. But let’s take this scenario and assess the liability:
Had I have gone in to the back of him, he would have been at fault because he dangerously cut me up. However, he could have been dishonest and alleged that I simply failed to stop and collided in to the back of him. As I was driving at a safe speed given the conditions, I had plenty of time to stop in the middle of the ford whilst my car was hit by the tidal wave from his. Well, I assume I stopped on the basis I maintained full control of my vehicle.
Had he have used the excuse that he was swerving to avoid a ford in the road, this wouldn’t be acceptable. There is a lot of case law when it comes to drivers swerving to avoid a collision or a hazard and inadvertently putting someone else in danger – the gist is that a driver would still be to blame and they cannot use the excuse that they hit you to avoid another danger.
Pulling a manoeuvre like that should only be done if it is safe and clear to do so. It’s similar to the old argument of either hitting the animal in the road, or slamming on to save its skin. Generally speaking, anything smaller than an average sized dog (with the exception of a child) should be road kill. If you slam on to avoid a pigeon, you may be found to be either partially or fully at fault for slamming on in this circumstance. If you slam on to avoid a puddle, you shouldn’t have been going fast enough to necessitate a slam on in the first place – and the driver behind should have maintained an increased braking distance.
The gist is that a driver cannot try and use the excuse of adverse weather as a defence to a claim. As drivers, we owe a duty of care to one another, and the duty of care when it comes to wet weather is to slow down to a speed suitable for the conditions, and leave greater stopping distances. Oh, and of course, not cutting people up to avoid fords or large puddles.
So if you are hit by a skidding driver in wet weather, call us up on our free claims helpline for all the advice you need.
