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The Highways Act 1980 brought in measures to ensure that the highways in the United Kingdom are suitable for use.

What if they are not suitable for use?

In some instances highways are not always fit for use and they can cause accidents. Trips and falls are common and can cause serious injuries to those whom have fallen. Common problems with the highways include potholes, uneven surfaces, uncovered drains or defective curbs.

If this has happened to you, you may be able to claim compensation.
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If you have been passenger in a road traffic accident and have been injured by negligent driving, you may be able to claim for compensation. You can claim compensation from the driver of the car you were a passenger in, or from the driver of the other car, depending on who was responsible for the accident.

Passengers are normally seen to be an innocent party to the accident, and therefore it is very unlikely that passengers are seen as contributing to the cause of the accident. As such, innocent passengers normally have a very strong claim for compensation.
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If you have been injured in a road traffic accident that wasn’t your fault, you can claim compensation. If you were not wearing a seat belt at the time of your accident, you can still claim for compensation, but your compensation might be reduced to reflect you not wearing a seatbelt, which is breaking the law.

You cannot be held responsible for the accident, but it can be seen that you contributed to the extent of your injury, as your injury may have been less severe if you wore a seatbelt.  This is called contributory negligence and you can be seen to be partially responsible for your injury.

There will be no contributory negligence if by not wearing a seat belt, there was no further impact on the injuries you sustained.
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Roundabouts can be a dangerous place for those either using the road or crossing it. This is probably due to the amount of information and actions which have to be carried out by different people simultaneously. While keeping a look out for other drivers it is essential that you are in the correct lane, have read the relevant road signs, adjusted your speed and as always, Mirrored – Signalled – Manoeuvred.

Priority should always be given to your right and this must be checked, looking forward before moving is important to ensure traffic has started to move and take notice of pedestrians, motorcyclists and other vehicles.

Who is at fault if an accident happens?

Although precautions are often taken at roundabouts in particular, accidents can still happen. Those at fault can be those who have not followed the guidelines for driving above.
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We are a firm of Lawyers dealing solely with personal injury claims. If you have been involved in a road accident with a motorcyclist or if you are a motorcyclist and you have been involved in an accident with another vehicle, you may be eligible to make a claim for compensation. Accidents involving motorbikes are quite common unfortunately. Such accidents can be caused in a variety of ways including when unsuspecting drivers change lanes when a motorbike is approaching, opening a car door onto an oncoming motorbike, etc…

An overtake manoeuvre should only be done when it is safe. Some roads do not permit overtaking at all. Motorbikes often overtake motor cars especially when there is traffic but even when there is no traffic. If a motorbike attempts an overtaking manoeuvre when it is not safe to do so, causing an accident, then a right to claim may arise.

Say for example a motorbike overtook your vehicle and in doing so collided into the side. In this scenario it does at face value appear that the motorcyclist is at fault. On country roads overtaking is more of a problem. I often see dangerous overtaking manoeuvres performed on country roads. These roads are often problematic due to blind bends and narrow lanes. Equally drivers become frustrated if they are in slow traffic, such as when they are behind slow moving lorries or tractors. On country roads vehicles are constantly looking to overtake. On these type of roads, dangerous overtaking manoeuvres are performed more frequently.
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A concertina collision occurs where a collision, usually from the rear, causes a vehicle to be pushed in to another one in front. This can subsequently involve several vehicles if the force is pushing one vehicle in to another which forces that one in to another, and so on. They are often known as a ‘pile-up‘ as vehicles can pile-up behind each other in a long collision.

Common areas where concertina collisions occur

Concertina collisions usually occur where there is high volume traffic and the cars are ‘bumper to bumper‘. In these instances the cars behind do not have time to brake or move out of the way before then they crash into the car in front causing a ‘chain reaction‘ or ‘domino effect‘. Other common times when they occur are during extreme weather or when the road is wet. They are extremely dangerous when they occur on the motorway because of the speed in which the cars travel and the volume of lorries on the road.
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When you are unfortunate enough to be involved in a road traffic accident, it is stressful enough without finding out that the other party has no insurance in place. If you have been injured in an accident, even if the other driver has no insurance, you may still be able to make a personal injury claim. It is perhaps more straight forward (only slightly) if the other party does have insurance – but regardless, you can still make a compensation claim if you have been injured in an accident with an uninsured driver.

First of all we would take the necessary steps to check whether the other driver does have insurance. If the other driver does not have insurance then we would look to pursue the claim against the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) which is designed so that victims like you still have a course of action when involved in an accident with an uninsured driver. The MIB is funded by insurance companies – The Road Traffic Act 1988 requires that every insurer that underwrites compulsory motor insurance must be a member of the MIB and must contribute to the MIB’s funding.
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With many of us thinking of becoming more eco-friendly, travelling on the bus has risen in popularity as the car is left at home and we embark on a journey where someone else is doing the driving! But unfortunately, this does not remove you from the possibility of being involved in an accident with several bus accidents occurring on the roads every day.

If you are a passenger on a bus there are several reasons why you may have sustained an injury. Some examples of bus accidents are as follows:

Collisions – The bus is involved in a collision with another vehicle or object. This circumstance is of course quite straight forward however we would need to ascertain whether it was the bus as fault or the other vehicle. For example; if a car has pulled out in front of a bus it is most likely going to be the car’s fault- however vice versa if the bus has pulled out into a car- the bus driver is most likely to be held liable.
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We deal with many different types of road traffic accident claims. One common occurrence is dealing with a claim whereby our client has been involved in a collision with a vehicle which is exiting from a side road. Any road accident can cause distress and anxiety in addition to any physical symptoms. Generally, people just don’t like the hassle of dealing with their insurance company and dealing with other aspects such as getting your vehicle repaired and sorting out a hire replacement. Anyone who has ever been involved in a road accident will appreciate this inconvenience. In terms of making a personal injury claim, we aim to make this as simple and as hassle free as possible.

If you have been injured in a road accident then we may be able to act on your behalf. We endeavour to get you the compensation that you deserve. If a vehicle collided into you or you collided into a vehicle coming out of a side road, then in terms of liability it would seem that you have a strong case. A vehicle coming out of a junction or side road is more likely to be at fault than a vehicle already travelling on the major road. This however does not necessarily mean that the other party will accept fault for causing the accident. It could be argued, for example, that you were driving too fast and that this caused or contributed to the accident. Even if this is accepted as a contributing factor, it does not mean that you cannot claim. If partial fault is accepted, this is called contributory negligence. You may agree that you are 10% or 20% to blame. This will mean any compensation awarded will be reduced to account for the 10% or 20% contributory negligence – however it does not mean that you cannot recover some compensation.
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Being involved in any road traffic accident can cause a great deal of stress and inconvenience. We deal with many claims for client’s who have been involved in an accident which we refer to as a concertina collision. This is best explained in an example. Say you are driving vehicle A and you are stationary positioned at red traffic light signals. Vehicle B is directly behind you. Vehicle C negligently collides into the back of vehicle B which in turn causes vehicle B to shunt into the back of your vehicle (vehicle A). This is a concertina collision.

In this type of accident, injury can occur just as if vehicle B had collided into the back of your vehicle directly. The difference ordinarily is that at face value it appears that the driver of vehicle C is the driver at fault for causing the accident. This would ordinarily be the case. A claim may initially be pursued against the driver of vehicle B but you would expect the blame be passed onto the driver of vehicle C and this is usually the case. There are other factors to consider such as whether the driver of vehicle B did anything wrong such as by being too close to your vehicle or whether they could have prevented the collision with vehicle A.
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