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Any type of overtaking can always be hazardous. Anyone who proceeds to make an overtaking manoeuvre should do so with great care.

You may think it is easier for a motorcycle to overtake – However it can be more dangerous due to other road users and the fact that they simply cannot see a motorcycle or are not looking out for them properly. Drivers of all vehicles can fail to check their mirrors and surroundings properly before carrying out a manoeuvre.

Obviously as a motorcyclist you are more difficult to detect in any traffic – but other road users checking properly, and not just glancing, can avoid accidents. A common incident involving motorcyclists is that of a motorcyclist overtaking stationary traffic and a vehicle pulling out of the line of traffic to turn or to change lanes thus causing a collision.
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A concertina collision simply means that there are more than just 2 vehicles involved in the accident, and one vehicle collides with another which then shunts another vehicle, which collides with another; and so on, like a domino effect.

The most common place for this type of accident to occur is in heavy traffic. Vehicles cannot move out of the way and therefore one collision at the back can cause several more down the line of traffic if the first vehicle to be hit is forced in to the one in front.

If an accident occurs on the motorway, taking into account the speed of vehicles, the accident can be severe with many vehicles involved. If you are unlucky enough to be in the middle of one of these accidents, who is to blame?

Well, the more vehicles involved the more complicated it can be to assess who is to blame for the accident. If you have been shunted from behind and into the rear of the vehicle in front, you are likely to be an innocent party. In this circumstance, if you are injured and pursuing a claim for your injuries, you will likely receive 100% of the compensation awarded to you.
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If you are injured on a bus, you may be entitled to claim for compensation for any injuries and losses sustained– dependant on the circumstances.

First things first! If there was a collision, you should have a successful claim. Ultimately there is normally always someone at fault for a collision, whether it’s the bus driver or another road user, so you normally can make a claim with relative ease as there should be someone at fault.

The big question that may well be edging off your lips is – “what if there was no collision? Can I still make a claim?” This is where it can all boil down to why you have been injured.
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Commonly, we’re looking at two potential viewpoints on this one – you’re a pedestrian who is hit by a vehicle with a driver that is too cowardly to stick around and do the right thing to help you out; or you are in an accident due to a pedestrian causing you to have an accident.

If you are the pedestrian then there is still the chance to make a claim. Make sure that the matter is reported to the policy straight away and make sure you have medical attention straight away as well. By straight away I’d suggest within 24 – 48 hours. If the police track down whoever decided to leave you injured and unaided at the scene of the accident, we can pursue the claim against them. But if we never find them, there is another way.

The Motor Insurers Bureau was set up as a not for profit organisation with an agreement with the government to investigate and pay out for untraced or uninsured drivers. As long as the matter has been duly reported as I said above, they should be able to pay out for the claim. The level of compensation awards is the same as pursuing an insurer; the major difference is that it can take longer to settle a claim as its difficult to hold a not for profit organisation to any legal deadlines for responses. They work to considerable backlogs, but hey – be grateful there is a way of making a claim!
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Crossing a road is part of everyday life. We are all well aware of the dangers – whether it be as a driver looking out for pedestrians or as a pedestrian trying to safely cross to the other side of the road. Zebra crossings are in place to assist pedestrians in crossing the road. On busy roads, it would be very difficult without some kind of crossing in place to get to the other side. It would be very dangerous without some kind of crossing. Of course there are duties upon both drivers and pedestrians when it comes to zebra crossings. Liability can often be split depending on the circumstances of the individual case.

Pedestrians should wait for cars to stop in both directions before stepping out into the road. Other factors to consider include the speed of the vehicle, whether the pedestrian had waited for it to be safe before stepping out into the road etc. Especially in this type of claim, witnesses could be crucial.

The Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings Regulations 1997 prescribe an absolute duty for the driver to stop if anyone is on the crossing. Therefore even if the pedestrian ran out into the road it can be difficult for a driver to escape liability all together. Hence in some situations it leads to a split in liability whereby the driver and the passenger are both to blame to some extent.
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You’re doing 40mph on a country road (which is at the limit) and it’s dark (so you can’t see the road properly) when you hear a huge smash as your wheel dips in to an “impossible to notice” pothole hiding in the road; one with enough depth to do some serious damage to your car! You immediately feel the car isn’t right, so you pull over and discover you’ve suffered a blowout from the tyre being slashed by hitting the pothole at force.

What’s worse, is you cannot change the tyre yourself because the last time you had a service, the nice men at the garage used their automated tools to put the wheel nuts back on! Not only that, but it isn’t easy to change a tyre in the dark and you have breakdown cover for a good reason. So, you call your breakdown recovery service to come out and change the tyre for you, only to be told there’s a longer than normal call-out time for them to get to you because of how busy they seem to be.

Half an hour later after the time they were meant to arrive, you give them a call only to be told it will be another hour. Repeat the last step and then some, and you’ve got a three and a half hour wait on your hands!
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This is a specific little area of law and an area in which people may refrain from asking about. If you made the mistake of getting into a stolen vehicle and you are subsequently involved in an accident, sustaining injury as a result, can you make a claim for compensation? Well to put it bluntly a lot will depend on your knowledge as a passenger. Did you knowingly get into a stolen vehicle or were you unaware that the vehicle was stolen?

If you knowingly got into a stolen vehicle and you are then involved in an accident, sustaining injury, then the law says that you may not have the right to bring a compensation claim. This comes under the latin doctrine of “ex turpi causa” which basically means that from a dishonourable cause an action does not arise. In simple terms this means that you may struggle to claim compensation as your injuries were sustained when you were completing or assisting in an immoral or illegal act. To law abiding citizens, this rule is accepted and clearly justified.

Now it is very different (as common sense would suggest) if a person is injured in a stolen vehicle and that person was unaware that the vehicle was stolen. This would be an unusual scenario but it is not totally unheard of. The most likely scenario would be if someone offers a stranger a lift.
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Accidents on roundabouts are very common – we take on a lot of compensation claims due to road accidents occurring on or on the approach to a roundabout. The usual circumstances are…

• Being hit in the rear on the approach to a roundabout
• Someone pulling out in front of you whilst you are already established on the roundabout
• Someone changing lanes on a roundabout and causing an accident (normally when people realise they are in the wrong lane for turning off at the last minute)

We have some simple rules that we follow whilst out on the road – keeping a safe distance, taking care on the approach to a roundabout for slowing traffic, only joining a roundabout when it is safe to do so, and not changing lanes without due care and attention; but I think people either panic or don’t concentrate enough so accidents that are easily avoidable end up occurring!
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The consequences of a collision between a pedestrian and a motor vehicle are often devastating! The fault in these types of accidents depend on the circumstances of the collision and most of the time, the accidents are quite different.  However the law surrounding these types of accidents is very pedestrian friendly. With that, I mean that the law seems to be built around placing the blame, or most of it, on the motorist.

However, pedestrians do still have a duty to be vigilant and also be aware of the traffic conditions etc. There have been several safety campaigns for pedestrians and the most memorable is likely to be the Green Cross Code. Pedestrians should find a safe place to cross and then…

• Stop
• Look
• Listen

So what is the duty of a driver to a pedestrian? The case of Donaghue v Stevenson has been applied to road users to show they owe a duty of care to those that may be affected by their actions or omissions; so a driver owes a duty of care to a pedestrian as a pedestrian is a road user.

Therefore, at pedestrian crossings especially, extra care and caution should be taken as it should be expected by a motorist that pedestrians are crossing or will be crossing and can step out into the road at any time.
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Pedestrian crossings are in place to help people safely and successfully cross over a road. On busy roads they are very useful as I find that the majority (unfortunately not all) drivers will stop to let pedestrians cross. Unfortunately not all drivers stop and it can be infuriating for the pedestrians when this occurs.

Unfortunately there will always be some drivers who don’t consider others. Even if the road is not necessarily a busy road, I would still recommend that you use a pedestrian crossing to get to the other side. Basically if you want to cross a road and there is a pedestrian crossing in sight or somewhere close by, you should use it. Put simply, if you cross and are involved in an accident then you may be partly at fault for not crossing in the safest area (i.e. the safest area would be the pedestrian crossing).

If you failed to use a pedestrian crossing and you subsequently became injured in an accident, the other side are likely to argue that you are partly at fault for your injuries by not using the pedestrian crossing. This is an allegation of contributory negligence and if agreed or found by a Court, then your damages would be reduced accordingly. If you are not found to be fully at fault, you can still claim compensation. If contributory negligence is agreed at, say 20%, there would be a 20% deduction in any damages that you would receive. In some cases (depending on the severity of the injuries) this kind of deduction could amount to thousands of pounds…
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