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If you have been involved in a road traffic accident that was not your fault, but you were not wearing a seatbelt, can you still make a claim for compensation? Put simply, the answer is yes – you can still make a claim for compensation providing the accident was not your fault. This applies whether you were a driver or a passenger.

The likelihood is that the Defendant will argue contributory negligence applies. However contributory negligence is not a complete defence to a claim. It is a partial defence which, if found, would reduce the amount of compensation that you receive. Contributory negligence is basically the Defendant alleging that you were partly to blame for causing or contributing to the accident or to your injuries (or to the severity of your injuries). In this case it means that your injuries may be more severe as a result of your negligence in failing to wear a seat belt, which is breaking the law.

Contributory negligence would be argued in terms of a percentage. The Defendant may argue that you are 20% responsible. What would this mean in terms of any compensation awarded? For example purposes let’s say that your claim is valued, on a full liability basis, at £2,000. If contributory negligence was agreed at 20%, you would not receive 100% of your compensation; you would receive the remaining 80% (20% deducted). So in the example given you would receive £1,600 (£2,000 minus 20% for contributory negligence). Where contributory negligence is agreed or found by a Court of law, your compensation would be deducted accordingly.
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Being a motorcyclist can be fraught with hazards due to other road users. The main reason for this would be that drivers of vans, cars and lorries can fail to check their mirrors and surroundings properly before making a manoeuvre.

The most common of these manoeuvres is a vehicle turning right when a motorcyclist is overtaking.

The Highway Code states that when changing lanes or turning right then the “mirror, signal and manoeuvre” rule applies.

Therefore, drivers should, in these circumstances:

• Check their mirrors for other traffic, especially motorcyclists.
• Signal their intention to change lanes or turn right
• Carry out the manoeuvre in a safe fashion

However, motorcyclists have the same duty of care as other road users so who is at fault in a situation such as this.
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Although this seems quite humorous at first, having a road traffic accident involving a cow can be extremely serious! After all, they are pretty big (and sturdy) animals!

However, they can be very difficult claims as to be able to successfully claim compensation you have to prove that someone has been negligent in allowing the animals to escape onto the public highway, for example. Therefore, if the animal is wild it is going to be extremely difficult as, to be honest, you will face significant difficulties in suing a cow!

So, say the animal does have an owner, which given it’s a cow we shall safely assume it does, you still have to prove that the owner was negligent. Therefore, you would need to establish that the farmer had not taken reasonable steps to make sure the animal does not escape. For example: not locked a gate properly. However, this can become difficult if the farmer has been victim to vandalism as this would  be out of their control and therefore they may have been considered to take all steps necessary such as having appropriate fencing and unfortunately a third party has come and destroyed this. If an employee of the farmer was negligent, the farmer can still be vicariously liable.
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Road Traffic Accidents (RTA’s) are normally quite straight forward in respect of assessing liability and fault for the accident – so claims for personal injury resulting from these accidents are usually also straight forward.

As with any claim the main issue is deciding who was at fault for the accident. In road traffic accidents claims, due to the amount of rules and regulations, traffic signs and road markings which determine how we should drive on the roads, liability is usually easy to resolve.

The most common and successful type of personal injury claims resulting from RTA’s are rear end shunts and pulling out of a side road.
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Getting into a vehicle that you know is stolen is never a good idea and will likely end up in an accident – and if the police catch up, it is likely to involve being arrested as well.

So what does the law state about being a passenger in a stolen vehicle and being injured as a result of an accident:

“no court will lend its aid to a man who founds his cause of action upon an immoral or illegal act”

In layman’s terms, this means that as you are involved in an illegal act by getting into a vehicle knowing it was stolen, then you may be unable to make a claim for compensation if you are injured as a result of this illegal act. This is known as the “ex turpi causa” rule.
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Although it is never a good idea to get in a vehicle when the driver has been drinking, if you have been injured as a passenger in a vehicle which is being driven by a drunk driver, it does not mean that you cannot make a claim for personal injury. However, getting into a vehicle when you know the driver is drunk or has been drinking, can affect your claim.

The normal guideline is that, as a passenger, you are an innocent party and cannot be at fault for the accident. This therefore entitles you to receive 100% of any compensation that is awarded. But this changes if you willingly get into the vehicle when you know the driver is drunk.

Contributory negligence for passengers in this situation will almost certainly be claimed by the other side. This is when you have in some way contributed to the injuries sustained in an accident. In this case it means that you have knowingly put yourself at risk from injury by getting into a vehicle with a drunk driver.

In a personal injury claim, the percentage that a passenger would be held liable for their own injuries in these circumstances is on average around 25%, more or less the same for not wearing a seatbelt.
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The Law in respect of a driver’s duty of care goes as far back as 1832 when the Courts recognised that pedestrians and vehicle drivers owed each other a duty to exercise due care and attention.

As a driver, who do you owe a duty of care to? Well in the case of Donaghue v Stevenson 1932, where Mrs Donaghue drank a ginger beer which had a snail in it, a principle to determine who you owe a duty of care to was established.
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Walking round the town centre on a Friday or Saturday night, you can see why drunken pedestrians get involved in accidents. There is often no regard for the vehicles on the road and a lot of the time the pedestrians are just stepping out into the roads.

If a drunken pedestrian is involved in an accident, although the courts normally favour pedestrians in road traffic accidents, it is not likely that a claim for negligence against the driver will be successful.

There is a recent case in law that highlights this; Stewart v Glaze 2009. In this case Mr Stewart was sitting at a bus stop with his friend having been out drinking. Mr Stewart had consumed around 5-7 pints and was drunk. Mr Glaze was driving on the road towards the bus stop when Mr Stewart ran into the road which resulted in a collision with Mr Glaze’s vehicle. Mr Stewart suffered severe head injuries and was left in a vegetative state. The Judge held that Mr Glaze was not negligent in this case. There was no evidence to suggest that he was not driving carefully and that it was unreasonable to say that Mr Glaze should have seen Mr Stewart at the precise moment he decided to charge into the road. On the facts of this case, there was absolutely no reason to find that Glaze had been negligent.
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Roundabouts can be huge and complicate or small on simple; but on occasions either can still be very confusing to motorists. This means that accidents on roundabouts are one of the most common types of road traffic accidents we deal with here at The Injury Lawyers.

The situation we are dealing with in this blog is when a vehicle is in the wrong lane for the exit off the roundabout; which happens more than you might think.
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There are lots and lots of things to consider in a case involving a vehicle pulling out of a side road and therefore I will only be able to provide a few ideas of the sort of situations that crop up regularly.

First of all, The Highway Code: What does this say about emerging from a side/minor road onto a main road?

• Wait until there is a safe gap between you and any oncoming vehicle.
• Watch out for cyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians and other road users.
• Check mirrors and blind spot again to ensure you are not being overtaken and then make the turn.
• Do not cut the corner

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