When an accident is not reported
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by Les Oldridge,
TEng (CE!), MIMI, AMIRTE HOW appeals against the decisions of magistrates' courts on questions of law became "stated cases" binding on inferior courts thereafter was explained last week. The commercial vehicle operator must remember that if he is summoned for an offence with similar circumstances he can quote the stated case to draw the court's attention to the way the law should be interpreted—which may result in his acquittal.
An example of this occurred when a driver was reported for failing to stop after an accident and failing to report art accident to the police as is required by Section 25 of the Road Traffic Act 1972. He was reversing his artic in a narrow street and collided with a parked car, but was genuinely unaware that the collision had occurred and drove away. Someone took the number of the lorry and in due course he was interviewed by the police and subsequently charged with failing to stop and failing to report the accident to the police.
The case of Harding v Price (1948) 1 All ER. 283 deals specifically with the driver who fails to report an accident because he was unaware that one had occurred. In this case the driver of a mechanical horse drawing a trailer was unaware that the trailer had collided with a stationary car owing to the noise and vibration from the vehicle.
It was held that in cases of this kind the onus is on theprosecution to establish that an accident occurred and that the driver of the vehicle involved had not complied with the section—that he had not stopped and exchanged names and addresses or not having exchanged names and addresses at the scene he had not reported the accident to the police within 24 hours. If the driver then satisfies the court—and the onus is on him—that he was unaware that an accident had occurred, he is entitled to be acquitted.
The Lord Chief Justice said at the time of the appeal: "It must not be thought that this decision provides an easy defence to motorists who fail to report an accident."
Quite obviously each case will depend on the actual facts. A mini colliding with a lowloader and being extensively damaged in the process is not the type of collision where the driver of the mini could plead the facts of Harding v Price. My
driver friend, on the other hand, pleaded this defence quite successfully.
Apart from public service vehicles there is no height limit for vehicles in the UK, but in British Road Services Ltd and Another v Owen (1971) 135 J.P. 399 there was a successful prosecution involving a vehicle's height. An articulated vehicle owned by the appellants was being driven on a road and collided with a footbridge. It was carrying two fork-lift trucks which reached to a height of I7ft 3in above the road. The height of the bridge was 16ft 9in. The appellants (and their driver) were charged under the Construction and Use Regulations with using a trailer on a road for a purpose which was so unsuitable as to cause or be likely to cause danger to any person on the road or on the vehicle. The unit and trailer were mechanically sound and the load was properly secured.
Argument
The argument that the trailer was unsuitable for the purpose for which it was used on the route chosen was accepted by the justices; they convicted the appellants, who appealed. The appeal was dismissed, it being held that when considering this regulation regard must be given to the nature and features of the route chosen and that the question of suitability of the vehicle could not be decided without having regard to those matters. Consideration must not be confined to the suitability of the vehicle when it set out on its journey but throughout its journey, and that in the present case the vehicle had become unsuitable within the meaning of the regulation at the time it approached the bridge.
These two cases illustrate the importance of considering case law when preparing a defence to charges alleging violation of any of the traffic laws.