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18th August 1972, Page 49
18th August 1972
Page 49
Page 49, 18th August 1972 — insurance
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by John C. Vann

Unlit lorry danger

• A motorist was driving along a road in his car one night after dark. Suddenly a shape loomed up out of the darkness. It was a lorry and the car ran into it. The motorist suffered concussion and his car was wrecked.

Accidents have to be sorted out and the incident just related has many sides to it, making the sorting-out process a little difficult. This kind of case often finds its way into court. In fact, a case on very similar lines came before the Court of Appeal not all that long ago.

This court decided that the motorist, who was travelling at a perfectly reasonable speed, was in no way negligent. It was held that the accident resulted from the careless behaviour of the lorry driver in leaving his vehicle unlit on the road. You might well be pondering over this decision, as you wonder whether the car driver ought to have seen the lorry earlier.. This is one of the tricky points which has to be decided. But the Master of the Rolls agreed with the County Court Judge in acquitting the motorist of contributory negligence. -When one found a man of mature years driving slowly and carefully up a road and who did not see a lorry until the last minute," he said, "the judge was justified in saying that the responsibility for the accident was with the driver who had an unlighted lorry on the road with other traffic there."

The decision would have been different, of course, if the car driver had been driving with insufficient care without looking where he was going. In that event, the cause of the trouble might well have been partly his fault and partly the fault of the driver of the unlit lorry.

In such circumstances, the lorry driver can be sued personally. But a claim is much more likely to be made against the lorry owner, as he is responsible for the wrongful behaviour of his servant in the course of his employment.

Assuming the lorry owner has effective third-party insurance cover, he can pass the motorist's claim to his insurers. If the lorry is damaged, a claim may have to be put in for the repairs, on the assumption that a comprehensive policy is held. It can be seen that quite a hefty total claim could result from this kind of accident, especially if the car driver is injured.

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Organisations: County Court, Court of Appeal

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