Car accident on a B-Road

#1 2011-06-25 15:48:13
Andrew Rothery

Guest

Car accident on a B-Road

Early last year my wife had a terrible crash in her car on her way home from work on a busy B-road.  They road was clear but when she turned the corner at roughly 40mph she hit ice and threw the car onto the grass verge causing the car to flip and roll numerous times.  The car was written off but she was not entiltled to any injury claims because of the road being a B-Road.  She has since been having treatment for her hip and spine.  Her hip was heavily damaged as it will need surgery which with us being a family of 5, we are really going to struggle financial wise.  Is there any way we can get compensation?

Regards
A Rothery

#2 2011-06-25 16:53:14
Tony Carter

Member

Registered:

2011-04-02

Posts: 71

Firstly I am sorry to hear of the injuries sustained by your wife and I sincerley hope she makes a full recovery.

The fact that the crash occured on a B road really makes no difference, it all comes down to evidence and whether anyone was negligent in failing to maintain the roads given the conditions.

The bottom line is probably no.  The local Highways and council have a duty of care to keep the main arterial roads clear and where possible free of snow and ice, B class roads have a much lower priortity.

The only people a clain could be made against would be the local authority or Highways, and the defence would be that your wife should have driven appropriately for the conditions (and I do not mean this in any disrespectful manner), and if the car rolled several times, the the chances are the speed was inappropriate for the conditions which were knnown to be bad at the time.

As a specialist accident investigator, it s something I have come across on many occasions, and I would be very surprised to find someone prepared to take the case on as there would be less than a 50% chance of success, unless it could be proved that several accidents had occured at the same spot before your wife had hers, it had been reported to the council and they then failed to respond and grit the road.

If there were no previous accidents and nothing was reported to the local authority, then there is no one to claim against I am afraid, as the local authority would simply apply the statutory defence.

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#3 2011-07-08 03:30:55
compensationuk

New member

Registered:

2011-07-08

Posts: 3

I agree with the previous advice of the investigator up to a point in that he is totally correct in his assesment of the probability of success. However, one must remember that there only needs to be a 1,000 GBP award for legal fees to be paid by the 3rd party (Highways) and if the award would have been high, say 20,000 or so, one would only have to prove a 5% liability against the defendants to reach 1000 in award calculations.
It is worth speaking to a solicitor, not a claims company as they have rarely the experience or training to understand this point so they would reject your claim.
Your first call is always free so have a chat with your local personal inhjury lawyer out of yellow pages etc. If they reject you out of hand, ask another. 2 or 3 opinions is a worthwhile investment given the benefit to your family if you get a lawfirm to pursue the claim.
Mark
Compensation .co .uk

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#4 2011-07-17 06:45:57
Roseanna

Guest

Great stuff, you hleepd me out so much!