Accidents on the Road - Car Accident Claims & Legal Advice

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Road traffic accidents vary widely from those causing mild whiplash injuries or no injuries, to high-speed collisions where the accident victim can suffer multiple injuries and permanent damage.

At present, there is little prospect of a system of "no-fault compensation" being introduced in the near future in England and Wales. For the time being, making a claim in respect of a road traffic accident will always involve blaming a third party.

In many car accident claims, the question of blameworthiness will often focus on the visibility afforded to a driver. Frequently, accidents take place because the driver did not see until it was too late the pedestrian crossing the road, the motor cyclist or the rider of a bicycle.

In view of the above, the investigation will often focus upon the speed of the car and reaction time of the driver. In most road traffic accident claims, the opposing parties will almost invariably make differing judgments as to the pre-impact speed of the respective vehicles.

If there are no independent witnesses, then often the claim will amount to "one person's word against another". In such cases, the court would have to take a view as to which of the respective witnesses was able to give the most credible testimony. If both drivers were equally believable in their account of the accident, then the compensation claim would be likely to be decided on a 50/50 basis.

Another possibility if there are no independent witnesses, is to obtain the report of an accident reconstruction expert. Such an individual would consider the police accident report in detail. This will often contain information such as the length of the tyre skid marks left on the road surface and the positions of the respective vehicles where they came to rest following the crash.

Plan of the accident scene will often be very useful in assessing the question of legal liability. Photographs will show the amount of visibility that each driver had when they approached the scene of the impact.

The car's condition is rarely a factor in accidents. However, in the rare cases where this does become relevant, the investigation will usually focus on the condition of the brakes and tyres.