Handley Brown - Road Traffic Accidents

Road Traffic Accidents

Handley Brown LLP Solicitors are regarded for their high quality of work in the field of personal injury.

Road Accidents are extremely common and the injuries suffered by those involved can vary greatly from minor whiplash to fatal injuries.

If you are unfortunate enough to suffer a road traffic accident as a driver, you may be able to make a personal injury claim for compensation.

If you are a passenger in a vehicle; which is involved in a collision, your personal injury compensation claim would be made against the insurance company of the person responsible for the accident, whether that is the driver of the vehicle you were travelling in or a third party driver (or both if necessary).

If you are a pedestrian, your personal injury compensation claim would be made against the insurance company of the person driving the vehicle; which collided with you.

Perhaps, the most common type of injury resulting from a road accident is whiplash; however, many other different injuries are possible.

Making a claim

As with all personal injury compensation claims, you need to prove that another person was responsible for your personal injury.

The person to sue is the other driver.

In practice the insurance company will deal with your claim on his/her behalf.

You can claim against more than one driver if more than one person was actually responsible for the collision. You cannot recover double compensation but you can choose who is most likely to pay.

You can claim against an employer if the person who was actually responsible for the collision was driving as part of his/her job you can also claim from the employer. The driver must however have been driving in relation to his employment. Therefore, for instance, someone going shopping at the weekend would not normally fall into this category.

Importantly however, although most taxi drivers are self-employed (and therefore not employed by the taxi firm as such) it is still possible in most cases to sue the taxi company.

So if you've been injured in a road traffic accident and you want to make a claim for compensation. We can help. Any claim must be made within three years of the date of the accident. Although children have until their 21st birthday to claim. If the claim is not for injury but just for car repairs or similar then the time period is six years. The sooner you claim the better - people's memories fade quickly and details are soon forgotten.

Either ring us or contact us using the "Contact Information" page on this web site.

We will then tell you if we think you have a good claim and whether we are willing to take it on. There is no obligation at that stage. You then tell us if you wish to proceed and at that stage we will formally accept your claim and will write to you confirming and sending full information.

What to do if you are involved in a road traffic accident

Being involved in a road traffic collision can be traumatic and this guide is intended to help with some of the practical things you will need to do.

If you are the driver and one or more of the following has happened:

A person, other than yourself, is injured
Damage is caused to another vehicle or to someone else's property
An animal has been killed or injured, except in your own vehicle or trailer (an 'animal' is defined as 'any horse, cattle, sheep, pig, goat or dog')

You must:

Stop and stay at the scene for a reasonable time;
Give your vehicle registration number, your name and address, and that of the vehicle owner (if different), to anyone with reasonable grounds for asking for those details;
If you do not exchange those details at the scene, you must report the accident at a police station or to a police officer as soon as you can and in any case within 24 hours.

Where another person involved is injured, then in addition to the above you must:

Produce your certificate of insurance, if anyone at the scene has reasonable grounds to see it. If you do not, you must report the accident at a police station or to a police officer as soon as you can. This must be within 24 hours.
If you don't have your certificate of insurance at the scene of the accident, you may take it to a police station you nominate when you report the incident. You must do this within seven days of the accident.
Reporting the accident to the police by telephone is not sufficient and you cannot ask someone else to report it for you.
You must do these things not only when you are directly involved in an injury accident, but also if your vehicle's 'presence' was a factor.
If you have any doubts, we advise you to complete the above steps as soon as the accident happens, regardless of who was at fault.

Failing to do the above can mean two offences are being committed: failing to stop and failing to report. It is possible to be guilty of either or both. The penalties for each offence include a maximum fine of £5,000 and five to ten penalty points on your driving licence. The court also has the power to disqualify you from driving for either offence and is likely to do so when both offences are committed on the same occasion.

Even if there was no personal injury involved, if someone holds you responsible for the accident they have the right to request your insurance details. This request can be made later and not necessarily at the time of the accident. A failure to provide that information without a reasonable excuse is also an offence.

It will also be a condition of your insurance policy that you report the accident to your insurance company within a reasonable time, even if you do not want to claim yourself. A failure to do so can give your insurance company the right to refuse to cover you in the future.

Other things to remember are:

Try to remain calm and polite.
Draw a quick sketch of the accident scene, location, road surface and damaged vehicles, noting skid or other marks and debris on the road
Obtain the name and address of the other party(ies) and the registration numbers (don’t rely on them to give you the registration number of the vehicle).
Jot down the colour and make of the vehicle and the number of passengers.
If possible, take photographs of the scene.
Obtain names and addresses of any witnesses.
If you have been involved in a hit and run accident, call the Police immediately. A hit and run - or untraced driver - does not necessarily mean where the vehicle fails to stop. Even if the driver stops, assesses the circumstances and then disappears that too is categorised as an untraced driver.
Do get medically examined – even if you feel fine. Make an appointment to see your GP or, go to casualty.
Keep all receipts for expenses and date of appointments.

Your insurance

If you make a claim for repairs to your car from your own insurance company under a fully-comprehensive policy then you will (temporarily) lose your no-claims bonus or "life" (if protected no claims). If and when your insurance company recover the money from the other insurance company your bonus/life should be reinstated. However, if your insurance renewal comes up before the claim is settled you may have to pay a higher premium at that time although it should be refunded later. The system is related to whether or not you make a claim that costs your insurance company money, not whether it is your fault.

Witnesses

Anyone can be a witness but it is best to get the details of anyone who saw the accident, even if they were friends, relatives or passengers is a witness. A witness who is a passenger is still better than no witness at all. Get their name and address or telephone number. Ideally though someone not known to either party but who saw the incident will have more impact with the court.

What Can I Claim For?

You will receive compensation for the following items:

Physical or mental Injury
Loss of earnings or business profit
Cost of repairing your motor vehicle or repayment of Insurance Excess
Loss of use of your motor vehicle
Loss in value of your motor vehicle
Medical expenses
Personal items damaged in the accident

Any future expenses or costs arising from the effects of the injuries

The above are just examples of the many items that could be claimed. We will advise you in more detail just get in touch.

Road Accidents involving Untraced or Uninsured drivers

If the other driver was not insured but there was an insurance policy covering the car you can still claim from that insurance company. If there was no insurance at all a government body called the Motor Insurers' Bureau will deal with your claim.

In some cases you can still claim even if the other driver's insurance policy has been invalidated (e.g. by drink driving) or has recently expired.

If the other driver leaves the scene without stopping to give details - you can still claim. Even if the car cannot be traced you may be able to claim some or all of your losses from the Motor Insurers' Bureau.

The Motor Insurers' Bureau will expect you to have already tried to trace the driver / insurer concerned by reporting the accident to the police, to your own insurance company and making enquiries with the registered owner of the vehicle.

Certain conditions apply to claims made via the Motor Insurers' Bureau such as

If the driver of the offending vehicle is untraced, you must at least be able to identify the vehicle to make a claim for property damage.
An excess of £300 will also be deducted from claims made under the untraced driver scheme for property damage after 1st October 1999 (the excess amount was £175 before this date).
The Motor Insurers' Bureau will only deal with claims registered with them within 9 months of the accident. They will also expect the accident to have been reported to the police within 5 days of the accident.
A member of the public wishing to enter a claim with the Motor Insurers' Bureau can either do so directly themselves or appoint a Solicitor to work on their behalf.

Claiming Personal Injury Compensation following a Pedestrian Accident

As with all personal injury compensation claims, you would need to prove that another person was responsible for your personal injury (in this case, the driver of the vehicle, which collided with you while you were a pedestrian).

To help your case, you should:

Try to remain calm and polite.
Draw a quick sketch of the accident scene, location, road surface and damaged vehicles, noting skid or other marks and debris on the road
Obtain the name and address of the other party(ies) and the registration numbers (don’t rely on them to give you the registration number of the vehicle).
Jot down the colour and make of the vehicle and the number of passengers.
If possible, take photographs of the scene.
Obtain names and addresses of any witnesses.
Report the matter to the police immediately.
If you have been involved in a hit and run accident, call the Police immediately. A hit and run - or untraced driver - does not necessarily mean where the vehicle fails to stop. Even if the driver stops, assesses the circumstances and then disappears that too is categorised as an untraced driver.
Do get medically examined – even if you feel fine. Make an appointment to see your GP or, go to casualty.
Keep all receipts for expenses and date of appointments.

If you are intending to claim expenses such as prescription costs and travelling expenses, remember to keep receipts as evidence.