Road Traffic Accidents - Car Accidents, Bike Accidents, Pedestrian Accidents

If you have been unfortunate enough to be injured in an accident on the road you may be able to make a claim for compensation. This applies if you are a pedestrian, passenger or driver of another vehicle.

You may still also be able to make a claim if the driver of the vehicle who has caused the accident is uninsured or is untraceable. Your personal injury lawyers should be able to advise you on this. (See section on Uninsured/Untraced Drivers.)

In England and Wales we have a fault based legal system. This means that your accident solicitor has to prove that the other person caused your accident.

We have explained each part of the process deciding whether you had a claim below.

Can I make a claim?

There are time limits for making a personal injury claim. Generally speaking in a road accident you would be expected to instruct your personal injury solicitors and start your claim within three years after the date of the accident. (See section on time limits).

Did the person who caused your accident owe you a duty of care?

All road users have a general duty to avoid causing injury to others.

A driver also owes a duty to take reasonable care for the safety of his/her passengers. This also applies to bus or taxi drivers.

The law expects that someone who suffers an accident will try to keep themselves safe. So a court may reduce their compensation claim amount if they were not wearing their seatbelt at the time of the accident. (See our section on Contributory Negligence)

Sometimes people who make an accident claim have been injured as a result of the actions of the Highway Authority. This could be the case if the reason you have had the accident or injury is because the road was dangerous. The Highway authority has a duty to maintain the highway. Your claim may be against that agency.

Did the other person breach their duty to you as a road user?

A driver is expected to act at the level of the reasonable ordinary skillful driver. A court would expect that the road user is aware of the Highway Code. This apples to learner drivers as well. A learner driver would therefore not be able to use the excuse that they were still learning to drive.

Did the breach of the duty owed to you cause your injury or accident?

Whilst you may have been involved in a road traffic accident and you can prove (1) that the driver owed you a duty of care and (2) that they have breached their duty, you must also be able to show that the driver's breach of duty (and the accident) was the direct cause of your injuries.

Many claims fall at this hurdle. Clients often come to us to make a claim and will complain of terrific back and neck pain from a road accident but have not been to see a doctor or to the hospital. Having medical help does not always make or break your accident claim, but it will assist your solicitors to prepare your case.

We advise all our clients to seek medical attention if they feel that this is appropriate or at the very least if medication is required, we recommend that they keep the receipts. Likewise if you have required therapy, we suggest that you keep receipts for the treatment as you may be able to recover these costs from the other side if your claim is successful.

Strategy in Road Traffic Accident Cases

In cases where there has been an accident on the road, cases are often won or lost by the side who has the best grasp of the evidence. Then the standard of driving or road use can be properly looked at.

The basic first approach is to look at witness statements, the police report if there is one, and the report of a crash investigator if one was called to the scene. It is often also a good idea for us to get an independent crash investigator to assess the evidence, especially if the police or witness evidence does not help your case.

Mary Monson Solicitors also have one of the country's leading Motoring Law Defence Departments, which regularly deals with choosing crash investigation experts and defend clients involved in serious road accidents, and we can bring them in as consultants on your case when this extra expertise is useful.

A sound knowledge of the Highway Code is also important in bringing a road traffic accident claim. Again, where there is any doubt over who is at fault in a car or bike accident, we can use our Motoring Law experts to advise on specific areas of road traffic law and Highway Code interpretation.

If you wish to speak to one of our specialist personal injury solicitors, please contact us on freephone 0808 155 4870. We have offices in London, Manchester & Birmingham and operate nationally.