Road Traffic Accident Claims

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Road traffic accident claims FAQ

Q1:What should I do or say if I am involved in a road traffic accident?

Q2:I was the passenger in a road traffic accident. Although I was not to blame in any respect for the collision, I was not wearing a seatbelt. How will this affect my claim?

Q3:The police have investigated my road traffic accident but have decided not to bring a prosecution against the offending driver. Will this affect my claim?

Q4:I suffered injuries in a road traffic accident that was not my fault. However, the other driver left the scene of the accident and the police have been unable to trace him.

Q5:What can I claim for, as a result of my road traffic accident?

Q6:I was the passenger in a road traffic accident. My wife/husband was driving, and they were to blame. Against whom will be claim be made?

What should I do or say if I am involved in a road traffic accident?

Surprising as this may sound, in the majority of road traffic accidents there is little dispute as to who was to blame.

Very often when the respective drivers exchange names, addresses and insurance details, they will also exchange opinions as to who caused the collision. In any road accident claim it is therefore important to remember what words were spoken in the immediate aftermath of the accident.

However, in some vehicle collision cases each driver will blame the other. If your opponent is denying liability and alleging that the road accident was your fault, then a more detailed investigation will be needed.

This would include statements from any witnesses, photographs of the scene showing the layout of the roadway and the "line of sight" of each driver, details of any speed restrictions and also a police accident report.

Recording the details of any independent witnesses can be important in certain cases. If liability for your road accident is disputed, then the testimony of independent witnesses will be important in helping a court to decide who was to blame.

In some circumstances, if the opponent succeeds in demonstrating that your road accident was partly caused by contributory negligence on your part, then your damages would be reduced accordingly.

Excluding high-speed collisions causing serious multiple injuries, the great majority of road accidents cause injuries that are fairly minor, of which the most typical injury tends to be whiplash. This is a term for a soft tissue injury to the neck and/or back which may cause pain spreading down to the shoulders and arms and also headaches.

Not infrequently, whiplash symptoms only become apparent a day or so after the road accident, and in the immediate aftermath you may have few immediate symptoms. This is worth remembering, because some insurers still exist who will subsequently raise as an issue the fact that no injuries were mentioned at the scene.

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I was the passenger in a road traffic accident. Although I was not to blame in any respect for the collision, I was not wearing a seatbelt. How will this affect my claim?

In this kind of case, it is likely that the opposing insurers would admit primary liability, as a road traffic accident is unlikely to have been caused by an innocent passenger.

However, the issue may well then shift to the medical significance of not wearing a seatbelt. In some cases, the orthopaedic evidence will be that, not withstanding the absence of a seatbelt, the extent of the injuries would still have been the same.

In other road traffic accident cases, the medical evidence will be that if the seatbelt had been worn correctly, then the injuries would have been reduced.

Causation arguments of this type are raised frequently in road traffic accident cases. At the end the day, the orthopaedic surgeon will need to be asked to give an expert opinion on this point.

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The police have investigated my road traffic accident but have decided not to bring a prosecution against the offending driver. Will this affect my claim?

In order to bring a successful prosecution for a road traffic accident, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service must be satisfied that a driving offence has been committed "beyond reasonable doubt".

In contrast, to successfully obtain compensation for a road traffic accident in a civil claim for damages, the appropriate evidential threshold that must be reached is to show that the other driver was at fault "on a balance of probabilities".

The civil test therefore only requires probability of fault to be established on a 51% basis. As can be seen, the "beyond reasonable doubt" test in criminal cases is a much higher standard of proof.

For this reason, although the police may decide to take no further action against your opponent following your road traffic accident, this will not always be an obstacle to a civil claim for compensation.

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I suffered injuries in a road traffic accident that was not my fault. However, the other driver left the scene of the accident and the police have been unable to trace him.

Such cases are covered by an organisation called the Motor Insurers Bureau. This is an organisation that exists to protect the rights of victims of untraced or uninsured motorists.

Motor insurers contribute towards the MIB. Instead of a claim being directed to the third party insurers, as would be the case in most road traffic accident cases, the MIB are notified of the claim instead. Despite this, there is no difference n the level of damages that you would receive.

In order for the MIB to be prepared to consider your road accident case, it would be necessary to demonstrate that all attempts have been made to trace the offending driver.

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What can I claim for, as a result of my road traffic accident?

In a typical road traffic accident claim, your vehicle damage will be covered by your insurance policy and also perhaps your no-claims bonus.

However, you may also have incurred uninsured losses, and depending on the circumstances these might include any loss of earnings, travelling expenses to your GP and hospital, lost or damaged clothing or equipment, damages for inconvenience if your car was unavailable while being repaired, and finally damages for your pain and suffering.

Following a road traffic accident it is worthwhile keeping detailed note of your expenses as these accrue.

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I was the passenger in a road traffic accident. My wife/husband was driving, and they were to blame. Against whom will be claim be made?

As far as the passenger in a road traffic accident is concerned, the obvious party against whom to direct the claim is the individual driving the car.

If a third party driver caused the road traffic accident, then the claim would be directed against that individual instead. If however both drivers caused the accident equally, then the passenger's claim will be against both individuals.

It occasionally happens that a road traffic accident results from a family member driving the car in which you suffered injuries. Although this sounds odd, the claim would still need to be directed to that individual.

Most insurers however appreciate the potentially undesirable situation of litigation between family members, and therefore as a rule this type of road accident claim is normally capable of being resolved sensibly.

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Boris Kremer - Sovereign House, Solent Way, Gosport, Hampshire, UK.

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road accident lawyer handling personal injury claims as a result of road traffic accidents