g***@googlemail.com
2006-07-29 22:13:18 UTC
Hi there,
New to the whole Google Group thing, not posted since back in the heady
ole days of Usenet!... Hope everyone is well, having a blast, and
looking forward to partaking more :-)
I'm looking for advice, experience, info etc. regarding a situation;
I'll try to be brief and would welcome any debate, ideally direct (to
save hogging space!) or through the Group.
For the purpose of the discussion, we ideally should keep this relevant
to English Law.
Say a person was involved in a mild road traffic accident, with no
notable injuries and the damage to both vehicles was slight. Police
were not called at the time, although it's since transpired that one
driver, although being insured as a named driver on a comprehensive
policy, was only on a provisional licence and for the moment of the
accident was driving unsupervised.
Whilst trying to judge the circumstances of the accident objectively,
it seems the provisional driver appears to be likely to be culpable
although there also appears to be fault on both sides. It seems likely
both parties will claim against the other, and there could be
contributory negligence or a 'shared liability' case.
In essence, the provisional driver was turning right at a traffic-light
controlled junction, after checking the oncoming traffic lane was clear
to allow time for her to complete the manouvre, he/she was then struck
by an oncoming vehicle as he/she almost completed the turn out of the
lane. At no time did he/she stall while driving, and sight distance for
the oncoming vehicle was approx 50m in a 30mph zone. Although the
junction was wide enough for any oncoming vehicles to swerve past,
unfortunately this was not the case. It is not apparent if the oncoming
vehicle was travelling in excess of the speed limit, or had moved from
another lane of oncoming traffic (turning right rather than straight
on), but the struck vehicle clearly did not intend to 'cut up' as could
have stayed in the turning right lane until the lane was clear.
Several questions immediately spring to mind
1) Fault apart, is the provisional driver covered by insurance despite
effectively having broken the law by driving unsupervised (apparently
there are mitigating circumstances for this to have happpened)
2) Is it the case that by driving unsupervised, her insurance company
could effectively claim cover was invalid, but cover the claim for the
other party against him/her but deny cover for the other parties claim
against him/her.
3) Do the specifics of the accident, and likely judgement/outcome, have
any fault/settlement/blame affect the provisional driver's right to
cover? That is, if the other driver was obviously at fault, would it be
a different case than one that seems to be a shared liability?
4) Has the provisional driver effectively foregone any legal right to
compensation or insurance claim by driving unsupervised? After all,
there were mitigating circumstances and this was not some 17 year old
tearaway driving with no licence, no insurance, no ownership of the
car. Facts are it was they own the car, have insurance, they are one
week away from a test, have had excellent driving lessons, many hours
of supervised practice driving and it's more of case of ill fortune
than obvious negligence.
5) What course of action should the provisional driver take regarding
the police (would it be prudent to advise the police and effectively
open up to prosecution?) and although insurance company has been
notified, haven't yet decided to lodge a claim until they seek legal
advice & representation.
6) Both vehicles have a relatively low market value, and the damage is
approx a front bumper & 2x scratched headlights for the oncoming
vehicle as opposed to the provisional driver's car bearing the brunt of
the damage (wheel, strut, wheel arch, bumper). The oncoming vehicle was
driveable whilst the struck vehicle was not, estimates appear to
suggest £600 + parts for the struck vehicle (market value 2200) as
opposed to 200+ parts for the oncoming vehicle (market value £3100).
Initial discussions with the insurance company of the struck vehicle
suggest a total loss is likely. An offer has been made of £1000 to the
oncoming vehicle as a full and final settlement, to expedite settlement
without any claims, but this has been rejected.
I would welcome any discussion/correspondence, ideally directly to save
space in the group, and thank you for your time in reading this post,
Cheers :-)
New to the whole Google Group thing, not posted since back in the heady
ole days of Usenet!... Hope everyone is well, having a blast, and
looking forward to partaking more :-)
I'm looking for advice, experience, info etc. regarding a situation;
I'll try to be brief and would welcome any debate, ideally direct (to
save hogging space!) or through the Group.
For the purpose of the discussion, we ideally should keep this relevant
to English Law.
Say a person was involved in a mild road traffic accident, with no
notable injuries and the damage to both vehicles was slight. Police
were not called at the time, although it's since transpired that one
driver, although being insured as a named driver on a comprehensive
policy, was only on a provisional licence and for the moment of the
accident was driving unsupervised.
Whilst trying to judge the circumstances of the accident objectively,
it seems the provisional driver appears to be likely to be culpable
although there also appears to be fault on both sides. It seems likely
both parties will claim against the other, and there could be
contributory negligence or a 'shared liability' case.
In essence, the provisional driver was turning right at a traffic-light
controlled junction, after checking the oncoming traffic lane was clear
to allow time for her to complete the manouvre, he/she was then struck
by an oncoming vehicle as he/she almost completed the turn out of the
lane. At no time did he/she stall while driving, and sight distance for
the oncoming vehicle was approx 50m in a 30mph zone. Although the
junction was wide enough for any oncoming vehicles to swerve past,
unfortunately this was not the case. It is not apparent if the oncoming
vehicle was travelling in excess of the speed limit, or had moved from
another lane of oncoming traffic (turning right rather than straight
on), but the struck vehicle clearly did not intend to 'cut up' as could
have stayed in the turning right lane until the lane was clear.
Several questions immediately spring to mind
1) Fault apart, is the provisional driver covered by insurance despite
effectively having broken the law by driving unsupervised (apparently
there are mitigating circumstances for this to have happpened)
2) Is it the case that by driving unsupervised, her insurance company
could effectively claim cover was invalid, but cover the claim for the
other party against him/her but deny cover for the other parties claim
against him/her.
3) Do the specifics of the accident, and likely judgement/outcome, have
any fault/settlement/blame affect the provisional driver's right to
cover? That is, if the other driver was obviously at fault, would it be
a different case than one that seems to be a shared liability?
4) Has the provisional driver effectively foregone any legal right to
compensation or insurance claim by driving unsupervised? After all,
there were mitigating circumstances and this was not some 17 year old
tearaway driving with no licence, no insurance, no ownership of the
car. Facts are it was they own the car, have insurance, they are one
week away from a test, have had excellent driving lessons, many hours
of supervised practice driving and it's more of case of ill fortune
than obvious negligence.
5) What course of action should the provisional driver take regarding
the police (would it be prudent to advise the police and effectively
open up to prosecution?) and although insurance company has been
notified, haven't yet decided to lodge a claim until they seek legal
advice & representation.
6) Both vehicles have a relatively low market value, and the damage is
approx a front bumper & 2x scratched headlights for the oncoming
vehicle as opposed to the provisional driver's car bearing the brunt of
the damage (wheel, strut, wheel arch, bumper). The oncoming vehicle was
driveable whilst the struck vehicle was not, estimates appear to
suggest £600 + parts for the struck vehicle (market value 2200) as
opposed to 200+ parts for the oncoming vehicle (market value £3100).
Initial discussions with the insurance company of the struck vehicle
suggest a total loss is likely. An offer has been made of £1000 to the
oncoming vehicle as a full and final settlement, to expedite settlement
without any claims, but this has been rejected.
I would welcome any discussion/correspondence, ideally directly to save
space in the group, and thank you for your time in reading this post,
Cheers :-)