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Case History 1
In the west country an unladen articulated lorry was travelling along a fairly
narrow two- way carriageway and negotiating a left hand bend with limited forward
visibility. The driver braked hard when traffic in front slowed due to a road
obstruction just around the bend. The trailer swung out to the right entering
the opposing traffic lane and collided with a car travelling in the opposite
direction. The car sustained a glancing impact along the entire offside, with
the driver's seat belt anchorage point being dragged towards the rear of the
vehicle. The severe chest injuries to the car driver and horizontal position
of the seat back, suggest that this was one of the rare occasions where the
use of a seat belt is likely to have been the major cause of the fatal injuries.
Case
History 2
A collision occurred on the busy A127 dual carriageway just outside the Borough
of Southend-on-sea in Essex. The resultant backlog of slow moving traffic soon
tailed back to just below the brow of a hill and a multiple collision occurred
when traffic came over the brow too fast with insufficient distance in which
to stop. Several people were injured and many vehicles extensively damaged.
I was jointly instructed to investigate the incident by four firms of solicitors
acting for clients involved in this incident. As in most multiple collisions,
the sequence of impacts can be broken down into small groups of collisions within
the same general area. I was concerned with what appeared to be a group of seven
vehicles at the front of the collision. A police accident investigator attended
the scene soon after the collision occurred and recorded important information,
but in accordance with police policy he did not prepare an investigation report.
During a formal interview with this officer I discovered he had photographs,
a scale plan and a record of the damage and paint transference from all the
vehicles involved. This information combined with copies of press photographs
and further interviewing of witnesses, enabled me to deduce the precise sequence
of the collision and identify the guilty drivers. It was discovered that during
the collision three of the vehicles spun around and were each involved in at
least two impacts with other vehicles. The car at the front of the collision
almost certainly sustained considerable rear end damage, but strangely its apparently
blameless driver failed to stop at the scene and was never traced. Top
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Case
History 3
A very rare and valuable 1923 Bentley open tourer motor car was being driven
along a country road in the Cotswolds on a warm summers evening. When turning
right into the mouth of a private road it was struck on the offside by a vehicle
attempting an overtaking manoeuvre. The four occupants of the Bentley were ejected
from the vehicle and sustained serious injuries. Both cars left the road to
the offside and were extensively damaged. The driver of the Bentley stated that
he slowed down and gave a hand signal of his intention to turn right and was
still signalling when the collision occurred. There was no police prosecution
but it appeared the insurers of the overtaking vehicle faced the prospect of
having to meet a very large compensation claim. My examination of the Bentley
revealed it had no form of modern electrical direction indicators, and an extremely
small rear view mirror that was likely to be obstructed by rear seat passengers.
The vehicle had low geared steering without power assistance, so it would be
almost impossible to turn such a heavy car through ninety degrees without the
use of both hands on the steering wheel. Damage to the offside of the Bentley
was in the area of the driver's door, but the driver did not sustain any injury
to his right arm. Under these circumstances it is most unlikely that the driver
was giving a 'turning right' arm signal as he carried out the right turn manoeuvre.
I discovered the scene of the collision was on a straight section of road with
adequate width and forward visibility for overtaking. The private road was totally
obscured by a thick hedgerow and there were no signs or markers to indicate
the existence of the narrow entrance. Having been provided with the above information
the insurance company were in a much more advantageous position to negotiate
settlement of the claim. Top
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