Understanding U-Turn Accidents: Legal Insights & Compensation Claims
Explore expert legal advice on U-turn car accident injury claims. Learn your rights, how to claim compensation, and the importance of vigilant driving. Maximize your claim success.
In a recent NSW case, a claimant had just been to an IGA and was driving home when he decided that he needed to turn around. He drove at about 40km/hr until he saw a side road, he checked his mirror and thought that it was safe to do a U-turn. He then indicated. He then did a U-turn. There was nothing illegal about the U-turn. There were no road signs to say that he could not do a U-turn and there were no double-white lines.
Unfortunately, there was a car coming up behind him, and as he did the U-turn the car behind him hit him. He was injured. He made a compensation claim. He made the claim arguing that the car that hit him was driving way too fast and should have slowed down. As to the allegation that the other driver was going way too fast, that was a good argument: there was an independent witness who saw the other car driving way too fast. The claimant argued that had the other driver been driving at the correct speed, that the accident would not have happened. The Claimant argued that the other car should have seen him slowing and should have seen his indicators and should have slowed down.
He looked in his rear-view mirror and saw nothing.
The claimant said that before doing the U-turn that he had looked in his rear-view mirror and did not see a car coming up behind him and so he turned. He argued that the car behind was driving very fast and so when he had looked it was not there. But the Court was not impressed. The Court did not believe that he had looked in his mirror. The Court said, “… because if he had looked, he would have seen the insured driver approaching from the rear”.
The duty to keep a proper lookout
In the case of Manley v Alexander the High Cout of Australia established the legal principle that as a driver you must give attention to everything that is happening around you – you must be on guard for any risks around you as you are driving. That means that if you are in a car accident and you say that the accident was caused by the other driver because they didn’t keep a proper lookout, you must prove that the other driver had a chance to see you. Likewise if you are making a claim for compensation, the insurance company might deny your claim and say that you didn’t keep a proper lookout and you caused the accident. In this case the defendant driver persuaded the Court that the Claimant had an opportunity to see the car coming up from behind him, but he had not looked, and that had he looked he could have delayed the U-turn until it was safe. The Claimant lost his case.
The other driver was driving too fast
Even in a case where the claimant could prove that the car that hit him was driving way too fast, he still lost his case. When making a compensation claim for injuries suffered in a car accident, you must prove that the other driver caused the accident. If you do a U-turn, or if you enter a road from a side road, you must be able to prove that you looked and that it was safe to go ahead. It is very risky to simply say that you looked and that you didn’t see the other car. Even if you can prove that the other car was going too fast, you still need to prove that you looked and that it was safe to proceed. The obvious problem is that cars are large, often have headlights on, are brightly coloured, and simply don’t come out of nowhere – if you are hit, the car came from somewhere, so why didn’t you see it before turning or entering the road? To succeed in your car accident compensation claim it is important to consider your duty to keep a proper lookout when driving. To chat about winning proper lookout claims, give us a call.
Get What’s Fair!
If you have been involved in a car accident in Perth and have been injured and have made a claim, give Lian Hall – Personal Injury Lawyer a call for an obligation-free chat about your options.
