Accident Liability

jcumpsty

Hi.

I know this is a long shot, but I want to enquire about liability in a recent accident.

I used to own a lovely Jaguar XKR, until Tuesday.

On Tuesday, I was driving home on the motorway. The motorway was 3 lanes, the first two occupied by large lorries. It was raining, and I was going slower than I normally do. I was traveling at about 55mph. Traction was OK though.

I overtook the outside lorry. AS I got to his front corner, both the lorry and my car hit a puddle which had formed on the motorway. Water splashed everywhere, and I felt my car get very "light". I was clearly aquaplaning. The force of the water from his wheel was enough to push my car off path, and sent me careening into the central barrier.

I have wiped the front end off my car.

Could the Highways Agency be partially liable? I wouldn't expect water to pool in the outside lane on a motorway. When travelling at any motorway speed you have no time to react between seeing it and driving through.

I recognize that this is hard to prove, but would it be possible? How could I find out if there have been other accidents in this spot in the past?

THanks.

vikingaero

You could ask them whether there have been accidents there in the past.

But I've aquaplaned at far slower speeds on the motorway in heavy rain.

neilmcl

It's your responsibilty to drive to the conditions, if there's a chance of standing water then it's up to you to try and minimize the risk of aquaplaning. WHat sort of time of day was this?

vikingaero

It's also likely that as you got to the front of the truck, there would have been aerodynamic vortices which would have "lifted" your car slightly.

At the end of the day the Highways Agency have no control over how much rains falls and gathers on the motorway. The only person who could have taken action was you by slowing down.

bap98189

jcumpsty wrote: »

Could the Highways Agency be partially liable?

No.

jcumpsty wrote: »

I wouldn't expect water to pool in the outside lane on a motorway. When travelling at any motorway speed you have no time to react between seeing it and driving through

When there is heavy rain it is your responsibility to slow down or drive more carefully in anticipation of puddles etc. Lorries are much heavier and less likely to aquaplane. If there is a possibility of standing water, the safe speed for a lorry is probably faster than that of a small car. There is no rule says you have to overtake them or that you have to drive at 55mph.

daveyjp

Same happened to friends of ours, you have no chance as you were driving too fast for the conditions. You can also expect a bill for the barrier repair.

thescouselander

So basically you lost control and hit the central reservation - how can anyone else but you be liable for this? It sounds like you were driving too fast for the conditions.

vaio

In theory the highways agency have a duty of care to ensure that the roads are drained well enough so that dangerous puddles don’t form i.e. the road should be cambered/crowned so that, assuming it wasn’t unexpectedly heavy rain, the water runs off and into a drainage system without forming dangerous puddles.

In practice this is along the same lines as local councils not repairing potholes, they save a few bob on the repairs and Joe Driver ends up paying 10 times as much in replacement tyres and wheels.

In your case the Highways Agency saved a few bob by not getting the drainage on the road right so deep puddles form and you end up paying for a new front end for your car.

Sadly I don’t think there is much you can do apart from be grateful no-one was injured.

You could try a claim arguing they failed in their duty of care either by not ensuring that the drainage was correct when it was built/repaired or that they failed to maintain the drains. A big problem you will have is that to document any fault in the road shape will involve getting a survey team out to measure the road surface (expensive if not impossible for you), this coupled with the potentially ruinous costs you could be exposed to if you lose means it’s a non starter unless you can get a no win no fee solicitor on board.

You could submit a FOI request, find out when was this bit of road last inspected/repaired and details of any accidents in the last few years. If there has been other puddle related accidents in the same place then your case becomes much stronger.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

The water from the lorry pushed your aquaplaning vehicle into the barrier?

Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much your car weighs?

Face it, you were driving too fast for the conditions, you crashed of your own accord. Your accident, your fault, your expense. I have never, ever, failed to see a large puddle of water while driving on the motorway. Pay more attention to your surroundings.

Dick_Van_Dyke

Unbelievable

Neither the lorry or highway was to blame. You were to blame for driving too fast for the conditions and losing control.

vaio

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

The water from the lorry pushed your aquaplaning vehicle into the barrier?

Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much your car weighs?.

Doesn’t matter what his car weighs, if it’s aquaplaning then it takes very very little force to change the direction of it and the driver is just a passenger IYSWIM

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

Face it, you were driving too fast for the conditions, you crashed of your own accord. Your accident, your fault, your expense. I have never, ever, failed to see a large puddle of water while driving on the motorway. Pay more attention to your surroundings.

You might see the puddle but, unless you have x-ray specs on, you not be able to judge whether is 10mm deep (so tyres will cope) or 50mm deep (so you aquaplane off into the scenery).

I think you have a right to expect the authorities to maintain the roads in such a way that dangerously deep puddles don’t form, particularly on motorways.

It isn’t rocket science, water flows down hill, all they have to do is make sure the road slopes towards the drains, like the romans did when they were building roads