Road traffic accidents

Duties of the road user

The road user has a duty to take reasonable care to avoid causing damage to others using or present on the highway. This not only covers other drivers but also passengers, pedestrians, cyclists and owners of property adjacent to the highway.

The duty requires a road user to drive with ordinary care and skill, ie the care and skill of the average motorist. Because the standard of care is objective, a poor driver cannot rely on their own shortcomings to argue that they were taking all the care of which they were capable.

For further guidance, see Practice Note: Duties of the road user.

Proving negligence and common types of accident

Road traffic accident claims are predominantly brought in negligence. As a starting point for assessing whether a driver of a motor vehicle has been negligent and breached the requisite standard of care the court will consider the application of the Highway Code. If the driver has breached the code this can be relied on as tending to establish liability in civil proceedings. In addition, while a road traffic criminal

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