Road Condition Caused My Accident, Can I Claim?
Q.
While riding my motorbike at 15mph preparing to pull in and stop, I was thrown from my bike, what is known as highsiding. After the smash I had a broken coller bone, as well as a few other injuries. My motorbike suffered quite a lot of damage due to this, and I am now out of work for some time.
I found the road surface to be in bad condition and need to know if I can claim on this from my local authority?
A.
Every week there are numerous accidents that occur in the UK due to badly maintained road surfaces or other issues related to the road condition. Many people who are hurt and who suffer loss, either physically or professionally, do not know whether they are able to make a claim against a local authority in this case. In general the answer is yes, you can claim against a local authority if you truly believe that the road surface was to blame for your accident, however, there are a number of important processes involved in doing so.
One of the most important tasks you should carry out is to see if there are any witnesses who can verify that the road conditions were poor and led to your accident. As you've stated that you had a broken collar bone and a few other injuries, it's unlikely you were in any state to truly take in the environment, so these witnesses could prove to be fundamental in any claim you make. If you or anyone there was able to take photographs of the scene and especially the offending road condition, this may be integral to claiming against a local authority for poor road surfaces. These photographs are even more successful if they have some way of showing the size of the defect. For example, if there is a hole in the road, try and ensure there's a photo of something next to it in order to show the size of the hole.
If you can provide some evidence that the road condition was the mitigating factor in your accident and that you have suffered physical trauma, loss of earnings and of course the loss of your bike due to this, you should speak to your insurance company. They will give you further advice, but will generally tell you that it's your choice to then contact the local authority and provide to them photographic evidence of the road surface and a full report of your accident.
The local authority will investigate these claims and may already be aware of an issue in the area where your accident occurred or perhaps will know of a reason why the road could have been in poor condition that day. They're unlikely to let you know this of course unless they are approached by a solicitor.
If you're able to afford a solicitor you should get one as soon as possible and seek further advice from them. If you can't afford one, you can speak to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau and see if they can provide you with legal representation. Your solicitor will seek evidence from the local authority that they have maintained the road surface to the best of their ability in the area where your crash occurred. Also, they may be able to obtain inspection records from them which should show dates of when the road was last maintained. In your situation, this is possibly the best course of action as a solicitor may be able to help you when your accident has been sometime in the past and getting hold of evidence is difficult.
