Road user’s standard of care

The High Court judgment in the case of Doughty v Kazmierski addressed the issue of what is “reasonable care” when driving a motor vehicle or motorcycle. Mr Doughty was rendered tetraplegic as a consequence of the spinal injuries he sustained on the 25 February 2019 on the A40 near Hillingdon, Uxbridge. The conditions on the day were good and the road was dry.

Mr Doughty struck the rear of Mr Kazmierski Vauxhall Zafira. The front of his car struck a Volkswagen Polo which struck the central reservation and caused some damage to a Volkswagen Passat. Mr Doughty had no recollection of the collision. There was a dispute over who collided with who. One version was the Zafira collided with the Polo and Mr Doughty's braking hard, lost control and collided with the rear of the Zafira. The other version was the Zafira stopped without colliding with the Polo, and Mr Doughty ran into it causing it to collide with the Polo.

Accident reconstruction experts were called by both parties.

The court was asked to determine whether Mr Kazmierski was negligent in colliding with the polo. If so, were Mr Doughty’s injuries caused as a result. If so, were his injuries caused or contributed to by his negligence.

The court listed a number of helpful guidelines and held that a reasonably careful driver is deemed to be armed with common sense and experience of the way other road users are likely to behave. The standard of proof is proof on the balance of probabilities.

A driver is not to be judged by the standards of an ideal driver, nor with the benefit of "20/20 hindsight":

Drivers must always bear in mind that a motorcar is potentially a dangerous weapon:

Drivers are taken to know the principles of the Highway Code.

After considering the evidence the court found that the Zafira colliding with the Polo reduced the stopping distance which Mr Doughty would have had, as a result he was unable to bring his motorcycle to a safe stop within that reduced stopping distance. This caused or contributed to the life-changing injuries which Mr Doughty sustained when he collided with the rear of the Zafira.

The court concluded that Mr Doughty had contributed to the cause of his injuries because both Mr Kazmierski and Mr Doughty both made a similar type of error of judgment in driving too fast and too close to the vehicle in front having regard to the stop-start nature of the traffic. Contributory negligence was assessed at 25%.

If you, a member of your family, or friends have been unfortunate enough to have been injured in a road traffic collision you may be entitled to claim compensation and recover any losses incurred, obtain funding to help with treatment and recovery. Here at Forbes, we specialise in dealing with injury claims. Our team of experience solicitors are cyclists, horse riders, and drivers and understand the risks and problems that can occur. If you have been injured in a road accident, call one of the team for some no win, no fee, no obligation advice.