Summary
Summary Medical Negligence (LPC) Notes
- Module
- LPC - Legal Practice Course
- Institution
- LPC - Legal Practice Course
Road Traffic Accidents
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Common Law Duty● The main area of liability in road traffic accidents (RTA) is common law negligence
● Negligence requires proof that (i) the defendant owes a duty of case, (ii) the duty has
been breached, (iii) the breach caused a loss (which is not to remote)
● Under common law, a driver owes a duty to other road users to drive with reasonable
care and skill - this standard is not lowered for learner drivers - Nettleship v Weston
[1971]
How do we establish that common law duty has been breached?
Evidence of breach of duty
1. The Highway Code
● The Highway Code is a useful source of evidence determining whether there
has been a breach of duty of care in RTA
● Breach of Highway Code does not give rise to any civil/criminal proceedings
2. Police Accident Report
● If the accident involved an injury, then it is likely that the police will have
attended and prepared a report
● Police charge for the report and they should be requested ASAP as they can
be destroyed if the CPS decides no prosecution of either party is necessary
● Police reports can provide information such as:
➔ Details of parties + insurers
➔ Witness statements
➔ Accident plans with measurements of skid marks
➔ Damage to vehicles
➔ Records of location
➔ Records of weather
➔ Utterances of parties involved
3. Previous Convictions
● S.11 Civil Evidence Act 1968 allows proof of a criminal conviction to be
adduced as strong evidence of a motorist’s negligence in a civil trial (e.g.
careless driving conviction)
● 16PD 8.1 requires that any party seeking to rely on a conviction must plead it
in their statement of case. Once this happens, the burden of proof will shift to
the defendant to prove the conviction was erroneous/irrelevant
Motorists
● The following highlights the issue of contributory negligence
Rear End Shunt
● One area where a strong inference of negligence lies is one where a driver drives
into the rear of another
● Liability in a rear end shunt case usually attaches to the following vehicle for failing to
keep a sufficient distance between vehicles
● The following cases lay down exceptions to this rule:
1. Transport Frigoriphiques Laurent v Transportes Olloquiegui
➔ The lorry was driving on a motorway and collided with the rear of
another lorry, which was forced to execute an emergency stop in front
of it after a mechanical breakdown. The driver of the leading lorry that
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