Extent of a driver’s duty to other road users

Whittle v Bennett Court of Appeal [2006] All ER (D) 06 (Nov)

Counsel: For the appellant: Michael Redfern QC, Phillip Grundy For the respondent: Mark Turner QC, John Bate-Williams Solicitors: For the respondent: EL Murphy & Co For the appellant: George Ide, Phillips

W appealed against the decision of a judge in favour of D, the respondent, who claimed damages for personal injury that he had suffered in a road traffic accident. W, who had failed to notice a turning off a busy single carriageway road, tried to do a U-turn in the carriageway. At that particular point, visibility for drivers approaching from the rear of W’s vehicle was limited by the topography of the road, as there was a bend in that location. D was driving very closely in tandem with another vehicle and both were travelling at excessive speeds. The first driver managed to overtake W, but D could not do so, and his vehicle collided with that being driven by W. The judge at a trial on liability had dismissed the claim by W, holding that in any event W had been 80 per cent contributorily negligent.