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It was additionally underneath a cover of timber, so there was some leaf mould on the highway floor. I suppose I used to be paying an excessive amount of consideration to the poor-quality, slippery floor, as a result of the T-junction on the backside of the hill took me abruptly.
As I acquired onerous on the brakes, the ABS minimize in, I overshot the junction and was hit by a automotive – fortunately, it was all fairly lowspeed however I acquired clattered off the bike. My protecting package did its job, however a lot of it’s past restore and my bike suffered almost three grand’s price of harm. It’s going to be an costly day trip.
I settle for that the automotive driver did nothing flawed, however do I’ve a declare towards the native council? There have been no ‘sluggish’ indicators painted on the highway. There was a give-way signal proper on the junction and one other on the method to it that was coated in inexperienced tree mould and pollen, and partially obscured by thick foliage. It wasn’t fully invisible however neither was it notably apparent. The highway markings on the junction have been virtually completely worn away.
I wrote to the council, setting out my losses and the explanation why I held them accountable. I acquired a really curt letter again that mainly instructed me to sod off. Is there something I can hope for?
Reply
Sorry, however I’ve no excellent news for you. The native authority has no obligation to place up warning indicators or to color something on the highway. The give-way signal was there. The actual fact that there have been no warning indicators in place normally means the highway isn’t an accident blackspot however, even when it have been, there may be nonetheless no obligation for the council to place up warning indicators. The council has the ability, at its discretion, to place up warning indicators however it has no authorized responsibility to take action.
On a tiny county highway becoming a member of a comparatively low-use B-road, it’s not unreasonable for a council to deal with this as a comparatively low-priority highway. The council’s letter that you just forwarded to me is commonplace however their rationalization of the regulation is commonplace and probably not relevant to your case. It’s a commonplace ‘pothole’ defence letter. Your tried declare is a failure to deploy indicators.
It’s settled regulation in England and Wales that the native authority has no legal responsibility for the ‘topography’ of the highway, so the truth that it’s a troublesome little bit of highway to trip neither will increase nor decreases the council’s tasks.
The only give-way signal – which, on the images you additionally connected, is clearly seen – is sufficiently apparent so that you can have observed it.
Nevertheless, even when there had been no indicators or traces, it’s the responsibility of a highway consumer to proceed solely when it’s protected to take action. There are a selection of outdated circumstances – nonetheless good regulation immediately – that say, within the absence of any highway markings or give-way indicators, it’s the duty of highway customers to barter their manner round one another. The details of your case imply that any declare you might carry would definitely fail.
The small residual space of controversial regulation, across the council being held chargeable for signage being wholly unreasonable, is just not up for any form of argument in your case. There was a give-way check in place, it was clearly seen and – sadly for you – you missed it. There was an earlier signal, which clearly had the the other way up triangle form of a give-way signal. It’s the one highway signal that has this form, for exactly this cause. These indicators might be coated in snow, leaf mould or graffiti, and are nonetheless apparent simply by their form.
Thank goodness you weren’t critically injured however your bike injury is one in your fully-comp insurers to cope with. You’ve already misplaced your no claims low cost. The car that hit you was a fairly fancy automotive with a variety of electrical expense within the bumper, so the driving force’s declare is not going to be modest.
Please do your self a favour – don’t write to the council once more. They’ve higher issues to do than cope with claims that don’t have any probability of success.
Andrew Dalton
RiDE Journal – September 2023
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