Drunken pedestrians who are involved in accidents are usually found partially responsible for the accident and usually have there compensation reduced accordingly. However, every case is dealt with differently and how much the drunken pedestrian is held at fault depends on the specific circumstances surrounding the accident. The court will have to look at how at fault the driver is for the accident and also how intoxicated the drunken pedestrian was and how this affected his or her injuries.
In the case of Lunt V Khelif, the pedestrian stumbled into the road when he was run over by the motorist. The pedestrian was 3 times over the legal drink limit and was held one-third to blame for the impact. (He would have therefore only received two thirds of his compensation).
There are very different circumstances in the case of Green V Bannister. The pedestrian was laying in the road in a drunken state of unconsciousness. The motorist revered from a parking space on her road and was looking out of her rear window to be sure not to collide with any other vehicles. As she was reversing, the motorist drove over the pedestrian who was still lying on the floor as she had not seen him.
Liability was apportioned 60/40% in favour of the motorist (i.e. the drunken pedestrian was found 60% at fault for the accident) as he was found to be more to blame than the motorist.
If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident with a motorist after you have been out drinking, then YES you will more than likely be able to make a claim however, if your drunkenness has contributed to the accident then you will more than likely receive a deduction of the value of your claim. However, each case is looked at individually and therefore, the court will look at all of the circumstances surrounding the accident before deciding how to apportion liability and hence your compensation.
The parable of the story is “Never drink and walk!”.
