One of the last things you expect when you’re driving along is for something to fall off a vehicle and cause an injury. Perhaps a piece of the vehicle like the bumper comes off, or a bike falls off of a bike rack; or an object falls off the back of a lorry or trailer.
If this happens to you, where do you stand when it comes to making a claim for personal injury compensation?
The Law and Your Rights
This is classed as a road traffic accident and you will normally pursue the insurers of the vehicle at fault. Our allegations of negligence could range from failing to secure a load to driving with a dangerous vehicle. You don’t have to have collided with another vehicle to claim form their insurance.
A falling object could cause all sorts of injuries and accidents. Obviously colliding with something like a fridge that has fallen off the back of a wagon is likely to cause a horrendous collision! But even if you swerve to avoid a danger and crash or you run something over and that causes a jerk you can still claim. If you are forced to slam your breaks on you could end up with a whiplash injury and you can still claim in these sorts of circumstances.
What if the vehicle at fault doesn’t stop?
If the culprit drives off as they haven’t realised something has happened, or if they’re just a terrible human being with no conscience to stop, you can still make a claim. We can pursue the claim with the Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB – not Men In Black though…) using their Untraced Driver scheme.
This is typically used for hit and run accidents, but the above type of scenario can also apply. To protect your right to claim, what you need to do is make sure you:
- Report the matter to the police ASAP – otherwise the MIB may refute the claim.
- Have medical attention ASAP as well – for the same reasons as the above.
The MIB will investigate to see if they can trace the vehicle. You never know – with a partial reg number and a make and model they may be able to track it down. But if they can’t, they can act as the insurer and compensate you in the same manner an insurer would.
So you’re covered!
