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We deal with all types of personal injury claims including road traffic accidents. This includes accidents at roundabouts. Many drivers dislike using roundabouts and I can often understand why.

As a driver myself, I often see near misses on roundabouts almost every day. To me personally, the issues seem to be a lack of knowledge (especially when using a large multi-lane roundabout) and speed. Some drivers intend to go straight on at a roundabout and therefore think that they do not need to slow down.
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Road traffic accidents are common and occur on a daily basis on our roads. Whilst we should never stop in our attempts to improve road safety, accidents continue to happen. The aim is to continually improve safety and to decrease the number of accidents on our roads. Another aim is to ensure that, if an accident does occur, the resulting injuries are limited as much as possible. I guess it is the car manufacturer’s job to make cars safer and more robust – to ensure that less people are seriously injured or killed in road accidents.
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As the cold and wet weather sets in for winter, more and more potholes are bound to appear as water leaks in to surface cracks, expands in freezing temperatures, and breaks open the ground. Having been the victim of pothole damage in my car, costing me £300 earlier in the year for a new tyre, alloy refurbishment, and re-tracking, I know how annoying it is.

But riding over a pothole on a bicycle can be far, far more devastating. Whilst drivers feel the annoying bump of a pothole, probably cursing the council at the same time, a bicycle rider is liable to come off of their bike and sustain serious injuries. We have dealt with many cyclist injuries that have been caused by potholes and the injuries are often devastating.
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If you have been hit by a speeding car, that alone is not necessarily enough to make the other side negligent – but if, on the other hand, they were speeding when doing something else which they should not have been doing, this may result in negligence. This may seem unclear but below will outline the ways in which this could happen.

Why isn’t speeding negligent behaviour?

High speed alone may not be enough evidence to establish that it was the cause of the accident, although it is likely to be a contributing factor.
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The procedure to follow when there has been a road traffic accident is known as the Pre-Action Protocol for low value injury claims. The protocol was brought in on the 30^th April 2010 and applies to claims that have a value of between £1,000 to £10,000 up until accidents that occur until 31^st July 2013; after which the upper limit was moved to £25,000. The protocol should not be used if the value of the claim is or more than £10,000.

The premise of the Protocol being introduced is that it will encourage more contact between parties, with information being fully exchanged between them and investigations into the claim can be carried out more efficiently.  The Pre-Action Protocol is the route for all parties to follow before taking a claim to court. The route of the Protocol is broken up into 3 clear stages
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The answer to this question could depend on how you settle your claim. If you settle directly with an insurer, they normally won’t offer any more than couple of thousand pounds. If you get a lawyer, we can settle the claim properly using medical evidence and the brackets available for whiplash claims. These are roughly as follows:

• Minor Neck Injuries: £1,500 – £5,600
• Moderate: £5,600 – £27,500
• Severe: up to in the region of £106,000

Where you fit in to these brackets is entirely dependent on medical evidence. Most people will fit within the legal definition of the minor bracket; so if you doctor tells you that you are suffering from “severe whiplash” that doesn’t mean you are due a payout of tens of thousands of pounds! The above are the legal brackets.
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As specialist personal injury lawyers, we deal with a lot of road traffic accidents and we often find that (rather obviously) road accidents involving smaller vehicles like motorbikes often lead to more serious injuries as they don’t offer the same protection a car can offer.

Quad bikes are no different, and they can often lead to more serious injuries as a rider and passengers do not have to wear a helmet when riding one.

So if you are out and about on the road and you are involved in an accident with another vehicle through no fault of your own, can you make a claim for personal injury compensation?
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It’s a fairly common scenario – especially when people are in a rush, perhaps first thing in a morning, to get somewhere. So if you are driving along and another driver pulls out of a driveway and you crash in to them, who is at fault?

In the vast majority of instances, the other driver is 100% liable for the accident. The principle is similar to that of another driver pulling out of a side road when you are correctly travelling along a major road. The driver emerging from the driveway must give precedence to vehicles already travelling on the road.
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In most road accidents, there is someone fully to blame. But every now and then, a genuine accident happens where both vehicles have been partly to blame. In these circumstances, parties may agree to split liability evenly between them.

An example of this could be a car park accident where two people pull out of a space at the same time but driving in opposite directions and bumping in to each other.  Another could be two vehicles changing lanes at the same time and crashing in to each other.

So if this happens, can you make a claim for personal injury compensation?
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If you have been involved in a car accident, it is likely you will suffer from whiplash. The reason for this is that the impact is likely to cause your body to be jerked forwards and backwards (or sideways depending on the type of collision) and this will likely pull and strain the muscles and tendons in your neck, back and shoulders. The result is a whiplash injury.

No immediate symptoms is common

It is extremely common to feel absolutely fine after a car accident. The symptoms of whiplash injuries normally do not become apparent until 12 – 48 hours after an accident. So don’t assume you are fine, and don’t be surprised if you wake up the next morning and feel very stiff and sore. What you need to do next is visit your GP or go to a walk in centre or hospital to be medically examined.
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