Road Traffic Accidents - Compensation Guide

Road Traffic Accidents [RTAs] are extremely common and injuries suffered range from minor to fatalities. The information below is a guide to claiming compensation for road traffic accidents.

To make a personal injury claim click here.

The Law Relating To Road Traffic Accidents

You can claim compensation if you can prove that the road traffic accident [RTA] was someone else’s fault. If the road traffic accident was your fault then there is no-one against whom you can claim.

If the accident was partly your fault and partly the fault of another then you can claim against that other person but your damages will be reduced to reflect the degree to which the accident was your fault rather than theirs. So if, for example, the accident was 50% your fault and 50% their fault, the damages they have to pay you will be reduced by 50%.

What compensation can you claim for following a Road Traffic Accident ?

The law allows you to claim for losses and injuries which were directly attributable to the accident. So you can claim not only damages for injuries caused by the accident but also financial losses such as lost earnings for time off work as a result of your injuries, travel expenses, items damaged in the accident and so on.

Proving Who Was To Blame In A Road Traffic Accident

Generally speaking we can claim what we can prove and the starting point has to be proving that the accident was someone else’s fault. How do we at Furley Page, go about this?

In the first instance we write to the other party / their insurers and they have a minimum of 4 months in which to investigate the claim themselves and either admit or deny liability.

If responsibility for the accident is not admitted then we at least know where we stand – we have to prove that the other driver was responsible and we do so by a combination of one or more of the following:

a statement from you;
a statement from any witnesses;
a police report;
accident investigation / reconstruction expert’s report.

Remember that the other driver or their insurers may have obtained similar evidence in support of their version of what happened, if they are serious about disputing responsibility for the accident.

Unless an agreement can be reached between you and the other driver then the two sides present their evidence to the Court at a trial and the Court has to decide who was responsible for the accident.

If at least part of the accident was someone else’s fault, then you can claim compensation; but you can only claim for what you can prove.

Your Injuries Following a Road Traffic Accident

Your injuries are proved by way of medical report which Furley Page obtain for you. It can be based just on your existing medical notes, where the injuries are relatively minor. However often a separate examination is required in which case Furley Page arrange a medical appointment which is essentially private and the medical expert prepares a report based on their findings at the examination and a thorough perusal of your medical records. The report will deal with the injuries you sustained in the accident, your present condition and the prognosis; in other words how your injuries are going to effect you in the future.

Sometimes we supplement the medical report with a statement from you, setting out how the injuries have affected you, and perhaps similar statements from close family or friends. If the injuries have left physical scars then photographs can also be helpful and we can arrange these as well.

If the other side do not accept the evidence in support of your injuries, then sometimes they have the right to have you seen by their own medical expert.

Any expert instructed by us will be a specialist in the type of injuries you have sustained so if, for example, you have suffered broken bones in the accident, we might send you to a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. If the accident has caused depression or post traumatic stress disorder then a consultant psychiatrist might be instructed. We will always try and instruct an expert who can see you relatively soon and who is not too far away for you. However with certain, particularly specialised medical fields it can be difficult to find an expert close by, in which case you may have to be prepared to travel further. For your claim it is important that you see the right expert, rather than a conveniently close expert.

Where your claim is successful then your travel expenses can usually be recovered, but if you are accompanied (say by your partner) it can be much harder to recover their travel expenses, even in successful claims.

For information on how to receive compensation for other financial losses see Proving Your Other Financial Losses .

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