Martin Porter QC comments on a ruling which will send shivers down the spines of cyclists
On a summer's evening in 2005, Robert Smith, cycled the short distance from his home to another house in Brightlingsea, Essex. Just before he reached his destination, a motorcycle ridden by Michael Finch collided with the bicycle and as a consequence Smith sustained a serious traumatic brain injury.
Judgment in Smith v Finch [2009] EWCH 53 (QB), [2009] All ER (D) 158 (Jan) was handed down by Mr Justice Griffith Williams on 22 January 2009. He accepted the claimant's case that the accident happened while the claimant was close to the centre of the road preparing to turn right into the driveway of his destination and when the motorcyclist, travelling at excessive speed in the same direction, tried to overtake him on the offside. He rejected the defendant's case that the claimant had come out of a side road to the motorcyclist's left straight into his path. So far, so commonplace a resolution of a dispute over the responsibility for a road traffic accident
