car

  A good Samaritan might be regretting her good deed after attempts to help two car accident victims has left her possibly needing her own car crash lawyer. Janice Dunlop may need legal help to ensure an insurance payout to replace her car after she...

  It has been reported that the BBC and other institutions face 18 compensation claims as claims are launched following the alleged abuse by Jimmy Savile. Lis Dux, a lawyer specialising in child abuse cases, advised that the number of cases had m...

  I was interested to hear that holidaymakers in England and Wales were warned to take extra care when driving on 1st September.  According to AXA, summer car accidents have peaked on that date for three years in a row. Last year, the insura...

Good news from Transport Scotland - the number of people who were injured on the roads in Scotland fell to a record low in 2011. The new statistics reveal that road casualties are 4% lower than in 2010, and include an 11% drop in fatalities over the same ...

  As a car accident claim expert I am familiar with most of the medical injuries inflicted on drivers. In minor low velocity road traffic accidents (especially as a result of rear end shunts) the most common form of injury is a ‘whiplash re...

  The basis of any claim for compensation is negligence.  The line between negligence, carelessness and bad luck is often blurry when it comes to Road Traffic Accidents (i.e. car crashes). All of us who drive are likely to have a bash at som...

Often when people think of compensation claims they think of car crash claims.  Car accident claims make up almost 30% of the claims that I deal with on a daily basis. I guess this makes me an expert car accident compensation Solicitor.  I ...

  Thank goodness my friends at Thompsons are there to stick up for all the people who have legitimately sustained whiplash injuries and have a right to claim compensation. I feel reassured to know Thompsons are not afraid to take on the big Insuranc...

  Drivers are being urged to be more alert on the roads to avoid a risk of a road traffic accident due to deer on the road. The number of road traffic accidents with deer peak between April and May each year as this is the time when young deer le...

  Sheriff Principal Brian Lockart has now published his findings following a 141 day fatal accident inquiry into the fire at Rosepark care home in Uddingston, Lanarkshire. Sheriff Principal Lockart found that the fire safety plans at the care hom...

Another Car Accident, Again?!   Life is full of tragic events, whether we want them to take place or not, which result in unintended consequences. I know it’s a bitch isn’t it, get over it. Take for example ‘Car Accidents’. ...

  Little Thom has always been fascinated by aliens and as a child it was always my dream to become an astronaut.  I have obviously now given up on that idea so I was very excited to see photos of the first Virgin Galactic spaceship.  The B...

  The other day I read in the paper that a teenager was quoted almost £33,000 to insure his second-hand car.  His car only cost £3,000 and was a 6 year old Vauxhall Corsa. He used a comparison quotes website and received the quot...

  I have been continuing to read the articles about the possibility of scientists developing an uncrashable car and it is really very exciting.  Have you seen any of the ideas?  The latest thing that I was reading about was an intelligent ...

My friends at Thompsons are announcing a new, imaginative and fun way to offer students a No Win No Fee Internship at one of their offices in Scotland.  This takes me back to the days when I was an up and coming law student, every year me and my f...

  Last year I was following the story about the research into uncrashable cars.  My friends at Thompsons Solicitors  and I are always interested in ways to increase health and safety and ways of reducing road traffic accidents so I was ple...

  No-one gets in the car thinking they will be involved in a car accident. No one plans car accidents or prepares themselves for one, because it seems too unlikely to happen. It is difficult to imagine being in a car accident, however if you are ...

  I was sad to see another story in the press about a sat-nav device causing a road traffic accident.  It has taught me not to rely on just the sat-nav as they sometimes can be wrong.  This time the error proved fatal and a four year old g...

  The Ministry of Defence is to pay £1.8 million compensation following tragic accidents in Afghanistan. £1.7 million compensation is to be paid to a paratrooper who sustained severe injuries in Afghanistan and £100,000 compensatio...

  I have been pleasantly surprised with the weather recently and I thought that the bad weather had left us alone.  We are just starting to get back to normal so I am a bit worried to see that freezing conditions are continuing to cause problem...

  If you think you are having a hard time driving through all the potholes at the moment, imagine what it is like for me in my plasticine car!   The weather these last two winters has been a nightmare and has left our roads looking like the s...

  I read in the papers that a woman was saved from her car as it filled with water after skidding into a Moray canal.  Christine Rhodes, skidded her car on black ice, hit a verge and crashed down a steep embankment, landing upturned in the free...

I read with some alarm that insurance companies are charging motorists higher premiums because they have fitted winter tyres to their vehicles during the current extreme weather conditions. I find it staggering that insurance companies would seek to penal...

  Repetitive driving injury is a condition that is caused by a poor driving posture which can lead to serious long term muscle, joint and spinal injuries. Repetitive driving injury may include foot cramps, lumbar pain, stiff neck, side ache, and hea...

  It may be a challenge for a cyclist to survive on the road when commuting daily, especially if you live in a big city with busy traffic. In order to avoid a hazardous and potentially fatal bicycle accident a few steps can be followed. Firstly, ...

  Although I love the snow and I have been building snowmen all week winter driving is very hazardous and to avoid having an accident, if you must drive in the snow and ice you should ensure that your car is properly prepared.  Before you l...

  Like many of us I have spent the last few weeks treading gingerly along our nations pavements trying to be one of the few to avoid slipping and falling on the ice. The ‘big freeze’ has inevitably brought with it a huge spike in road traffic accidents and has seen hospital admissions at 10 times the normal quota for this time of year.   Careful drivers, who have never been in an accident before will have succumbed to the conditions and will feel aggrieved to be held ‘at fault’ for accidents that wouldn’t have happened had it not been for the ice and snow.  Unfortunately, in terms of car accidents, insurance companies and the law pay no mind to the fact that adverse conditions may have caused your accident.  Even if you are driving within the speed limit and cause an accident you are deemed to not have driven ‘as conditions dictate’ and will be found liable. The law is not much more forgiving for pedestrians who are injured as a result of falling on ice. There is unlikely to be any liability in a case where someone falls on ice so long as the accident was due only to the ice.  The law does not regard the natural accumulation of snow and ice as an actionable defect.  Simply, there is no liability in cases caused purely by natural conditions. Local Councils have a broad obligation to maintain the roads but there is no particular requirement for them to grit roads or pavements to any particular standard or frequency. The exemption that applies to Councils does not extend to private landowners. Thus, for example, in a private complex, the company could find itself liable for problems arising from a failure to clear ice and snow. In circumstances where the ice may have formed due to man-made defects such as a faulty gutter, or where the snow has been transformed or moved into an unnatural hazard then liability may attach.

  The UK Department for Transport has released a forecast for post 2010 casualties. The purpose of the paper is to reduce casualties that may occur in car accidents. The forecasting models have been updated annually, and the results have shown t...

  Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week was launched earlier this week. Figures from the Health and Safety Executive show that around 20 people lose their life every year as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning and many more people suffer personal injury ...

  The news has been full of depressing stories this week.  I saw that despite a general decrease in road traffic accidents tragically a 6 year old boy has died after being struck by a car in the east end of Glasgow.  It is believed to be a...

I drive on Scotland’s roads every day and see all types of accidents and reckless driving but what most people are not aware of is that a major risk for serious car accidents is tailgating and this should be avoided at all times. Not sure or ne...

  Passing your driving test and getting a drivers licence serves as a proof that you are competent and knowledgeable to drive a car and participate in the traffic. However, the driving test is fairly basic and does not provide much information when ...

  In theory bull bars are there to make driving safer for us, yet there has been a lot of discussion as to whether it really is the case.  It is argued that quite a high number of pedestrian deaths and injuries are only increased by cars that h...

  You would think that if you had an accident or were involved in a car crash and you dialled 999, an ambulance would come to your assistance as quickly as possible. I was very shocked to see that it has been reported in the news just the other d...

  When we talk of road accidents we normally assume we are talking of car accidents, bus accidents, motorbike accidents or perhaps bicycle accidents. However, there is another group that should be considered, members of which may both be seriously a...

  Thousands of people suffer from injuries in car accidents in the UK every year. This is due to numerous reasons and knowing how to act when using hard shoulder can help you prevent one of the car accident causes. A hard shoulder (also known as ...

  Anyone who has ever experienced a serious back problem will be able to tell you how excruciating the back pain can be, how it can affect your mobility, work abilities and how considerabily it can reduce the quality of your life. Around 80% of t...

  Every year around 30 million vehicles travel in Britain and around 10,000 accidents are reported every day. Even though these include minor scrapes, bumps etc, it is still a worrying number and suggests people are not taking all necessary precauti...

I was astonished this week to read in the news that there was a lorry driver travelling in his lorry, with a laptop and DVD player mounted on his dashboard. Incredible as it may seem, but he appeared to be watching a DVD as he was driving a 30 tonne vehic...

  I was surfing the internet at the weekend and I saw that a champion cyclist has been awarded a record breaking £14 million in compensation after his career was destroyed when he was hit by a car.  As a result of the road traffic acc...

Ever since I started reading about the possibility of driving an uncrashable car I have been reading about the subject with great interest and I have been asking my friends what they think.  I am happy to see any ideas which will make the roads a saf...

When I heard that Volvo were trying to make an uncrashable car I thought that this sounded like something from a science fiction film. How on earth can you have a car that doesn’t crash?  Imagine if you were driving along on the motorway and yo...

There are more vehicles on our roads than ever these days and as a result there are more and more road traffic accidents occurring every day!  Unfortunately road traffic accidents happen and it has been estimated that 1 in 3 people who die as a resul...

  I was surfing the internet recently and came across statistics which to my astonishment show that crash-for-cash scams in which drivers deliberately cause crashes to claim insurance are on the rise. The Insurance Fraud Bureau reported that 30,000 ...

  Children’s injuries are a very common occurrence of Emergency Departments in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Research shows that safety devices, such as helmets and seatbelts, are being ignored in many cases. A case study on children&r...

  Every day me and  my friends at Thompsons Solicitors work hard to help improve Health and Safety for workers and members of the public.  I was pleased to see that Argyll and Bute Council have been fined £20,000 after the death of a...

  All car drivers and passengers are obliged to wear seat belts for their security and protection in a case of a car accident. This refers to pregnant women as well. It is certain that by wearing a seat belt serious consequences of car accidents ...

I was pleased to see that recently a Judge has jailed 2 young drivers who caused the death of a 17 year old boy by racing their cars at 90 mph.   Young drivers are often criticised and many people don’t want them to be able to drive unsupervi...