The defendant had crashed into the plaintiff’s parked vehicle as he tried to pass. The defendant denied negligece.
Held: A driver on a highway who sees a stationary vehicle has to take all possible care to avoid a collision. If there is insufficient room to pass, he is negligent if he attempts to do so. If however, there is enough room but a collision occurs, then prima facie he is again negligent, the onus being on him to show that he has taken all the steps which a reasonable man would take in the circumstances, that is, all possible care to avoid a collision.
The court discussed the extent of public rights of way over land: ‘The rights of members of the public to use the highway are, prima facie, rights of passage to and from places which the highway adjoins; but equally clearly it is not a user of the highway beyond what is legitimate if, for some purposes, a driver of a vehicle pauses from time to time on the highway. Nobody would suggest to the contrary. On the other hand, it is well established that a highway must not be used in quite a different manner from passage along it and the pretext of walking up and down along it will not legitimise such a use’
Judges:
Lord Evershed MR
Citations:
[1955] 1 WLR 255
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Jones and Lloyd HL 4-Mar-1999
21 people protested peacefully on the verge of the A344, next to the perimeter fence at Stonehenge. Some carried banners saying ‘Never Again,’ ‘Stonehenge Campaign 10 years of Criminal Injustice’ and ‘Free Stonehenge.’ The officer in charge . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Land, Torts – Other, Negligence
Updated: 27 November 2022; Ref: scu.192195