New Forest District Council have been held two-thirds to blame for an accident in which a pedestrian was knocked down and injured due to inadequate sight lines.
Guidelines from the Transport Department call for minimum visibility of 70-90m where a minor road joins another in a 30mph area. In this case, planning permission for the path in question had been granted by the council.
The injured man claimed that the council were negligent for allowing a footpath to be created before the necessary actions had been taken to improve visibility. In a preliminary ruling, the Court of Appeal found that the council were under a continuous duty of care to pedestrians using the area.
At the substantive hearing, the High Court has ruled that the council knew it that was dangerous for footpaths to join a road on the inside of a blind bend, and that as this was a major contributory factor to the accident, they were therefore in breach of their duty of care.
Kane v New Forest District Council and others Queens Bench Division (Garland J) 27 November 2001.
Anthony Coleman (instructed by Moore & Blatch, of Southampton) appeared for the claimant; John Snell (instructed by Beachcroft Wansbroughs, of Winchester) appeared for the first defendants; Shaun Ferris (instructed by Morris Orman Hearle, of Cheltenham) appeared for the second defendant.
PLS news 29/11/01
