3rd Party insurance

[GWB]

Good Afternoon

Could anyone please tell me if the below law is correct in the South African context.

If the incident occurs when automobile “B” is entering a road from a private road or a driveway and automobile “A” is passing the private road or driveway and, if there are no traffic signals or signs, the driver of automobile “A” is not at fault and the driver of automobile “B” is 100 per cent at fault for the incident.

Thank You

[Dave A]

Could the driver of automobile "A" have taken any action to avoid the accident?

[AndyD]

Not as clear cut as you may think. There's case law surrounding various circumstances where the driver with the 'right of way' had a duty to be aware of the driver in the wrong and to have avoided the accident or attempt to have avoided the accident.

The case law is regularly quoted by insurance companies as reason for them to decide to apportion blame and therefore costs, especially in the case of 3rd party claims. Reading between the lines I'm guessing this might be the case with you.

Alas, often their application of this case law is skewed and not directly applicable to the circumstances of a particular accident. I've encountered this on more than one occasion and each time I've handed it to our lawyers and sucessfully litigated.

Neuhaus v Bastion Insurance Company 1968

Marine & Trade Insurance co Ltd v Biyasi 1981

Rondalia Assurance Corporation of South Africa Ltd v Page and Others 1975

See also Venter v Dickson 1965

Some more light reading

[TNchoe]

Hi Andy. I have the same issue with Old Mutual Insure. Is there a lawyer that you can refer me to