Question

A bicyclist filed suit against a truck driver, the trucking company, and the truck owner after being struck while riding with a group of bicyclists along the shoulder of a highway.

The driver who struck the bicyclist on the highway admits he “took his eyes off the road for a very short period of time,” but he denies driving in a careless or negligent manner that breached a duty of care. The driver says the bicyclist was also negligent and assumed risk when he rode his bike on the highway.

According to a police accident report, both the truck driver and the bicyclist were riding eastbound. The driver reached down to get a drink from his cooler. When he looked up, his truck had crossed onto the highway’s shoulder.

“The driver tried to avoid a collision but hit the bicyclist,” according to the accident report. The bicyclist, age 60, was transported to the hospital by helicopter and suffered serious injuries.

The bicyclist seeks damages for loss of income and future income, as well as damages for his injuries. The driver has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit and award him his legal costs.

Analyze negligence in this case by answering the following questions:

1. What duties do the parties have in this situation?
2. How did the parties breach their duties?
3. Explain actual and proximate cause in this case.
4. What damages might be awarded in this case?
5. Discuss any defenses that might be available to both parties.
6. Who do you think will win this case?

Answer 1

What duties do the parties have in this situation?

How did the parties breach their duties?

A bicyclist's duty is to drive very carefully on the roads. Many a times, even if bicyclist is not at fault and driving very cautiously on his side without breaking any law, there are chances of an accident on account of careless driving by a truck driver. He cannot take it as granted that since he is driving in his lane and not breaking any law, he will be safe. In this case, the driver admitted that he became careless for a few seconds when he wanted to take out the bottle to drink water. At that time, bicyclist could have easily observed the approaching truck from behind which he can see from the rear view mirror, and he could have used his driving experience and tried to save himself. It is said that the bicyclist's age is 60 years which also means that he can still use his past driving experience as he might have been driving bicylce since a long time and might have gone through or might have witnessed such types of accidents in the past and hence, he could have employed his past experience to try to save himself, which he did not do.

Driver of truck admitted that he became careless for some time as he wanted to drink water and he withdrew his attention from the road for a few seconds to take out the water. This clearly shows utter negligency on his part. It is his duty not to divert his attention from the road under any circumstances. If he is feeling thristy and wants to drink water, he can wait for some time so that he can find a place to slow down and park his vehicle so that he can drink water. But, he did not do that which caused accident.

Explain actual and proximate cause in this case.

The actual cause of the accident is the negligence from the driver's side as he admitted that he wanted to drink water and for a few seconds he had to divert his attention from the road. Also, since driver's negligence played major role in causing accident resulting in serious injuries to the bicyclist, it does not necessarily means that immediately bicyclist should run to the court and file a lawsuit. He should also analyse that he was also at fault and was slightly negligent on his part too as he could have avoided accident by looking into the back view mirror of his bicycle and upon seeing the truck coming from behind recklessly, he could have jumped out of the bicycle or immediately could have turned his bicycle away from the road side so that he can avoid the collision which he did not do. But, since bicycle was driving on his side and lane and truck driver admitted that he wanted to drink water and his attention got diverted for some time, we can say the actual cause of the accident was the negligent driving of truck driver.

What damages might be awarded in this case?

The bicyclist can get compensation for his injuries and hospitalisation by filing a claim with the truck's third party insurance agreement. This is a 'third party claim' where the victim can recover his medical expenses, the income he lost, repair or replacement of his bicycle and compensation of pain and suffering he got in this entire mishappening of accident, serious injury and hospitalisation. For getting compensation, he needs to get all the necessary medical treatment, arrange all medical bills, photos of the accident site with damaged vehicles and police report. Once the necessary documentary formalities are completed, he can claim the compensation and he will be awarded with above mentioned benefits/claims.

Discuss any defenses that might be available to both parties.

Defense for the bicyclist:

Driver of truck admitted that he became careless for some time as he wanted to drink water and he withdrew his attention from the road for a few seconds to take out the water. In this, his truck lost the track and ran on the bicyclist.

Defense for the truck driver:

The driver says the bicyclist was also negligent and assumed risk when he rode his bike on the highway. The bicyclist was negligent on his part too as he could have avoided accident by looking into the back view mirror of his bicycle and upon seeing the truck coming from behind recklessly, he could have jumped out of the bicycle or immediately could have turned his bicycle away from the road side so that he can avoid the collision which he did not do.

Who do you think will win this case?

I think the bicyclist will win the case as it has been established that truck driver was actually careless and negligently, he tried to drink water while driving truck and he could have easily seen the cyclist. The driver's negligence played major role in causing accident resulting in serious injuries to the bicyclist who is a 60 year old matured person and he had to go through all this trauma of pain and suffering.