Lawford Kidd's Blog

A cyclist who was forced to quit his job due to life changing injuries has been awarded £100,000 in compensation in an out of court settlement.

48-year-old Heath Marshall was left with a serious skull fracture and leg injuries following a crash involving a motorbike. He also suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as well as experiencing flashbacks of the incident. Due to the extent of the injuries, the cyclist was forced to quit his job which left him unable to save for a property which he was looking to move into with his partner and children.

As well as shattering his knee and finding it hard to concentrate on matters as a result of his head injury, the 48-year-old also had to cancel his wedding due to the injuries sustained and struggled to continue cycling, a hobby he loved.

A new study has revealed that luxury vehicles are more likely to be involved in road traffic accidents than Smart cars and other similar models.

According to the latest data, Smart cars have the lowest "at fault" insurance claim rate out of any model. Between July 2014 and June 2015, vehicles such as the Smart car only registered 78.6 at fault claims per 1,000 drivers. This is in stark contrast to drivers of high-end cars such as Lexus, who had a 111 fault claims per 1,000 road users.

Other high-end luxury brands such as Land Rover and Audi were some of the worst performing in the study, with 110.1 and 105.2 at fault claims per 1,000 drivers respectively. The survey, from Moneysupermarket, analysed over 11.3 million car insurance quotes from the last year and shed some light into the driving habits of drivers.

Google’s self-driving cars have been involved in at least eleven road accidents since they were introduced in 2009, however, according to the technology giants, the accidents have been a result of other drivers crashing into the smart cars.

According to Google, the vast majority of incidents have occurred when drivers hit the back of the smart cars when they stop. The figures come following the mainstream press in the United States criticising the cars.

Chris Urmson, the director of Google’s self-driving car programme said that there have been “11 minor accidents (light damage, no injuries) during 1.7 million miles of autonomous and manual driving with our safety drivers behind the wheel”.

Road safety organisations have expressed disappointment at the latest road traffic casualty figures published by the Department of Transport, which show that deaths and serious injuries on UK roads increased by 4% in the year ending September 2014, with deaths up by 1%.

In response to the figures, road safety charity Brake has called on all political parties to commit to three vital road safety policies, especially to protect pedestrians, cyclists, children and young people.

In total, 1,730 people were killed and 22,630 seriously injured on UK roads in the year ending September 2014, up from 1,711 deaths and 21,728 serious injuries in the previous year. Casualties of all severities are also up by 5%, from 184,087 to 192,910.

As many as one in seven (15%) drivers who use a sat-nav admit making illegal or risky manoeuvres to correct mistakes when following sat-nav instructions, putting themselves and other road users at risk of a devastating crash.

The survey by road safety charity Brake and Direct Line also found that:

• one in 14 (7%) drivers have had a near miss, having to swerve or brake suddenly to avoid a hazard, because they were distracted by a sat-nav (rising to one in 10 (11%) among young drivers (17-24);
• one in 14 (7%) drivers also admit to having a similar near miss because they were fiddling with their stereo (rising to one in 10 (11%) among young drivers (17-24)).

Through its drive smart campaign, Brake is calling on all drivers to make a new year’s resolution to stay alert and keep their mind and eyes on the road. Research shows almost everyone is unable to multi-task at the wheel without driving performance being badly affected. Carry out a secondary activity and you’re two to three times more likely to crash: more for complex activities like talking on a phone or texting.