Hit by a drug driver
I was leaving an out of town shopping centre at the end of June when exiting the car park onto the main road I was knocked off by young man in a car. He obviously didn’t see me. The police and an ambulance attended. The police tested the driver and he had cocaine in his system. I am told by the investigating officer that he has been summonsed to appear in court. My solicitor is making a claim for me and the insurer of the car driver in says I pulled out on him and is blaming me. Surely if he was on drugs then I am not to blame?
Stuart Hamilton, Croydon
Answer
Without seeing the police documentation and toxicology results it is difficult for me to comment other than to say the following. If he pleads guilty or is found guilty of the offence of driving whilst over the permitted limit of cocaine metabolite in his system then this is a factor you can use to try to persuade the court to infer negligence on his part through intoxication / impaired judgment. However, I can imagine you could face a causation defence – that is, his drug driving was not causative of the accident, rather it was your act of pulling out from a car park onto the main road into his path as he had right of way. I suggest waiting until the criminal case is concluded, obtaining all the information and reconsidering the evidence.
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