Highway authority’s duty of care

Yetkin v Mahmood and another [2010] EWCA Civ 776

The claimant had used a pedestrian crossing constructed by the local authority over a dual carriageway which had six lanes. At the central reservation, her view of approaching traffic was restricted by shrubs planted in the reservation which had grown thick and tall. She had set off across the carriageway without waiting for the traffic lights to change in her favour. She was struck by a car. The judge dismissed her claim against the motorist. He found that the shrubs had seriously interfered with her view of the road and that they had contributed significantly to the accident but held that Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan BC [2004] UKHL 15, (2004) 1 WLR 1057 imposed additional requirements on a claimant bringing a conventional common law claim against a highway authority for creating a hazard on the highway and accordingly the local authority had not owed her a duty of care. Had the local authority been liable the judge would have found the claimant 75% to blame for the accident.