In Brief
- A driver owes other road users a duty to exercise reasonable care.
- When changing lanes, the duty of care extends to ensuring that it is safe to do so.
- A Claimant is not entitled to damages unless they can demonstrate that their injury was caused by the fault of the owner or driver of another vehicle.
Facts
The Personal Injury Commission (PIC) published its decision in Mahfoud v AAI Limited t/as GIO [2025] NSWPIC 45 on 28 February 2025.
On 18 May 2021, the Claimant was driving on the Horsley Drive at Carramar. The Claimant was driving in the kerbside lane. He attempted to change lanes to his right and collided with the Insured vehicle. That collision caused the Claimant to travel onto the wrong side of the road where his vehicle was struck by another vehicle heading in the opposite direction.
The Claimant lodged a damages dispute in the PIC and alleged that his injuries were caused by the negligent driving of the Insured vehicle.
The Member's Decision
The Member found that the Insurer was not liable to the Claimant in negligence for the following reasons:
- The Insured vehicle was virtually alongside the Claimant's vehicle when the Claimant attempted to change lanes to his right.
- The photographic evidence demonstrated that the front driver's side of the Claimant's vehicle collided with the rear passenger-side quarter panel of the Insured vehicle, near the rear wheel.
- The Claimant's evidence that he activated his right-hand blinker for 8 to 10 seconds prior to the motor accident should be rejected.
- The Claimant's evidence that he saw the Insured vehicle in his rear-vision mirror should also be rejected.
- The accident was caused by the Claimant's failure to exercise reasonable care whilst changing lanes.
As such, the Member dismissed the claim for damages under common law.
Why This Case is Important
The decision in Mahfoud provides a useful example of how liability decisions are determined in claims for damages under common law. Unlike most-at-fault disputes in the statutory benefits arena - where the focus is on the injured person's contributory negligence - the focus in a damages claim is on whether the Claimant's injuries were caused by any want of care by the owner or driver of the insured vehicle.
If there was no fault by the owner or driver of the insured vehicle, the Claimant is not entitled to damages.
Additional McCabes Resources
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