Investigation of traffic accidents still needed
However, particularly in my own area of expertise, motor vehicle and road traffic accidents, investigation is necessary, very often on behalf of both parties. I have the following concerns re PIAB.
1. The injured party is not encouraged to have any technical investigation of the vehicles involved, or indeed the scene of the accident.
2. The respondent has 90 days to respond and admit liability, and then have the investigation carried out by PIAB.
3. In that time or even later (it could be a year) when the assessment of compensation is offered to the plaintiff, if that is not satisfactory for whatever reason, s/he has the option to go to court.
4. Some 9-12 months later, collecting evidence from the scene and the vehicles can be difficult, if not impossible.
5. The investigation by PIAB is somewhat one-sided, in that they concentrate on the defendant’s confirmation of the accident. For example, the vehicles may have been repaired or scrapped. And road conditions and road markings at the scene of the accident could have been changed. Therefore, it would be difficult if not impossible for the claimant to put together a technical report to assist one in court.
For the above reasons, the injured party should still organise a technical inspection of the vehicles and a technical inspection of the scene of the accident within the normal immediacy that these matters command.
The PIAB website, www.piab.ie, says that the claimant must demonstrate that (1) the party they are holding responsible was legally responsible for your safety and did not heed their legal responsibilities; (2) your loss and injury directly resulted from the offending party not meeting their responsibilities for your safety. It goes on to say that it is up to the claimant to prove the person, organisation or company they are suing responsible for the accident.
George C Ballard, SOE MIRTE MIMI AIAEA,
Farnham House,
26-27 MacCurtain Street,
Cork.
