At time it is customary to assume that when you crash into the car in front of you, the fault is all yours to take. That may not always be the case, and here is why.
Imagine driving on the road while listening to your favorite music, you are just following behind a vehicle when suddenly the vehicle in front stops and you collide with the vehicle. You are in shock, confused even. The driver comes out, screams at you that it is your fault. But, how could that be? Why should you be blamed for the collision when it was the driver who suddenly stopped without any signal or indication?
However the driver insists that you should be blamed since you had collided into the rear end of the vehicle. People start surrounding your vehicle and they also say that it is your fault as the driver travelling behind. In order to avoid any arguments and dispute with the other driver, you agree to pay for damages just to be able to drive away from the scene of the collision. But, is it really entirely your fault?
There seems to be an unwritten rule that if you collide with a vehicle in front of you, it is always your fault regardless of the circumstances leading to the collision. Surely, this is wrong because there could be other occasions that result in a rear end collision like when a driver suddenly changes lane and encroaches into your lane. The notion involving rear end collision comes from rule 22 of the Highway Code which stipulates that the following driver should allow at least one car‟s length between his car and the vehicle in front for every ten miles an hour of its speed.
Although you may have collided with a vehicle on the rear but it does not necessarily mean that you are to be entirely blamed for the collision based on the case of Leng Yang Sua & Anor v Ng Yen Ken & Anor [1986] CLJ (Rep) 448 which held that rear vehicle collisions should be decided on their own facts since there has been no judicial consistency. The Court in Abdullah Karim v Ahmad Abdullah & Anor [1991] 2 CLJ (Rep) 238 decided that the driver in front who had failed to keep a proper lookout before he stopped the bus to pick up the would-be passenger was found 25% liable for the collision. The driver following behind was held 75% liable as he had failed to carry out his duty to keep a safe distance while following behind the bus.
This means that you may not be entirely at fault for the collision as the other driver has a duty to anticipate possible presence of others on the road and have a good lookout as held in Chai Phin Chong & Anor v Zainal Abidin Mohd Salleh & Anor [1998] 4 CLJ 833. In this case, the Court decided that since the other driver had suddenly stopped his vehicle without giving any indication, he should be blamed for the collision as well. Although you should have maintained a safe distance with the vehicle in front of you, this does not mean that the other driver had not contributed to the collision through his negligence.
In fact there are cases where the courts have found that the driver travelling in front to be entirely at fault for a rear end collision. For example, the Court in Kamaruddin Mohd Nor & Anor v Soon Soo Moe & Anor [1998] 4 CLJ Supp 301 held that the driver of a lorry swinging from left to right in order to execute a U-turn and colliding with a motorcyclist coming from the rear was held totally to blame.
This denotes that if the circumstances leading to the collision shows negligence on the part of the driver travelling in the front vehicle, then as the driver travelling behind, you will not be held entirely at fault.
Therefore, you should not have paid the damages in full to the other driver because you were not entirely at fault since there may be contributory negligence from the other driver. As a driver following behind a vehicle, it is undeniable that you have a duty to maintain a safe distance with the vehicle travelling in front of you. But, in the event of a rear end collision, it does not mean that you are entirely at fault regardless of the circumstances leading to the collision as demonstrated in the above cases.
So, the next time you are involved in a rear end collision, identify whether there was negligence on the part of the driver travelling in the vehicle in front and despite what others might say, it is not always entirely your fault if you collide with a vehicle on the rear end.
