On 09/07/2010 20:37, Adrian wrote:
Invisible gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

Quite a few. There are a lot more motorists but also a lot more people
killed by cars often as a result of driver ignorance or stupidity. I
dealt with a lot of fatal and injury claims but I can only recall two
that were not partially or wholly a driver's fault. 1)Rope not on a
vehicle apparently got thrown up and wrapped around the prop shaft and
air brake pipe of an HGV. Air brakes failed safe in on position and
truck skidded across road and hit minibus head.

The driver drove directly over this rope with one front tyre, presumably?

or it could have been sucked up by airflow. I was at the inquest and it
remains a mystery how it got there. Chances of it getting round an air
brake pipe and then wound in by the prop shaft must be extraordinarily low.


2)Brake lining contaminated by leaking slave cylinder. Car went across
road under heavy braking head on into lorry loaded with gas cylinders.

I wonder how long the car had been pulling slightly under lighter braking?

Specialist examination suggested the leak had been there for some time
but unclear how obvious it would have been under normal breaking. The
car involved was fairly new and had been serviced by a dealer quite
recently. Service only required inspection of the depth of brake
material remaining on the shoe. No requirement to remove the drum.
It was an employer's car being used for business and the employer was
liable under the terms of the Employers Liability Defective Equipment
Act for claims arising from the death of the employee.