Council's responsibility?

[kazam401]

Anyone know if local coucil's have an obligation to keep ballards on central reservation lit?

Reason I ask is last night while going to pick my son up from scouts I had a meeting with the kirb at 20mph+ head on Hell of a big bang

Was driving down a badly lit road (loads of trees obscuring a lot of the street lighting) near the local park, there was a young lad on his push bike (with no lights grrrrrr) weaving all over the road, was watching him when BANG central res kirb head on............just didn't see it.

My fault I do admit.........BUT just driven back down same road and realised the ballards aren't lit and the one facing me when I hit has no reflective markings, it's bad enough seeing it when your looking for it.

Surf seems fine but a bit worried it may have done some damage so going to take it to the local Toyo dealer for a check up.

What I don't want to do is pay for this, so would like to know about the council's stance on issues such as this. Going out to take a photo of the offending road litter just to try and back my case up.

[Derek T M]

Yo, Sorry to hear of your misfortune.
The Highways Authority or Council,(whoever owns the road), have a duty of care to maintain the street lighting/control of trees &bushes and any other road furniture. Was it one of those plastic lit directional bollards or an iron upright post with reflectors?
You will need photographic evidence of the street/lighting/bollards and conditions at the time of the accident. That should be interesting, getting some night time photo's!!!.
Were their any witnesses who could verify the conditions at the time? Witnesses can be really useful.
Having said all that, you, as the person in charge of a motor vehicle also have a duty of care to avoid people and obsticles on the road to the best of your ability.

Good Luck


Derek

[kitesurf_phil]

We have some of those plastic bollards at the roundabout near our house. They end up in the middle of the road/roundabout/green everytime there is a gale or when the chavs are feeling macho after 12 pints of special brew and a spliff.

Apparantly they are not allowed to have street furniture that could contribute to your demise, should you hit it at speed (in a 30MPH limit) according to a local councillor. We also have flexible chevrons on a nasty bend. The prevailing wind can lay them almost flat sometimes.

I wish you luck but they might just say that you should have been allowing for the conditions.

[Silversurfer]

Council Responsibility

If it was an illuminated bollard and it was unlit then the Council do have a duty of care. I think, with regard to negligence however, you would have to prove that it had previously been reported as unlit and that they had failed to respond within a reasonable time (say 2 weeks) then they would be negligent. If it has not been previously reported then they are not liable ie. "s**t happens" lamp bulbs have a limited life etc.