The High Court has dismissed a personal injury claim arising from a collision between two lorries on a narrow bend on the road from Kilashee towards Lanesboro in Co Longford.
Mr Justice Michael Peart found that plaintiff Joseph Dempsey had failed to prove negligence by the other driver, Frank Moen. Liability alone was at issue in the case.
Dempsey was driving a lorry measuring about 6ft 3in wide when he approached a difficult left-hand bend. Moen was coming in the opposite direction in a much larger articulated lorry, more than 8ft wide and over 51ft long. The road measured about 21ft 6in across, with a continuous white centre line and little room for error.
Dempsey claimed Moen’s trailer was about a foot and a half over the centre line. Moen disputed that account and said Dempsey approached too quickly and crossed into his lane. Moen said he moved left onto a gravelled area in an effort to avoid the collision.
The court placed significant weight on independent witness Felim Henry, who was driving behind Moen. Henry said the articulated lorry remained on its correct side and that Dempsey’s vehicle arrived at the bend very quickly and on the wrong side of the road.
Physical damage also influenced the court’s findings. Mr Justice Peart accepted that Dempsey’s lorry first struck the front driver’s corner of Moen’s cab before becoming embedded in the trailer. That was inconsistent with Dempsey’s claim that he had remained well inside his own lane and struck only the trailer.
The judge found Dempsey was nearer the centre of the road than he claimed, crossed the white line and approached at a speed which prevented him taking sufficient care. He found no reliable evidence that Moen was negligent and dismissed the claim.