NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held that a car driver, who applies sudden brakes on a highway without any warning, can be held negligent in the event of a road accident.
A bench comprising Justices Suddhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar on Tuesday observed that a driver’s abrupt halt in the middle of a highway, even if triggered by a personal emergency, cannot be justified if it endangers other road users. “On a highway, high speed of vehicles is expected and if a driver intends to stop his vehicle, he has a responsibility to give a warning or signal to other vehicles moving behind on the road,” Justice Dhulia said.
The verdict came on a plea of S Mohammed Hakim, an engineering student whose left leg had to be amputated after a road accident in Coimbatore on January 7, 2017. The incident occurred when Hakim’s motorcycle collided with the rear of a car that had come to an unexpected stop.
“In our view, the concurrent finding that the appellant was definitely negligent in not maintaining a sufficient distance from the vehicle moving ahead and driving the motorcycle without a valid licence is correct,” said the bench.
The bench, however, clarified that it cannot be ignored that the root cause of the accident is the sudden brakes applied by the car driver. “The explanation given by the car driver for suddenly stopping his car in the middle of a highway is not a reasonable explanation from any angle,” it said.
Holding a car driver as 50 per cent liable in a road accident case, the bench did not agree to his contention that he had suddenly applied the brakes as his wife was pregnant and she had a vomiting sensation.
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