Result from the Court of Session about hazards in the road surface

[Mr Celine]

BBC news article.

It looks like a length of old tram rail that was randomly embedded in the road surface - on a country road at least 30 miles from the nearest tram or railway line. Not the sort of thing you would expect to have to look out for while cycling.

the hazard posed by the road would have been apparent to a roads authority of "ordinary competence using reasonable care".

 

[mjr]

Blimey. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symington,_Biggar_and_Broughton_Railway says that railway closed fifty years ago. That's a long time to leave the metal in the road. We've theoretically-live unserved railways near me whose metals have been removed or covered within five years of the last service.

Nearest railway is ten miles away, but it's another five to a station.

 

[Mr Celine]

According to the local rag it was actually an expansion joint 4m long by 100mm wide and was only installed in 1990 (though the bridge looks older than that). Two other cyclists who sustained injuries in subsequent crashes are also suing the council.

 

[mjr]

Found it: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.6...4!1s0ScTvvVtoEkOwOxymjSqiQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Very strange. Expansion joints I've seen before look like this: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.6...4!1s71ivg1XaQ-OhP5w89CBz-w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 - was there any good reason why the troublesome one wasn't covered before?

 

[growingvegetables]

An expansion joint? On a stone bridge? More or less running down the middle of the bridge? Aye, that'll be right. NOT.

 

[raleighnut]

Expansion joint my arse.

 

[Mr Celine]

Expansion joint my arse.

Seemed unlikely to me as well. The story describing it thus is in the local rag.

Note that the bridge parapets don't match in the streetview image. It's possible that it was widened in the past by constructing a modern bridge adjoining the original.

The railway referred to by Mr Jay passed under the road about 100m to the south.

 

[raleighnut]

Seemed unlikely to me as well. The story describing it thus is in the local rag.

Note that the bridge parapets don't match in the streetview image. It's possible that it was widened in the past by constructing a modern bridge adjoining the original.

The railway referred to by Mr Jay passed under the road about 100m to the south.

It does look as though the bridge had been altered, as had the road layout, but you wouldn't expect the surface to be left in that kind of state.

 

[mjr]

The railway referred to by Mr Jay passed under the road about 100m to the south.

Mc Reline

 

[steveindenmark]

It also argued that there was no reliable evidence from Mr Robinson as to the precise cause of the accident.


I wonder what they would consider to be reliable evidence.