Complaint

i put a claim in august 2017 with them and my claim rejected based on the following reason "Kindly note that our insured vehicle HCV Hino , accident occurred mid-day , which indicates that your client would of have visibility to see the truck crossing the intersection. The fact that a driver may have right of way does not absolve him/her from his/ her duty to be vigilant. A person travelling on a road (even if he has right of way) must at all times act as the reasonable person considering that he is travelling on a public road on which an assortment of dangers could occur. A person is not expected to act paranoid but he is expected to be vigilant and to keep a reasonable speed under the circumstance. A person’s failure to act as a reasonable person under the circumstance is seen as negligent. The driver of any vehicle should stop altogether if he sees or has an opportunity of seeing that a collision is likely to result unless he stops. If stopping is not the best method of avoiding the collision, he must act as a reasonable man would under the circumstances of the case to avoid the accident. Closely associated with the duty to stop or to take precautions is the question of the right of way. The mere fact that a motorist has the apparent right of way does not exempt him from his duty of stopping if by doing so he can avoid an accident. Kindly note that based on the point of impact which appears to have been at the rear of our insured’s vehicle, It is likely that our driver was more than half way across the intersection when the collision occurred and that your client failed to stop alternatively failed to keep a proper lookout. In both instances, it is probable that you failed to keep a proper look out. In this regard, a driver has a duty to keep a proper look out which entails a continuous scanning of the road ahead, from side to side, for obstructions or potential obstructions. Accoringly, based on the reasoning above, due to the fact that our insured driver did not see any vehicle before he entered intersection and that the collision occurred towards the rear of the vehicle, we are of the opinion that our insured’s driver was not negligent."

i sent them email with the duties of righting person General Rule

In a long line of cases both in the Provincial Divisions as well as in this Division, it is clearly stated that to turn across the line of oncoming or following traffic is an inherently dangerous manoeuvre and that there is a stringent duty upon a driver who intends executing such a manoeuvre to do so by properly satisfying himself that it is safe and choosing the opportune moment to do so. It is for this reason why we are holding your client liable for payment to us. still was a refute and again send other email our insured/insured’s driver executed a right hand turn across the face of oncoming traffic at an inopportune moment, the area of impact merely goes to re-iterate my attempt at avoiding the accident, I slowed down and attempted to swerve as far as was safely possible away from your insured vehicle, unfortunately I was too close when they initiated the turn and failed decimally, even after taking all possible evasive manoeuvres.

Further to your e-mail please note that I am fami**** with the quote you referred to where the presumption is that “what may be seen or ought to have been seen” cannot simply be ignored because you have right of way. Put in another way, a presumption of innocence is not a “given” when one, despite having the right of way, causes a collision which could otherwise have been avoided by keeping a proper lookout. As directed by the traffic signals and robots I had right of way and did not assume to have 100% of such a right, I also did not expect that a reasonable person would force their way into the intersection without waiting for an opportune moment to do so, thus your driver is the one who acted negligently and unreasonably in his actions I await your settlement advises herein, failing which I request you advise me of your internal complaints department to enable me to escalate a query to them and ultimately to the office of the Ombud and social media platforms,

This claim was Refuted by Musa.

They continue to refute my claim and the broker ********** she does not care Today i sent another email today i to ********** CC ********** my claim number is 236809 and their client is Maake T/A Buhle Waste Pty Ltd Its clear that more people are treated like this.