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Highway authorities responsibility for clearing snow and ice or
"that's 'snow' way to go!"
11 October 2007
Now that our glorious summer has passed(!),
thoughts will inevitably turn to winter. It therefore seems
appropriate to comment upon a recent County Court decision
reminding us of a highway authority's duty to clear snow and ice
from highways.
In Rhiannon Pace v Swansea City and County
Councils [2007] the Court reiterated the existing stance
confirmed in the earlier case of Goodes v East Sussex County
Council [2000].
In Pace a road traffic accident had
been caused by ice on the road although the highway authority had a
statutory defence under the Highways Act 1980, as it had in place,
an adequate policy for salting the roads which was being
implemented at the time of the accident.
The highway authority contended that the road
in question had been salted in the early hours of the morning in
accordance with a reasonable and proper system. The judge
found that the accident was caused by the claimant's own failure to
control her car properly. However, the judge also found that
the highway authority had an adequate and proper policy for
treating roads.
The court reiterated that it was impossible
for a highway authority to eliminate all risks of ice forming on
the roads. It could place limitless amounts of salt on the
road which would effectively increase levels of protection, but
that would be undesirable in terms of economic and environmental
cost.
Under Section 41 Highways Act, the highways
authority has a duty to maintain
highways maintainable at public expense. Section 41
(1A) goes on to say that "highway authorities are under a duty
to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage
along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice".
Whilst this case is a first instance decision,
it does confirm that the courts stance when dealing with these
claims remains the same. In Pace there was no doubt
that ice had formed and that this in part caused the
accident. Therefore highway authorities can defend these
types of claims if they can show an operational plan to treat
highways in inclement weather, in accordance with accepted
practices, using sufficient quantities of salt to address the
foreseeable risks.
This is a very good, common sense judgment
that should provide some comfort to highway authorities with a
proper system in place.
For more information or advice, please contact Jonathan, Susan or Adrian.
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