Davidson v Garner 1995

Mr Davidson was riding his bicycle on Stockport Road in Manchester, a busy 30mph urban road. He'd just purchased a Chinese takeaway meal which he was eating on his bike and so was cycling with only one hand on his handlebars. Mr Davidson planned to turn right onto St Lawrence Road to continue on his journey.

Mr Garner was driving his car behind Mr Davidson. As Mr Garner approached the cyclist, he slowed down and prepared to overtake. As Mr Garner was about to overtake, Mr Davidson suddenly pulled to his right to attempt to turn right onto St Lawrence Road. Mr Garner was unable to stop in time and collided with the cyclist.

The case was dismissed at the first hearing and an appeal was made.

At appeal, the court upheld the decision that the cyclist was fully to blame for the collision.

They set out that the cyclist had failed to look over his right shoulder to see if there was any vehicle coming up behind him nor had he given any signal with his right-hand of his intention to turn right. Because of this, it was found that a reasonable driver would have had no cause to believe that Mr Davidson was intending to turn right and therefore could not be considered to be negligent.

Cyclist 100% to blame.

A full summary of the case can be downloaded here.