A driver, whose negligence behind the wheel caused an accident which left a 50-year old man with a 10% permanent disability, has been ordered to fork out some €44,000 in damages.
Kevin Fiorini, 37, had been manoeuvring his Toyota Starlet out of a parking bay in Triq id-Dolmen, Marsascala in December 2014. He did not notice an oncoming vehicle, a Toyota Yaris driven by John Mallia.
Finding the Starlet suddenly in his path, the driver of the Yaris had swerved to avoid impact but all had been in vain. The wheels of both vehicles made contact, causing the Yaris to flip over onto its side, smashing into four parked vehicles.
The driver of the Yaris filed a suit for damages against Mr Fiorini, claiming that the latter’s negligence when exiting the parking bay had caused the accident.
Mr Fiorini insisted that the true cause of the unfortunate accident lay in the excessive speed at which Mr Mallia had been driving, which made avoidance of impact impossible.
Faced with these two conflicting versions the First Hall, Civil Court, presided over by Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff, closely examined the evidence put forward, the police sketch, the full road traffic accident report, the absence of brake marks at the site of the crash as well as the fact that the respondent claimed not to have heard the approaching vehicle.
The court also noted certain inconsistencies in the versions supplied by Mr Fiorini who had first told police that the road was all clear when he checked his car mirror, but had later explained how he had not sensed the oncoming car even just before impact.
Upon the basis of all evidence put forward, the court concluded that the sole cause of the accident was grounded in Mr Fiorini's failure to keep a proper lookout, so as to “see what was in plain view.”
Moreover, Mr Fiorini had failed to switch on the indicator to signal his manoeuvre, the court observed, adding that the driver had been so negligent that he had failed to realize that by exiting in such manner he would create an unavoidable obstacle for oncoming traffic.
When calculating damages, the court took into account the 10% permanent disability suffered by Mr Mallia, whose right hand had been crushed in the accident, even necessitating a skin graft. As a 50-year old worker with an engineering company at the time of the accident and in view of his working life expectancy, Mr Mallia was awarded €44,817 payable by Mr Fiorini who was held solely responsible for the collision.