The Sneeze
Recently, a man collided with a stray dog along one of Valencia’s roads, and that resulted in harm to man and animal, and to his vehicle. Acting apparently on the advice of a lawyer he brought suit against the Valencian government for negligence. His suit charged that the government, the owners of the road system, allowed an animal that was without a private owner to roam freely, to the extent that the dog was able to gain access to the road and come into contact with a motor vehicle.
Furthermore, he asserted that in the case of animals that have not been adopted by a member of the public, such animals are the property of the State by default. As would be the case were the animal the property of an individual, should it bring harm or damage in the course of its unsupervised ramblings, the owner has absolute responsibility for the consequences.
Nice try, sir! Probably the suit might succeed in the United States for millions of dollars, but not in Spain.
The one true description of an accident is where a wild animal suddenly appears in front of a moving vehicle. Even in those areas where the public are warned that animal crossings are frequent, a collision between animal and vehicle must be considered a happenstance that is accidental. That is to say that if an animal can find its way over, around or under the protective fence that we see bordering the highway and come into contact with our vehicle; or otherwise crosses the road without supervision of any kind, that constitutes an accident. As road users we accept that truth, along with certain others when we use the roads.
The courts say that any other circumstance most probably involves a person who is culpable and responsible. If you fall asleep at the wheel you’ve not rested properly. If you just didn’t see in time you were either distracted, or your eyesight is the problem. If some other medical crisis, such as a heart attack leads to a crash, it’s most likely that the condition had a lead up that was either ignored or underestimated.
Should you drink alcohol or take any type of drug that impairs judgement you must not drive. Should your vehicle fail, its maintenance is faulty or insufficient; or perhaps the problem is one of design flaw. Somebody is responsible. When all else fails take a look at the road design. All these things lead to a responsible party who can, and should be held accountable for the harm that is caused to third parties.
There is one other situation that can lead to a calamitous scenario, and that is the common sneeze. That would be sudden, unexpected, they come in threes, and are completely out of the control of the sneezer. Good luck with that one.
Copyright © 2008 Eugene Carmichael
