Who would be liable???

[interested observer]

Driving to work this morning I noticed a dangerous situation that could of been catastrophic..
Pray to all mighty nothing did happen...

On the opposite side of a main dual lane road in the North Eastern Suburbs at 8.10am there were a gang of contractors that were laying pavers on the footpath.
In doing so, they had the footpath completely blocked for thoroughfare.
Next to them on the roadway was their truck and a ute parked, with orange witches hats placed around them..
Not totally unusual at all..

However, this was directly opposite a Primary School and approx 100m from the school crossing...
The issue was, that I witnessed about half a dozen kids that ranged from around 7 to 11 years of age having to leave the safe confines of the footpath and walk around the parked vehicles, basically putting them on to the traffic lane..

My question is.. Who would actually be in the gun if something went horribly wrong ??

[A Mum]

That's actually quite scary

So walking around the contractors vehicles to get to their own school crossing??

The contractor would have to be liable wouldn't they?

[Wedgie]

Whichever moron organized them to do it at that time of day SHOULD be liable. WTF is happening to common sense these days?

[Booney]

Common sense 'aint so common mate.

[mighty_tiger_79]

apparently there is no common sense these days its meant to be DUTY OF CARE - either way there was no common sense or Duty of Care

[Bum Crack]

with all the chain of responsibility laws going around these days, it would probably be the responsibility of the person hiring their services. Then again, it may not. Actually, I have no idea who is responsible and just wasted a minute typing this out

[Jimmy_041]

Isobel Redmond and the SA Liberal Party (according to SA Govt media machine)

[Booney]

apparently there is no common sense these days its meant to be DUTY OF CARE - either way there was no common sense or Duty of Care

...and you are supposed to do what is "reasonably practicable"...perhaps they had?

[Wedgie]

Ruccis just done some investigative jounalism and found the North Adelaide Football Club are to blame, apparantley the incompetent fools who created the mess are the last people we should blame.

[shoe boy]

Michelle Chantelois was banging the work force in the truck!!! yep as the kids walked by!!!! And I will take a lie detector on this one

[Bully]

whilst a trip to queensland just outside parkes in NSW i came across a broken down B Double Semi, broken down. This was not the problem the problem was - he was on a blind corner on a slight hill on the down slop, blocking half the lane he was in in a 100 zone, with the cliff face with a 100 mtr drop on the other side of the road, no warning just small orange cones around his truck, which you didnt see untill you were past his back trailer.

Other B Double semis flying around the corner and just missing him. If there was another truck coming in the other direction at the time there would have been no room to get past him safely. I had to swerve to miss him and nearly hit a truck coming in the other direction. Got to the next town forbes i think it was maybe dubbo, and heard there was a major accident just outside of parkes involving a truck and another

Some people just dont have brains. For god sake let the truck roll to a safe place and then pull over.

[Ian]

Some people just dont have brains. For god sake let the truck roll to a safe place and then pull over.

I'd be very suprised if the driver didn't attempt to get his vehicle as far off the road as possible, it may not have been possible to go any further depending on the circumstances including:

-If there was a major air leak the maxi brakes would apply stopping the vehicle
-Some mechanical failures would result in the vehicle stopping sooner than if it did not occur

There are many other reasons why the vehicle may not have been able to roll any further

[Squawk]

The contractor, specifically the on site supervisor.
If the council documentation required work at a specific time of day (eg 7am-3pm), and didn't facilitate a work-around solution, they might cop some liability.

Out of interest - what was the speed limit at the site of the orange cones?

[bayman]

Michelle Chantelois was banging the work force in the truck!!! yep as the kids walked by!!!! And I will take a lie detector on this one

got her number ?

[JAS]

Just as scary and equally dangerous are the morons who treat pavements as a parking space...I'm sure you must have them too.

It's dangerous enough for anyone having to walk into the road to get passed them but several times over the years I've helped mum's with one kid in a pushchair and at least one toddler plus shopping to negotiate traffic so they can get past. Usually end up carrying the toddler for them so they can keep both hands on the pushchair and on one occasion due to the amount of traffic and no driver having the consideration to stop for a few seconds to let us past I resorted to stepping out and flagging down a car to let her get past.

I reckon every 5 years or so all drivers should be forced to be pedestrians and walk everywhere for a month. Might make them realise just how ******* selfish they are behind the wheel.

Regards
JAS

[locky801]

The contractor, specifically the on site supervisor.
If the council documentation required work at a specific time of day (eg 7am-3pm), and didn't facilitate a work-around solution, they might cop some liability.

Out of interest - what was the speed limit at the site of the orange cones?

Squawk is on the money here, speed limit should be 25km/h if signs were erected if not the area speed limit is the go

[bayman]

Just as scary and equally dangerous are the morons who treat pavements as a parking space...I'm sure you must have them too.

It's dangerous enough for anyone having to walk into the road to get passed them but several times over the years I've helped mum's with one kid in a pushchair and at least one toddler plus shopping to negotiate traffic so they can get past. Usually end up carrying the toddler for them so they can keep both hands on the pushchair and on one occasion due to the amount of traffic and no driver having the consideration to stop for a few seconds to let us past I resorted to stepping out and flagging down a car to let her get past.

I reckon every 5 years or so all drivers should be forced to be pedestrians and walk everywhere for a month. Might make them realise just how ******* selfish they are behind the wheel.




Regards
JAS

JAS, it goes both ways (i'm a pedestrian & a driver at different times), & i can tell you pedestrians will walk across streets ignoring traffic & expecting the vehicles to stop, while on the other hand i've seen cars speed up to make people run when crossing busy roads....people whether they are in cars or not can be selfish

[fish]

I reckon both the Council and the contractor would be liable.

The Council for either not including pedestrian safety clauses in the contract, or if they did include the clauses, for not enforcing them.

The contractor for not fulfilling their duty of care to provide safety for the public around their workplace.

This sort of thing is a big concern of mine - I often see footpaths blocked by parked cars and particularly by building site contractors, forcing pedestrians onto the roadway.