Cows Loose On Country Road At Night - Car Wrote Off

Mightydrumming · 24-09-2018 04:14AM #1

Hi all,

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I was driving on a dark country road tonight at around nine o clock and without even having time to brake, 2 cows (bullock and a calf) brought the car to an abrupt halt. 80KM to 0KM in a split second. Guards and passersby don't know how I survived, me neither - Car is practically a right off. I'm just back from the hospital, just bruising from the airbags which will more than likely hit me like a tonne of bricks tomorrow morning

Bought the car only 2 weeks ago, 2014. Fully comprehensive. I really dont want to go through my insurance though given the fact that it wasn't my fault? Guards and locals are trying to track down farmer who owns the livestock so should hear more about that in the coming days. People are saying the farmer should have insurance for things like this?

Car is also on finance so what would the procedure be there?

Again, any feedback would be appreciated. TIA!

SuperS54 · 24-09-2018 04:47AM

Mightydrumming wrote: »

Guards and locals are trying to track down farmer who owns the livestock so should hear more about that in the coming days. People are saying the farmer should have insurance for things like this?

Any locals should know exactly who's cow it is, did the cow survive? It'll have a tag where you can trace the owner if no one is coming forward. The farmer "should" have insurance, whether they have or not is another thing. You should inform your insurance company, even if you don't intend to claim on your own insurance.

Del2005 · 24-09-2018 04:52AM

You'll be held partially responsible for the crash because you were driving too fast to be able to stop safely on your side of the road in the distance that you can see.

Then it depends on how secure the field that the animals escaped from was, you will need to proof negligence on the farmers behal to be able to sue them. Because animals, mostly 2 legged
and not wearing reflective clothing or carrying a torch, are to be expected on county roads at night you should be driving slower.

Mightydrumming · 24-09-2018 04:52AM

SuperS54 wrote: »

Any locals should know exactly who's cow it is, did the cow survive? It'll have a tag where you can trace the owner if no one is coming forward. The farmer "should" have insurance, whether they have or not is another thing. You should inform your insurance company, even if you don't intend to claim on your own insurance.

Cheers for the reply!

Both had broken legs so I took it as they didn't, as the Gardai arrived - there was a tractor coming down for both of them. Gardai took all info from me and said they'd be in contact or the farmer in the next few days. I will ring my insurance first thing in the morning and let them know. The car was pushed up into a track for the night, not too sure if I'm suppose to organise recovery of vehicle of my insurance or farmers insurance?

Sorry for all the questions!

Mightydrumming · 24-09-2018 04:56AM

Del2005 wrote: »

You'll be held partially responsible for the crash because you were driving too fast to be able to stop safely on your side of the road in the distance that you can see.

Then it depends on how secure the field that the animals escaped from was, you will need to proof negligence on the farmers behal to be able to sue them. Because animals, mostly 2 legged
and not wearing reflective clothing or carrying a torch, are to be expected on county roads at night you should be driving slower.

Thanks for the reply!

I was doing the speed limit, the road is pitch black and no signs on the road for animals. I was of the understanding that it would be up to the owner of the livestock to make sure they are secure at all times?

padohaodha · 24-09-2018 04:58AM

That's the farmer's fault.No question...

PaulKK · 24-09-2018 05:23AM

Del2005 wrote: »

You'll be held partially responsible for the crash because you were driving too fast to be able to stop safely on your side of the road in the distance that you can see.

Then it depends on how secure the field that the animals escaped from was, you will need to proof negligence on the farmers behal to be able to sue them. Because animals, mostly 2 legged
and not wearing reflective clothing or carrying a torch, are to be expected on county roads at night you should be driving slower.

No need to be so condescending.

There is a duty of responsibility on all parties here. However the OP is not in the wrong.

Something like this happened to me many years ago. The gards said there was a control of animals law which applied. In my case it was on an 80km/h unlit R road with a heard of black cows running straight at me and I literally only saw them when they were almost on top of me after rounding a bend. I managed to almost stop but one of them nearly came through the windscreen.

The farmers insurance paid for all of my repairs.

To the point about traveling by foot on an unlit road, I was watching one of those UK police programs a few years ago and someone knocked down and killed a cyclist on a busy road at night. The cyclist was unlight and wearing dark clothing. The driver was not prosecuted due to not reasonably being expected to see the cyclist and poor position of the cyclist on the road.

It's all well and good criticising people for 'driving too fast' but put yourself in the position and you'd soon see how easily it can happen while driving well within the speed limit and at a suitable pace for the conditions.

marklazarcovic · 24-09-2018 05:47AM

100% farmers liability ,no question in this scenario.

Bullocks · 24-09-2018 05:52AM

marklazarcovic wrote: »

100% farmers liability ,no question in this scenario.

I wouldn't bet on it. Depends where the cows came from and had the farmer taken due care to contain them.

OldMrBrennan83 · 24-09-2018 05:56AM

Bullocks wrote: »

I wouldn't bet on it. Depends where the cows came from and had the farmer taken due care to contain them.

They were on the road, so they obviously hadn't.

Fann Linn · 24-09-2018 05:56AM

I'd go back there this morning to the scene of the accident to look for similar looking cattle in the adjoining fields. You'll find they didn't travel too far from the herd.

Henryhill2 · 24-09-2018 05:58AM

I hope you got the tag number,if you did it's a slam dunk

I know a couple of cases that went nowhere ,farmer got rid of the cows involved before the number was got

Bullocks · 24-09-2018 06:02AM

Patww79 wrote: »

They were on the road, so they obviously hadn't.

Fallen tree's have knocked a good few fences that farmers might not have seen yet after the storm last week, power gone from electric fencing or people leaving gates open are just some of the reasons the cattle may have escaped. I wouldn't say anything is too obvious yet

corks finest · 24-09-2018 06:09AM

padohaodha wrote: »

That's the farmer's fault.No question...

Correct,animals front and back have to be minded,end of

Bullocks · 24-09-2018 06:12AM

corks finest wrote: »

Correct,animals front and back have to be minded,end of

It's not if they are wandering stock that have escaped

jooksavage · 24-09-2018 06:12AM

Farmes liability. Up to last month my farm was completely landlocked but i inherited a few fields with road frontage and FBD advised me that I'd need to up my policy to cover accidents like this.

troyzer · 24-09-2018 06:14AM

I nearly hit a massive red kangaroo buck in Western Australia last year. It was about 80kg and they actually hop towards the light when they see it. He was probably moving around 40kmh.

Luckily there was enough space for a run off but I was doing well under the speed limit. I remember because my girlfriend was in the car and she was constantly telling me to slow down because she's such a nervous passenger. I was going around 80km in a 110km zone and I didn't see him until he was about 30m away.

Pretty scary stuff, he would have gone straight through the windscreen and killed us.

If it was a black cow on a winding road with no run off, I can easily see how the OP could hit them even if they were the safest driver in the world.

Eggs For Dinner · 24-09-2018 06:24AM

Liability rests fully with the farmer (it's different if you hit a person in the same circumstances). Your difficulty lies with finding the owner and if he has insurance. Even if he doesn't have insurance, you can always sue him, but that is a slow process

Henryhill2 · 24-09-2018 06:27AM

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

Liability rests fully with the farmer (it's different if you hit a person in the same circumstances). Your difficulty lies with finding the owner and if he has insurance. Even if he doesn't have insurance, you can always sue him, but that is a slow process

They all have insurance

freedominacup · 24-09-2018 06:44AM

Henryhill2 wrote: »

I hope you got the tag number,if you did it's a slam dunk

I know a couple of cases that went nowhere ,farmer got rid of the cows involved before the number was got

I doubt you know of many in the past 20 years tbh. Once one of the gardai who attended the accident took a note if the tag numbers then there will be no question about ownership of the cattle op. There can be some question about level of liability if the farmer has complied with regs relating to stockproof fencing. He should have public liability insurance as a normal business practice but there is no legal requirement to have it.

Edit. The law may have changed recently but there was a question in the past if the land the cattle came from was properly fenced. There would always be a liability on the farmer but there was sometimes a liability on the driver in relation to speed and driving conditions.

Henryhill2 · 24-09-2018 06:49AM

freedominacup wrote: »

I doubt you know of many in the past 20 years tbh. Once one of the gardai who attended the accident took a note if the tag numbers then there will be no question about ownership of the cattle op. There can be some question anout level of liability if the farmer has complied with regs relating to stockproof fencing. He should have public liability insurance as a normal business practice nut there is no legal requirement to have it.

Last one bout 8 years ago the gard went after the cow but he was gone back into the field ,Gard didn't get the number,no proof and no claim.

Another case the driver left the scene with dead cow on road, when he got back cow was gone.

cdeb · 24-09-2018 06:56AM

Mightydrumming wrote: »

Thanks for the reply!

I was doing the speed limit, the road is pitch black

I would have thought this would stand against you tbh.

The speed limit is a max speed, not the recommended speed. You need to take other factors - eg it being pitch dark - into account when working out what speed to drive at. Doing the speed limit on a pitch black country road sounds like driving too fast.

That's not to take away from the farmer's liability - but it may mean the insurance company would look to split the blame to an extent

jooksavage · 24-09-2018 07:53AM

Henryhill2 wrote: »

They all have insurance

No we don't. I specifically had to update my policy to cover livestock in road accidents.

Eggs For Dinner · 24-09-2018 07:55AM

Henryhill2 wrote: »

They all have insurance

I can assure you they don't

whelan2 · 24-09-2018 07:58AM

Henryhill2 wrote: »

Last one bout 8 years ago the gard went after the cow but he was gone back into the field ,Gard didn't get the number,no proof and no claim.

Another case the driver left the scene with dead cow on road, when he got back cow was gone.

In fairness the driver shouldnt have left without taking note of the tag, it is like taking a reg plate of a car

Squatman · 24-09-2018 08:43AM

Del2005 wrote: »

You'll be held partially responsible for the crash because you were driving too fast to be able to stop safely on your side of the road in the distance that you can see.

Then it depends on how secure the field that the animals escaped from was, you will need to proof negligence on the farmers behal to be able to sue them. Because animals, mostly 2 legged
and not wearing reflective clothing or carrying a torch, are to be expected on county roads at night you should be driving slower.

OP dont read this drivel

Squatman · 24-09-2018 08:48AM

cdeb wrote: »

I would have thought this would stand against you tbh.

The speed limit is a max speed, not the recommended speed. You need to take other factors - eg it being pitch dark - into account when working out what speed to drive at. Doing the speed limit on a pitch black country road sounds like driving too fast.

That's not to take away from the farmer's liability - but it may mean the insurance company would look to split the blame to an extent

Drivel aswell. pitch black is why head lights were invented. the above post is absurd.

Squatman · 24-09-2018 08:50AM

Fann Linn wrote: »

I'd go back there this morning to the scene of the accident to look for similar looking cattle in the adjoining fields. You'll find they didn't travel too far from the herd.

similar looking cattle? this thread is nuts

deathtocaptcha · 24-09-2018 08:53AM

PaulKK wrote: »

It's all well and good criticising people for 'driving too fast' but put yourself in the position and you'd soon see how easily it can happen while driving well within the speed limit and at a suitable pace for the conditions.

I wouldn't call driving *at* the speed limit on a dark country road at night a suitable pace...

Headlights provide reasonable stopping distance - certainly enough to see a stationary object and hit the brakes in advance of colliding with it to help minimise impact... if you don't even have a chance to process what's in front of you and react by hitting the brakes, I'd say speed is absolutely a factor.

Fann Linn · 24-09-2018 08:55AM

Squatman wrote: »

similar looking cattle? this thread is nuts

Why? Do Fresians and Jerseys look the same?

TheChizler · 24-09-2018 08:57AM

PaulKK wrote: »

To the point about traveling by foot on an unlit road, I was watching one of those UK police programs a few years ago and someone knocked down and killed a cyclist on a busy road at night. The cyclist was unlight and wearing dark clothing. The driver was not prosecuted due to not reasonably being expected to see the cyclist and poor position of the cyclist on the road.

Off topic but I was absolutely seething watching that. The driver left the scene leaving the cyclist to die on the side of the road. The police only found her because her father called them after finding a person-shaped hole in the windscreen and blood. It's madness that the attitude now is that the person using the road legally is at fault because they didn't make themselves more visible. There is no legal obligation to wear high vis. or position yourself out of the way (of course it's sensible), but there is a legal obligation on the driver to have lights in working order, use them, and drive with due care and attention. If you can't see around a corner then don't drive fast around that corner.

Back on topic, I imagine the farmer's insurance will admit full responsibility, regardless of my opinion on driving at safe speeds on country roads, this situation is common enough.

Edit: forgot the cyclist was unlit so I guess there would have been shared legal responsibility, but I was just pissed off there was zero legal repercussion for the person going too fast for the conditions who left the scene of a fatal accident.

Cows Loose On Country Road At Night - Car Wrote Off

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