LOCKHORST v AARON and ANOR [1996] NSWCA 329

LOCKHORST v AARON and ANOR SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

CLARKE, HANDLEY and SHELLER JJA 17 June 1996, 17 June 1996 [1996] NSWCA 329

Negligence — motor vehicle accident — collision of bicycle with car — obligation of driver to take reasonable care in parking car.

Clarke JA This appeal concerns a collision between a bicycle ridden by the appellant and a motor vehicle owned and driven by the respondents. That collision occurred in Avoca Street, Randwick on 30 July 1990 and in it the appellant suffered injuries which led him to bring the case against the respondents.

The appellant's case presented at the trial was relatively straight forward. He was riding his bicycle in a southerly direction along Avoca Street on his way home from work following a car and approaching a set of traffic control lights at the intersection of Avoca Street and Barker Street.

At the point in question, Avoca Street contained two divided traffic lanes travelling in each direction. For vehicles travelling south, one lane was often occupied by parked vehicles until a point relatively close to the intersection, leaving only the lane nearest the centre line for traffic to use. The position on the day in question was no different in that there were vehicles parked in the kerb side lane of Avoca Street up until a driveway, from which point there was a no standing sign operative.

That driveway, which was on the left-hand side of the appellant as he rode his bicycle, was the driveway from a Nissan car yard. To be more precise, there were vehicles parked in the kerb side lane right up to the point of that driveway and thereafter the kerb side lane was vacant until the traffic control lights.

The appellant contended that, while he was riding towards the intersection, the respondents' vehicle drove out of the Nissan car yard and commenced to make a left-hand turn to proceed towards the intersection. He says that the vehicle emerged suddenly in front of him and that when it was at a point substantially in the middle lane, that is the lane nearest the centre line, he struck the right-hand rear corner of the vehicle.