Wakilii

Kenya Bus Service Limited v Smith (Civil Appeal No. 45 of 1951)

East African Court of Appeal · [1952] EACA 2 · 1952 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Appeal from Supreme Court of Kenya judgment awarding damages in running-down action
Decision
Appeal dismissed; original judgment awarding £6,000 damages to plaintiff upheld

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the trial judge correctly found no contributory negligence. A driver is not bound to anticipate folly in all its forms. If the possibility of danger is only a mere possibility that would never occur to a reasonable person, there is no negligence in not taking extraordinary precautions. The plaintiff acted prudently by looking left toward a busy side road rather than taking a second look at a bus in a safe position.

Outcome

Appeal dismissed; original judgment awarding £6,000 damages to plaintiff upheld

Facts

The plaintiff-respondent was riding his motorcycle at about 28 miles per hour down a main road when he was struck by the defendant-appellant's bus. The plaintiff had the right of way on the main road. He saw the bus about 50 yards away, stopped or moving slowly on the other side of the road in a stopping bay. The bus appeared to be moving slowly along the inside of an island separating the bay from the main road, with no signal or indication it would turn. As the plaintiff approached a busy side road junction, he looked left to check for emerging traffic. While he was looking left, the bus driver, keeping no lookout, suddenly drove straight across the main road and struck the motorcycle. The Supreme Court of Kenya awarded the plaintiff £6,000 damages, finding the bus driver negligent and no contributory negligence by the plaintiff.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial judge made a wrong inference in holding there was no contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff-respondent.
  2. Whether the plaintiff should have anticipated that the bus might turn right and cross the road in front of him after having seen it stopped or moving slowly.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Negligence — Contributory Negligence — Standard of Care Required of Road User
A driver of a motor vehicle is not bound to anticipate folly in all its forms from other road users, and is not negligent in failing to take extraordinary precautions against dangers that are mere possibilities which would never occur to the mind of a reasonable person.
Negligence — Contributory Negligence — Duty to Guard Against Negligence of Others
While a driver must guard against the possible negligence of others, this does not require anticipating that another driver in a safe position will suddenly and without warning commit a dangerous manoeuvre across the path of oncoming traffic with right of way.
Negligence — Contributory Negligence — Allocation of Attention to Multiple Hazards
Where a driver with right of way on a main road must choose between monitoring a vehicle in an apparently safe position and checking for traffic emerging from a busy side road, it is not negligent to prioritise the more reasonably apparent danger.
Appeals — Findings of Fact — Interference by Appellate Court
An appellate court will not interfere with a trial judge's finding on contributory negligence where the judge has not misdirected himself and has reached a conclusion reasonably open on the evidence accepted.

Legislation cited (1)

  • Law Reform Contributory Negligence Act 1945

Cases cited (5)

  • Nance v British Columbia Electric Railway Co Ltd [1951] AC 601
  • London Passenger Transport Board v Upson [1949] AC 173
  • Ferrier v Ireland (Civil Appeal No. 31 of 1948)
  • Swaddling v Cooper [1931] AC 1
  • Fardon v Harcourt-Rivington (1932) 146 LT 391

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Kenya Bus Service Limited v Smith (Civil Appeal No. 45 of 1951) [1952] EACA 2 (1 January 1952)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.