Projections over the highway

The law is fairly strict in this area.  Where any party places any sort of construction over the highway then either they, or the occupier of the property it was on, are liable for any accident caused by this and any personal injury sustained, even if they did not know about the danger and were not negligent in not knowing.  The only real defence would be to show that the accident was caused by the act of a third person or by a latent defect.

This liability covers accidents caused by scaffolding towers and advertising hoardings.  It would also extend to crane arms swinging out over the highway from roadworks.  Where an accident arises it will be on the other side to show that they were not negligent, not for the victim to show they were.

The question arises about whether a local authority would be liable for an accident caused by placing a road-sign too low over the pavement or highway.  The liability in respect of vehicle accidents would probably be fairly easy to establish, but not necessarily so for pedestrian accidents.

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