On a bright damp Spring morning, Egle, a 28-year-old Lithuanian national was driving to work on a quiet County Mayo road. It was about 7:45am. She was about 4-5 kilometres from Westport on a side road. The road had a double continuous white line in the centre of the road. The speed limit was 80 kilometres per hour. Egle was travelling at 70 kilometres per hour. There was a small bend to her righthand side. One car passed her going the other way.

The next thing Egle saw was a man on a scrambler motorbike. He was driving straight towards her. She saw him but before she could brake, the motorbike hit Egle’s car on the driver’s side. She lost control of the car. The next thing Egle remembered was that her head was back against the headrest. She also remembered the smell of diesel, rubber and the smell of airbags having gone off. Egle’s sister, Ruta was 15 minutes behind her on the same road. She came around the bend and saw her sister’s car and saw the debris on the road. She got an awful shock. She noticed that her sisters car was stopped and had steam coming from the bonnet. Ruta telephoned the ambulance and the police.

Egle hurt her neck and shoulders from the impact with the motorbike and from the airbag going off.

Egle’s husband was close by and arrived shortly at the scene of the accident. Egle was taken away by ambulance to hospital.

The man on the motorbike was called Mantas, from Panevėžys. He fractured his leg in two places. Egle lodged a claim with the Injuries Board. Mantas also lodged a claim with the Injuries Board.

Because there was a dispute as to how the accident happened, the matter ended up going to court. It was found that Egle was 100% in the right and Mantas’ case was thrown out. Egle’s husband had been smart enough to take a video of the site of the accident. In the video all of the debris from the car and the motorbike were on the car’s side of the road. That meant that the motorbike must have been over the continuous white line in the middle of the road when the accident occurred.

Egle was properly compensated. Mantas was prosecuted. Mantas’ case failed and additionally Mantas was prosecuted for dangerous driving and was convicted. He lost his license for two years and was fined with penalty points.

The above story is true. However, the names of the people involved and the locations have been changed to protect their privacy.