The driver is negligent if he or she caused the accident by not driving with proper care and skill. The driver is negligent if he or she knocks down a pedestrian or collides with a cyclist because he or she is drunk or is not keeping a proper lookout or is driving too fast and cannot stop in time.

If the driver was not negligent and the pedestrian or cyclist caused the accident through carelessness then the driver does not have to pay compensation.

Time limit for claiming compensation
You must make your claim against a negligent driver within a period of three years from the date of the accident. If you do not make the claim within this time limit, you lose your right to claim.

INJURED PEDESTRIANS OR CYCLISTS
What compensation can you claim
The amount of compensation you can claim depends on how serious your injuries are and the long-term consequences of the injuries.

If the injury is very small and you did not need any medical treatment then you can claim very little compensation. If, on the other hand, your injuries are extremely serious, and will lead to permanent and serious disability, then you can claim substantial compensation.

Losses You Have Already Suffered
You can claim the money you had to pay for medical treatment. You can claim the wages that you lost while you were recovering from the injuries. You can claim compensation for the pain you suffered while you were recovering from your injuries.

But you must try to reduce your losses. For example, if you were able to work after the accident and you did not do so, you may not be able to claim for your lost wages.

Losses you will suffer in the future
If it is clear that you will need further medical treatment in the future, you must get a lawyer to calculate the prospective expenses and make a claim for them. And if you are going to be off work in the future until you have recovered or if you will never be able to work again, you must claim for future loss of wages. If you are going to be permanently disabled in the future you can claim substantial compensation.

The more serious your injuries, the more difficult it is for you to calculate the amount of the compensation you can claim.

If your injuries were not too serious, you will probably be able to calculate yourself how much you will have to pay medical bills in future, and how much you will lose in wages until you can go back to work. You will need help from a lawyer to calculate your claim if your injuries are serious and will have long-term effects. You will also need legal assistance to calculate how much you can claim for the pain and suffering resulting from your injuries.

Who You Can Claim Against
You can claim against the negligent driver or insurance company, which insures the driver’s vehicle. If the driver was driving the vehicle for his or her employer, you can claim against the driver’s employer. This would apply particularly when the vehicle is a transport vehicle.

By law all vehicles in Zambia must have insurance to cover situations where they might injure or kill people. You can get the name of the insurance company from the driver or from the police station which investigated the accident.

It is usually best to claim against the insurance company especially when the driver has very little money and probably will not be able to pay your compensation. You can only claim directly against the drivers insurance company when the driver only holds the insurance, which is made compulsory by the law. Where he holds some other sorts of insurance you must claim against the negligent driver who will then bring in the insurance company to pay the compensation.

If the driver has enough money then you can claim against him. If the vehicle was not insured then you have to claim against the driver.

Sometimes the pedestrian or cyclist may have caused the accident. For example, a pedestrian starts to cross the road when a vehicle is close. The vehicle driver is negligent because he or she is driving too fast but the pedestrian is partly wrong because he or she tried to cross the road when it was not safe to do so. In this example, the court will decide how much of the accident was the pedestrian’s fault.

DEPENDANTS OF THE PEOPLE KILLED IN THE ACCIDENT:
What compensation you can claim
A dependant is someone who legally depends on another person for support. If that person is killed in an accident the dependant can claim compensation for the loss of support from the driver and the insurance company. A dependant is usually a relative, husband or wife.

The relative, husband or wife who paid the funeral expenses can claim back these expenses. Widows or children of the dead person usually make this sort of claim. If the children are over 18 years old they must prove that they were dependant and that they cannot manage without support. The lawyer calculates how much money the dependant would have got from the dead person if he or she had lived.

The court or insurance company calculates how much money the dependant should get and then takes away any money the dependant got as a result of the death, for example, insurance money paid on the policy insuring the dead persons life.

It is very complicated to calculate how much you as a dependant can claim. You will need legal assistance.

What to do before consulting your lawyer
Before you go and see a lawyer have all the details of the accident ready. Take everything with you, already prepared. If you are going to pay the lawyer yourself, you will save money in lawyer’s fees if you can immediately give the lawyer as many of these details as possible. Try writing down all of this information and giving this written statement to the lawyer. You can get someone else to write down the details if you cannot write.

The details which you should give if you can are:
· The date and time of the day when the accident occurred.
· The place where the accident occurred.
· The driver’s name and address (if it was a police or army vehicle, try to give the branch or unit the driver is attached to)
· The make of the vehicle, its colour and its registration number.
· The name of the driver’s insurance company.
· The name of the police officer who carried out the investigations, the police station handling the case and the police file reference number.
· The circumstances of the accident (how it happened, if the driver was drunk or speeding, whether it was raining at the time of the accident, and so on).
· The name and addresses of any witnesses who saw the accident happen.
· If the driver has been prosecuted in the criminal courts for causing the accident and, if so, what the outcome was.

If you were injured write down the full details of:
· The injuries you suffered as a result of the accident.
· The medical treatment you have received so far and the medical treatment (if any) which you will need in future.
· How much money you have spent on medical treatment and how much you will have to pay in future.
· The amount of pain you have suffered as a result of the injuries and the length of time you suffered the pain.
· Your disabilities as a result of the injuries (if any), how bad these disabilities will be and how this will affect your life in the future (if you will be totally disabled and unable to work, if you will be partially disabled and so on).
· How long you have been off work if you were employed at the time of the accident, how long it will be before you can go back to work and how much money you will lose in wages.
· The names of the doctor or doctors who have treated you and the names of the hospitals or clinics where you received treatment.

When you go to see the lawyer, take all the hospital cards relating to your medical treatment. Try to get a letter from your doctor with as much information as possible. The doctor must tell the lawyer about the extent of your injuries, the treatment you will need in the future. The doctor must also say if you will suffer any disabilities and, if so, how serious they will be.

If you are a dependant, give the lawyer as many details as possible about the support you were getting from the person who died in the accident.

Take all the documents you have to prove your relationship with the deceased person
.
These will help you show why you are entitled to receive the support the deceased was providing.
If you had to pay for the funeral expanses, bring the invoices and receipts for these payments.

NOTE: The concepts in this article have been reproduced from the Know your Rights Booklet by LRF Zimbabwe adapted for Zambia.