Queue-jumping ‘mischievous’ bus driver caused accident: Judge

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Queue-jumping ‘mischievous’ bus driver caused accident: Judge

PORT MORESBY: A judge has ruled that a “mischievous” queue-jumping bus driver caused an accident in 2018 and rejected a negligence claim filed against the Works Department by the bus owner.

Acting judge Getrude Tamade yesterday (March 29, 2022) said she did not find any negligence by the department’s backhoe driver.

“The bus driver (Simon Yoannes) contributed entirely to the accident, running the bus into the backhoe in a closed lane while jumping a traffic queue,” she said.

She lamented that queue jumping by bus drivers “is something we see too often on the roads by mischievous public motor vehicle drivers”.

The court proceedings were published by The National:

Queue-jumping concern

March 30, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By SCHOLAR KASSAS
THE National Court in Waigani has ruled that a queue-jumping bus driver caused an accident in 2018 and rejected a negligence claim filed against the Works Department by the bus owner.
Acting Judge Gethrude Tamade yesterday said she did not find any negligence by the department’s backhoe driver.
“The bus driver (Simon Yoannes) contributed entirely to the accident, running the bus into the backhoe in a closed lane while jumping a traffic queue,” she said.
Judge Tamade then rejected Leke Warua’s claims for negligence and ordered him to meet the respondent’s legal costs.
Regional works manager Terry Philip testified that the backhoe driver was working on the closed lane in the intersection of the highway where a landslide had occurred in Western Highlands.
“The lane was closed for emergency maintenance work,” Philip said.
“The accident occurred when the bus driver breached the closed lane.
“Yoannes tried to move to the free lane in an attempt to jump the traffic queue.
“However, his attempt to hit his brakes failed and the bus skidded, hitting the backhoe.”
Warua submitted that the court should not put weight on the evidence of Philip who was not present at the accident scene.
Judge Tamade said (although) Philip was not at the accident scene, she was inclined to believe his evidence to be a more sensible and truthful account of what happened that day.
Judge Tamade said roadworks happened everywhere all the time but usually signs were put up to slow and direct traffic to use only one lane or half the road to allow machines to work.
The bus was coming from Mt Hagen and was driving towards the reversing backhoe working on a closed section of the highway.
Judge Tamade said this implied that the bus driver was trying to cut corner and cut traffic to get ahead from other vehicles, “something we see too often on the roads by mischievous public motor vehicle drivers”.
She said Philip’s evidence gave more common-sense explanation of how the bus was on the closed lane and why it hit the reversing backhoe when it was not supposed to be there in the first place.