ABSTRACT
Victims negligently injured in an accident can, in principle, claim compensation from the person at fault, under the tort system of compensation. This chapter draws on a large-scale survey of accident survivors carried out by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in the 1970s, and a more recent prospective study of road accident survivors carried out in the 1990s. The difficulties, uncertainties, delays and hazards of pursuing a compensation claim often come as something of a shock to injured survivors and their families. The detrimental effects on existing relationships and other anticipated social or material costs of blaming and claiming were evident throughout the accident victims’ replies. Most who embark on a claim will eventually obtain some compensation, and of course that will be welcome; but many social, psychological and financial costs inevitably are likely to have been involved in pursuing the claim.
