With regard to the tort of negligence, road traffic accidents are exceptional. They are exceptional because they conceal the fact that, often, the factual cause of an event is not discovered. Even where there is no witness to the immediate event of the road traffic accident, it is regularly possible to infer from the circumstances what happened and the knowledge, experience and skill required to do this is not uncommon.

In other fields of human activity this knowledge is not so easily accessed.

Occasionally, even in road traffic accident cases it is seen how important it is to be able to explain the factual cause of an event. In Counihan v Bus Atha Cliath – Dublin Bus [2005] IEHC 51, the Plaintiffs, pedestrians, were injured when a bus crashed into them. The driver had suffered a blackout. He had no basis for anticipating such an event, from his medical history. Thus, on those facts there was no negligence on the part of the Defendant and the Plaintiffs’ claim failed.

In May 2008 the Supreme Court affirmed a decision of the High Court as to the applicability of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act�) to actions against the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (“MIBI�).

Under the 2003 Act an injured person is obliged to apply to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (“PIAB�) for an assessment and, if necessary, a certificate, before issuing proceedings in court for the recovery of compensation.

Where the person has been injured by an uninsured driver or by a driver whose identity is unknown, the injured person may claim against the MIBI. The Bureau is, effectively, funded by all the insurers of motorists, in the Irish market.

The obligation to prove liability and loss remain, even though the MIBI is not “at fault�.

The MIBI was not mentioned specifically in the 2003 Act, hence the doubt. The judgment makes sense; anything else would have been an anomaly. Indeed, in a very real sense the 2003 Act was intended to apply to the MIBI more than anyone or anything else; they are the insurance industry.

The 2003 Act is intended to benefit them.