New South Wales Police Service v Campton

The New South Wales Court of Appeal considered a dispute arising from a motor vehicle accident involving a police car and a motorbike. The police car, responding to an emergency, was attempting to overtake the motorbike, which had indicated a right turn. The primary issue was the apportionment of liability for the collision.

The Court was required to determine whether the driver of the police car was negligent in failing to observe the motorbike's indication of a right turn, and conversely, whether the motorbike rider was negligent in misjudging the approach of the police vehicle. The central legal question was how to apportion responsibility for the accident between the two parties.

The Court found that the police driver was negligent in not seeing the indication of the motorbike's turn, while the motorbike rider was negligent in misjudging the approach of the police car. Applying principles of contributory negligence, the Court determined that the apportionment of blame should be equal between the two parties. No question of principle arose from this determination.

The appeal was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the costs of the appeal.