JUDGMENT OF APALOO J.A.
The appellant was a passenger on a Bedford lorry which belonged to the second respondent. While en route to Tamale from Agona, Ashanti, on 6 July 1960, this lorry which was then in charge of the first respondent, was in collision with an Albion truck which belonged to the government. The appellant sustained severe injuries from this accident and is permanently disabled thereby. She therefore brought an action against the respondents in the High Court, Tamale, to recover damages on the ground that the injuries she sustained were occasioned by the negligent driving of the first respondent.
The facts alleged by the appellant were disputed and it is therefore necessary to relate the divergent stories told by both sides. According to the appellant, she boarded the first respondent's lorry at Agona in the late afternoon of 5 July 1960. When the lorry got to Yeji, it was too late to cross the ferry, so she, as well as the other passengers on board the lorry, stayed the night at Yeji. They were ferried early [p.292] on the morning of 6th July. While they were on their way to Tamale, the first respondent was driving at great speed. He was then admonished by one Adjei, who was also a passenger on the first respondent's lorry and who, like the appellant, sat on the front seat by the driver, to moderate his speed. The first respondent declined to heed this warning as he said he had to get to Tamale and off-load his goods before twelve o'clock noon. He was carrying iron sheets.
According to the appellant, just before they got to a village whose name was given as Jarentuli, they sighted a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. Between the first respondent's lorry and the on-coming vehicle was a narrow culvert. It was obvious that these two vehicles could not pass each other on the narrow culvert. Accordingly, while the first respondent's lorry was about 70 yards from the culvert, the on-coming Albion truck stopped. It stopped very close to the culvert at a distance variously estimated as two yards and between four to five yards. The first respondent did not then reduce his speed, but continued at the same speed and collided with the stationary Albion truck which was pushed back about twenty yards. As a result of this impact, the appellant's leg was trapped in the first respondent's lorry. This resulted in the grave injuries for which she sought damages. The appellant's account of the accident was wholly corroborated by the evidence of A
