Lamin Mohd Yunus J:

The plaintiff is claiming for damages as a result of a motor accident which occurred at about 6th Milestone Gambang/Kuantan road on 24 April 1981.

The undisputed facts were that on that day the plaintiff while on his way home riding his motorcycle from the direction of Kuantan along the Kuantan/Gambang road and on reaching the 6th Milestone at the junction of Kuantan/Pekan met with an accident in which his motorcycle collided with a motorcar coming from the opposite direction driven by the 1st defendant. In Court, the plaintiff (PW1) gave one version of the incident and the 1st defendant gave another. According to the plaintiff when he arrived at the 6th Milestone at the Kuantan/Pekan junction a motor lorry overtook him and then made a turn to the left into the road leading to Pekan without giving any indication to turn left. The plaintiff applied his brakes so that the lorry could pass and then after proceeding for about twenty to thirty feet he saw two cars in single file coming from the opposite direction, the rear car (driven by the 1st defendant) was in the process of overtaking the car in front. While overtaking the other car it encroached into the path of the plaintiff and a collision occurred dragging the plaintiff and his motorcycle to its (the motorcar) side of the road. The plaintiff was thrown off his motorcycle.

On the other hand according to the 1st defendant before reaching the Kuantan/Pekan junction he was following a lorry and then the lorry slowed down and at the same time the driver of the lorry gave a hand signal indicating that he was going to turn to the right into the road leading to Pekan. The 1st defendant also applied his brakes and when the lorry was in the course of turning to the right the 1st defendant saw the plaintiff's motorcycle flung towards the off-side of his car and a collision occurred. He was not overtaking any car at the time as alleged by the plaintiff.

Upon close scrutiny of the plaintiff's testimony I found material contradictions between his evidence in Court and his police report. In his police report which was made four days after the accident he stated that "satu lorry dari Jalan Gambang masuk ke Jalan Pekan dan saya terbabas dan sebuah kereta Mercedez didepan saya terus langgar saya." During cross-examination he was asked as to what he meant by "terbabas". His answer was that when he applied the brakes his motorcycle still continued moving. However when it was directly put to him the meaning of "terbabas" in that he skidded and lost control he did not agree. In Malay "terbabas" connotes a change of direction as a result of loss of control. A more reasonable version of the accident would be that somehow when the lorry came to be in front of the plaintiff the lorry was on the plaintiff's lane and the lorry driver must have then applied his brakes a little so as to slow down in order to turn into Jalan Pekan and at that time the plaintiff who must have been travelling at some speed suddenly found himself in a tight spot with the lorry close in front of him applied his brakes and in the process of attempting to take evasive action he skidded and lost control and went off to his right side and knocked into the off-side of the 1st defendant's car. This would be more consistent with 1st defendant's version who said that before reaching the Kuantan/Pekan junction he had been following a lorry for a short while going towards Kuantan. Just before arriving at the said junction the lorry in front of him showed down and gave a hand signal indicating that he was going into Jalan Pekan. When the lorry was half way in the process of turning to the right he saw a motorcycle flung towards his car. He said there was only one lorry then and it was coming from Jalan Gambang meaning the same lorry which he had been following. In his police report, the plaintiff stated "satu lori dari Jalan Gambang masuk ke Jalan Pekan..." With the word "dari" and that the plaintiff was th