Who is liable in the event of an accident during the driving lesson?
If there is an accident with the driving school vehicle
and the accident was caused by your fault,
the driving instructor is usually liable for the damage.
According to §2 (15) StvG, the driving teacher is
considered as the driver of the vehicle.
The driving instructor must therefore always
ensure that an accident does not occur.
He has the same pedals under his feet as the
learner driver so that he can intervene at any time.
Therefore, he must not allow the student to drive over
red lights or to miss the priority of others etc., unless
he student is grossly negligent or is acting willfully
and knowingly, by defying clear instructions from the
driving teacher.
Or the learner commits a driving mistake which he could
easily have avoided, given his level of training,
his knowledge and skills.
Because in such a case, a court decided the fault based
liability according to §823 BGB is working.
In the case in question, a driving student wanted to turn left despite
oncoming traffic. The driving instructor braked, but the
accident still occurred. Since the opposing driver assumed that
the vehicle wanted to complete the turning process, he braked
heavily, went into a skid and finally off the road and had an
accident. The plaintiff was proved right.
However, in the opinion of the Higher Regional Court, the injured
plaintiff had to be assigned a liability share of 25% due to the
operational risk. In contrast, he was not responsible for any
further contributory negligence.
Even with a driving school vehicle,
the accident victim was allowed to trust that his right
of way would be accepted.
