A journalist has won a $1.2 million payout seven years after a crash at the Australian National University robbed him of a promising career trekking through mountainous terrain for geological fieldwork.
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Amos Aikman, now The Australian newspaper's northern correspondent, was hit by a ute as he rode his postie bike through the ANU grounds one night in September 2006.
The driver of the ute, the defendant, pulled out in front of him as he came east along Balmain Street.
He claimed he was blinded by low level street lights, and didn't see the bike.
Mr Aikman swerved and broke hard, trying to avoid the ute, but smashed into the ute's front bull bar.
The reporter, then a 26-year-old PhD student at the ANU, was thrown over the bonnet, his leg crushed by the motorbike.
Mr Aikman remembered being "scissored" between the bull bar and the bike.
The student - who had been a keen distance runner, mountain biker and snowboarder - suffered significant injuries in the crash.
His right kneecap and foot were damaged, there were abrasions to his face, and the impact caused his teeth to lacerate his upper lip.
His right leg was put in a half cast following surgery the day after the crash, and the next few weeks were described as "excruciatingly painful".
Mr Aikman said he couldn't move from the couch for two weeks, and was on crutches for the next 10.
It took three months for him to be able to drive again, and the injuries forced him to delay his PhD work.
Mr Aikman had been investigating the creation of the Himalayas through the collision of the Indian subcontinent and Eurasia 65 million years ago.
The work required tough field trips though the harsh, mountainous terrain of the region, carrying heavy packs in areas only accessible by foot.
By the middle of the next year, Mr Aikman needed to find other work.
He took up freelance photography, and began working with The Australian, before submitting his thesis later that year.
His injuries continued to plague him, hindering his work, and requiring more surgery and ongoing treatment.
Mr Aikman eventually realised he would never be able to return to his passion of geology, which he had spent more than a decade studying.
The reporter sought compensation for the crash in the ACT Supreme Court, and Master David Harper delivered his judgment on Thursday morning.
Master Harper described Mr Aikman as "garrulous", or excessively talkative, saying he gave unnecessarily lengthy answers during his evidence.
But the journalist was found to be a credible witness, who did not overplay his injuries or disabilities.
"On the contrary, he tended if anything to underemphasise their significance," Master Harper wrote.
"He came across to me as honest and truthful, and I generally accept his evidence."
The case mainly centred around Mr Aikman's decision to become a photographer in 2007 and his move away from a future career in academia.
Master Harper said he was satisfied that the accident had prevented him from conducting mountainous fieldwork, denying him his future path in geological research.
"It seems to me so unlikely as not to require consideration, that the plaintiff might have decided to work as a photographer and journalist if he had not been injured," Master Harper wrote.
Mr Aikman was awarded a total payout of $1,232,000, which included general damages, and compensation for expenses, domestic assistance and lost earning capacity.
Master Harper also proposed the defendant pay court costs, but has delayed that decision temporarily.
