Post on 22-Jan-2018
Concept of harm
– where a person is held liable not for failure to display the diligence of a reasonable person, but because they are in control of a potential source of danger to other people’s lives, health and property.
No fault liability
Industrial Revolution
Locomotive on the Highways Act (1861)
Locomotive Act (1865)
Lord Bramwell Powell v Fall (1880)
What were our European neighboursdoing?
“Betriebsgefahr”1907 - Germany
1920 – Netherlands
“Loi Badinter”
1985 - France
Fault based system
“To require an injured person to prove fault results in the gravest injustice to many innocent persons who have not the wherewithal to prove it.”
“Excuses”
• “Red light jumping”
• “Launched off the pavement”
• “Came from nowhere”
• “Riding too fast”
• “There was a low sun”
• Changing their story
• Refusing to provide insurance details
What to do at the scene of an accident
• STOP
• CONTACT the Police
• OBTAIN registration number
• PHOTOGRAPH the scene/road surface/position of vehicles.
No country in the World has achieved both HIGH levels of walking + cycling and LOW casualty levels without presumed liability
Presumed Liability
Cycling fatalities
(1975-85) - 676 per annum
(1985-95) - 418 per annum
‘Loi Badinter’ introduced
38% decrease
www.roadshare.co.uk
Q and A
Brenda.mitchell@cyclelawscotland.co.uk
www.cyclelawscotland.co.uk
cyclelawscotland
cyclelaw1