A petition set up to end “David and Goliath” legal battles between cyclists and insurance firms is close to reaching the 10,000 mark.
The campaigners are petitioning the Scottish Government calling for a Member's Bill for presumed liability between motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
Below: Adventurer Mark Beaumont supports campaign
There is no threshold for the number of signatures required to spark a debate at the petitions committee to Holyrood, the subject of a petition need only fall within the scope of their parameters.
The group said there is the danger Scotland could fall behind the rest of the UK as key policy-making figures south of the Border such as the Director of Pubic Prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer QC, have indicated a potential place for presumed liability.
According to Road Share, introducing presumed liability would rectify a system that is “out of date and inherently unjust”.
Brenda Mitchell, the founder of Cycle Law Scotland and Road Share, said Holyrood should act to keep up with law changes elsewhere.
She said: “When it comes to road traffic collisions where a cyclist is hit by a car, or indeed where a pedestrian is knocked over by a cyclist, we have an archaic system where the odds are frequently stacked against the vulnerable and receiving compensation quickly and fairly in many cases is impossible without resort to litigation which adds to the distress of those who have been injured through no fault of their own.
“We think it is right for Scotland to lead the rest of the UK by changing its civil law to respect and protect the vulnerable in society by moving to a system of presuming liability to support cyclists and pedestrians injured in road traffic collisions.
“However, what started as a Scottish campaign has been taken up across the British Isles and the fear is that Scotland could be overtaken in terms of policy leadership.”
Insurance brokers including Yellow Jersey and Kwik Fit Insurance Services are also backing the campaign.
Stewart Barnett, Kwik Fit Insurance, said: “In a recent Kwik Fit survey into the UK’s attitudes towards road cycling of nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) that have cycled on the road before, only 26 per cent would feel safe doing so.
“That’s a huge number of people who still feel road cycling is an unsafe option, so we’ve been looking for solutions.
“Currently the UK is one of only a few countries in the EU not to have implemented a ‘presumed liability’ policy. Presumed liability essentially means that in the case of a road accident, liability lies with the most 'powerful' person involved – for example, a driver would be considered liable in a collision with a cyclist.
“This doesn’t refer to criminal liability, but does allow for claims, compensation and potentially medical aid to be managed far more quickly, lessening the trauma for all parties involved.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel