Petition asks government for drivers to be "presumed liable" for cyclist collisions

The government has been urged to introduce presumed liability for civil cases relating to certain road collisions, a move which would see motorists presumed liable when involved in incidents involving cyclists, pedestrians or horse riders.

A petition on the Parliament website has been launched and will run for the next three months. It had attracted 1,300 signatures at the time of this article's publication and is titled: "Introduce presumed liability for civil cases from road traffic collisions".

It asks the government to "introduce presumed liability for civil cases relating to certain road collisions, to shift the burden of proof". In short, this would mean that motorists would be presumed liable for collisions involving more vulnerable road users, including cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders.

> Cycling and the law: would presumed liability make roads safer for cyclists?

The petition states: "We think this would compensate vulnerable road users, such as cyclists and pedestrians, more quickly and effectively. Pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders are often unable to obtain compensation because of a lack of adequate evidence.

"If a vulnerable road user is killed they are not there to give evidence; if they are seriously injured it may be impossible for them to give complete or satisfactory evidence of the circumstances in which they were injured."

The petition will run until 18 May and if it reaches 10,000 signatures it will receive a response from the government. If it receives 100,000 signatures it will be considered for a debate in Parliament.

Presumed liability has been adopted widely across Europe. Back in 2020, Chris Boardman called for it to be introduced in the UK as well, arguing "we need legislation that properly values people travelling actively".

"Nearly all other countries have done this, to put a duty of care in their legislation for everyone on the roads to look after a more vulnerable road user," he said.

Where such a system is in place, when there is a road traffic collision, the less vulnerable road user is considered to be liable, unless they can establish that the other party was at fault. For example, the driver of a motor vehicle would automatically be held liable in an incident involving a cyclist, while a bike rider would be in a case where a pedestrian is injured.

At the time of his previous comments on the matter, Boardman said that adopting such a system here would help encourage people who might be apprehensive about riding a bike in traffic.

The petition can be read in full on the Parliament website.