Collisions involving motor vehicles and cyclists or pedestrians

[summerdays]

Found this on the CTC site

That this House acknowledges that many other European countries have much better cyclist and pedestrian safety records than the UK; recognises that these countries apply the principle of stricter liability to vulnerable road victims, so that drivers of vehicles that hit cyclists or pedestrians are assumed liable unless they can prove their innocence; believes that this makes drivers more aware of the vulnerability of children, cyclists and pedestrians; notes that, in contrast in UK road traffic personal injury cases, the burden of proof is on the victim to prove the other party was negligent; is aware of research that shows the fatality rate of cyclists aged 10 to 14 involved in collisions with motor vehicles is five times worse in the UK than in the Netherlands and Sweden; and calls on the Government to bring road traffic personal injury legislation into line with workplace health and safety law, product liability law and car passenger protection by adoption of the principle of stricter liability.

Now I need to write a letter to my MP and find out whether they will support it or not.

And a link to it:
http://www.parliament.uk/business/p...s/edm-detail1/?session=2010-11&edmnumber=1393

 

[rusky]

I do hope they will support it, the current "system" is a complete farce, it's rare that drivers are held responsible even when it is clear they are.

 

[Red Light]

Date tabled 7 May 2008. No need to write to your MP about it, it died ages ago before the last election!

 

[summerdays]

The only thing I don't understand is do EDM's in general, have much power to change the course of law? Or is it just a case of saying we support this but it's unlikely to happen!

 

[coffeejo]

Lots of MPs won't sign EDMs as they are nothing more than a statement, essentially toothless and meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

Their "power" comes from the odd one catching the media's attention.

Nowt wrong with asking your MP to sign one, just ask them to do other stuff as well, that can do whether or not they agree with you. Ask them to write to the relevant Minister and / or table a question in the Commons.

It's also worth doing some research on your MP. Does s/he have children, what All Party Groups is s/he a member of and, crucially, how has s/he voted in the past? They Work For You is a good place to start.

 

[Red Light]

Errr...'http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-11/1393' target='_blank' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow external'>EDM 1393 was table in February 2011 - it's still very much a live EDM!

Curious. Tapatalk must have a bug in it. The link seems to go to a different random EDM every time you use it. My apologies.

 

[sheddy]

It should be possible to email your MP - look em up http://www.theyworkforyou.com/

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

Well, I did write to my MP and the response (from DfT) doesn't look promising. See my letter and the response here: http://www.mrgrumpycyclist.org/?p=152

 

[Dan B]

You got a response, which is more than my MP (Rushanara Ali) has apparently managed to come up with in the last two weeks.

 

[sheddy]

Time to lobby your MP to speak at the debate on 17th Oct
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/ca...Justice-Review-0?dm_i=BM6,ZJ73,6BK75I,2ZN5F,1