How can we "ensure" the driver is at fault, cyclists must take some responsibility for their own actions surely. For example going up the inside of lorries at junctions and traffic lights.
As someone said earlier, a presumption that the driver is at fault does not mean the driver can't argue otherwise - and be acquitted if they succeed. I would have thought "at night on an unlit road a cyclist with no lights dressed in black comes out of a side road and is hit by a driver travelling within the speed limit" would be a good case in point.
But certainly a continental-style law would do a lot to change the mind-set and behaviour of drivers, and would also - laws also do this - lay down the basic values our society recognises as holding good and having value. Such as, you have to look out for others' safety, even if they are on a bicycle.
And you actually provide one very good example of where the practical benefit would become immediately apparent, in lives saved: yes, cyclists should have the sense to not go up the inside of lorries at the lights. But if drivers were held to account, continental style, far fewer 'no-sense-cyclists' would end up getting crushed to death, because drivers would be
much more careful about checking their mirrors for numpties before turning hard left when the lights turn green.
