Roads: Accidents
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of amending the Road Traffic Act 1988 so that drivers who collide with cats are under a legal duty to stop and report the incident on animal welfare.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood
This Government has no plans to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 to introduce a legal duty for drivers to report collisions with cats.
Because cats are much smaller than other specified animals, and often most active at dawn or dusk, in many cases drivers may not be aware they’ve hit them – particularly with larger vehicles. Because of that, it would be difficult to prosecute drivers if the law was changed.
This is a compassionate country and although there is no obligation to report all animal deaths on roads, drivers should, if possible, make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals, such as cats, and advise them of the situation.
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