New law proposed to regulate automated vehicles
The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission have published a joint report recommending a new Automated Vehicle Act in Great Britain.
The Law Commission says there will be profound legal consequences in situations where a human driver is no longer the principle focus of accountability for road safety. “New systems of safety assurance are needed, both before and after vehicles are allowed to drive themselves on roads and other public places.” A new Automated Vehicle Act would set out new regulatory regimes and new legal actors.
Such changes may have significant risk implications for transport and fleet operators in terms of their own liabilities and also third parties. Alison Moriarty, chair of Airmic’s Fleet SIG, says: “There will need to be rigorous training given to drivers and we need to ensure that we do not de-skill drivers.”
She explains that it is accepted that some sort of driver error is usually the cause of collisions. They may be the consequences of a particular driving style, such excessive speed, or failure to check a vehicle for roadworthiness prior to a journey. “It would be easy to assume that an automated vehicle would eradicate the risk, but drivers will still need to ensure their vehicle is safe.”
The Law Commission’s recommendations anticipate the day when it will be possible to regard road vehicles as fully “self-driving”. That is not yet the case today. Technology to assist human drivers may be very advanced but it’s still unable to deal with all situations. There is still a human behind the wheel who is fully responsible for the task of driving. This will change once a feature is regarded as self-driving.
“We therefore recommend a new ‘authorisation’ scheme that will distinguish as a matter of law between good (possibly very good) driver assistance features and those which are safe enough to allow the vehicle to drive itself.”
Alison points out that there will inevitably be a period of time when there is a mix of standard and automated vehicles on the road, which will create a huge area of risk. “My vehicle may detect a hazard and come to a stop, but if the 3.5 tonne van behind me is driver-controlled, there is a huge potential for serious rear-end crashes.”
Once a vehicle is authorised as having true self-driving features, and a self-driving feature is engaged, the system of legal accountability will change if the Law Commission proposals are enacted. For purposes of civil liability, the provisions of the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act 2018 would apply. Victims who suffer injury or damage will not need to prove that anyone was at fault. Instead, the insurer will compensate the victim directly.
The Law Commission’s automated vehicles report has been laid before Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. The UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments will decide whether to accept the recommendations and introduce legislation to bring them into effect.