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01 September 2016 / Nicholas Bevan
Issue: 7712 / Categories: Features , Personal injury
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Self-driving vehicles: the road ahead

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Nicholas Bevan reviews the implications of automated motor technology on road safety & legal practice

IN BRIEF

  • Important regulatory reform proposals for automated vehicle technology.
  • Road traffic accident practitioners have until 9 September to respond.

Road traffic accident practitioners are no doubt monitoring closely the rapid advance of automated motor technology. These increasingly sophisticated systems have important implications not just for road safety but also for legal practice as well as the regulatory framework that governs motor liability and insurance.

Transport revolution

We have become inured to the stubbornly high casualty statistics associated with road transport. The Department for Transport (DfT) inform us that there were 1,732 fatalities on our roads last year and several hundred thousand other casualties. Yet, this could be set to change. We are about to witness a revolution in transport, which by first restricting and ultimately removing entirely the scope for human driver-error, offers the prospect of dramatically improved road safety and, in consequence, cheaper motor insurance.

Last month the DfT published its latest proposals

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