THIRTY

TAILPIECE

Roger Goodhart’s story is fictitious. However, many accident victims have no memory of what occurred and frequently there is no witness. This has led to injustice. long as an injured party has to prove blame, then justice will continue. There will be more Roger shodharts.

Two vital changes in the law are being considered.

The Report of the Pearson Commission in 1978 commended that a driver such as Roger Goodhart would be compensated without proof of blame. No step as yet been taken to implement this suggestion. There is a growing fear that this Report may simply gather dust somewhere in Whitehall.

Secondly, Common Market Regulations, effective in 1978, demanded the compulsory use of tachographs in commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom. The Labour Government failed to implement this law, faced with threats of industrial unrest from Trades Unions’ representatives. Drivers, it was said, did not like the idea of the “spy in the cab”.

Following an order of the European Court of Justice, in 1979, the United Kingdom Parliament must enforce the use of the tachograph in the United Kingdom and is now pledged to do so.