Matt Evans, a Partner in our Serious Injury team explores the current UK law relating to the legal duty to help. Unlike many countries, there is no general duty on UK Citizens to help someone in need, even by something as simple as calling the emergency services.
A few months ago, I was taking a witness statement from a motorist who had stopped at the scene of a serious road collision. A pedestrian had been seriously injured and was lying in the carriageway. The witness I was interviewing had performed potentially lifesaving CPR. This was clearly a commendable act, but what really struck me was that she wasn’t the first on the scene. She was actually driving the second car to arrive. The driver of the first car stopped just in front of the injured pedestrian, did a U-turn and drove off in the opposite direction.
A few years ago, I saw a very serious road collision which resulted in one of the vehicles rolling down an embankment – I stopped and clambered down the embankment and was first to the scene. I pulled a man, a woman, a baby and a very excitable dog from the car. Thankfully all were relatively unscathed.
Last year I was walking near a very busy Trafalgar Square at around 10pm when a man who was clearly under the influence of alcohol fell into the road. He was unable to get to his feet and ended up spreadeagled in the carriageway.
I did what I would hope most people would do and helped him to his feet, guided him off the road and then sat him down so that he was propped up against the base of a nearby statue.
I don’t know why I took those actions. But legally there was nothing that said that I had to help. I could have kept walking or driving and there would not have been any legal consequences, much like the driver who did the U-turn in front of the seriously injured pedestrian.
The first five years of my career were spent practising criminal defence law – I was a duty solicitor at the local magistrates court and would routinely be handed 20 – 30 cases each day covering a whole range of criminal offences – speeding, drink driving, careless driving etc.
From 2001 I have worked exclusively in the field of personal injury work and almost all my current clients have either been very seriously injured by motor vehicles or have had loved ones killed in road crashes. I suppose that this is the other side of the fence to my work as a defence-based duty solicitor.
This combined experience has made me think about the current state of the law and the lack of positive obligations to help.
Should there be a “good citizen” law in the UK?
Should the law play a part to positively guide post collision, decision making behaviour? Would our society be improved if there was a general legal obligation to help?
Currently Road Traffic Act 1988 (s.170) imposes a duty on the driver involved in collision in which someone is injured to:
- Stop and (if required to do so) give their name and address.
- If the driver does not give his name and address then they must report the incident to the police as soon as practicable and in any case within 24 hours.
So, even if you caused the crash, you could seemingly comply with the Road Traffic Act 1998 by doing nothing other than stopping and placing your contact details in the pocket of the injured person.
Should the law go further? Perhaps there should be an obligation on anyone involved in a collision to call emergency services if there is clearly in need of medical attention. Going further, should that obligation be extended to passersby? How many of us would be comfortable with the positive legal duty to help in that very limited way, assuming it was safe to do so?
Historically UK law doesn’t impose these positive duties. It’s a relic of our common law history and case law.
The closest we have come recently to this issue is the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015. This act means that if something goes wrong when a person is trying to help another person, then a court must consider whether they were acting with good intentions. This act has only been mentioned in passing twice in reported judgments and never actually used. Despite the title, it doesn’t impose a positive duty.
Many other countries impose a duty on their citizens to help in these circumstances. It varies from country to county but it is clear that the UK has amongst the weakest provisions in Europe relation to:
- Compelling someone to call the emergency services.
- The extent that those involved in a collision have to help.
- The extent that passer-by have to help.
The Spanish Penal Code (Article 195 of the Organic Law 10/1995 of 23 November 1995) provides that:
- Anyone who fails to assist a person who is helpless and in manifest and serious danger, when they could do so without risk to themselves or to third parties, shall be punished with a fine of three to twelve months.
- The same penalties shall be incurred by anyone who, prevented from rendering assistance, does not urgently call for help from others.
Should there be an obligation on passers-by to call the emergency services, if practicable and if reasonable to do so?
Should the UK do much better in comparison to other countries in relation to the expectation on its citizens? What expectations should we have on our fellow citizens?
Should there be a criminal offence of failing to provide reasonable assistance to someone who is in danger? This would not need a prescriptive list of what should be done in every scenario. It would allow the Court to decide what is reasonable.
Personally, I think that there should be a debate as to whether, as a responsible society, we can go further.
