A.H. (Ton) Lamers LLM, PhD
In the past five years there have been significant developments in the field of personal transport, with more changes underway. For example, e-scooter share schemes are now found in many European cities. Also, rapid advancements are being made to automobile driver-assistance technology, with the ultimate goal of rolling out self-driving personal vehicles on public roads. Both of these developments are desirable from public safety and/or carbon emission reduction perspectives. However, they also pose liability challenges, because existing liability structures, legal frameworks and insurance possibilities cannot adequately handle all the compensation consequences of widespread use of these disruptive technologies. There has been extensive literature about how existing fault-based liability frameworks could handle these personal transport developments, often advocating strict liability. A compensation (guarantee) fund of some kind has been mooted at the European level, and European Parliament research has expressly recommended a no-fault approach for at least some kinds of transport technology. There is also evidence that existing insurance frameworks will be disrupted by new technology. However, there is only limited literature on an existing complete solution – namely no-fault comprehensive compensation funds. This paper analyses four big no-fault compensation funds in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. These compensation funds are already actively, successfully and sustainably grappling with the legal challenges associated with new transport technologies. This paper considers recent legislative developments, relevant points of comparison with Europe and some key issues associated with the use of compensation funds.
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