Road Safety Bill [HL]

This is an interesting series of amendments, but I have grave reservations about them. The point made by my noble friend Lord Attlee is sound: that it is not possible to incorporate full first aid training into a driving licence requirement. That is the practical point. The three main areas set out by the consultant are splendid, except that it is not nearly as easy as it sounds to immobilise the neck while opening the airway because it involves two slightly conflicting actions. I speak as someone who has given many thousands of anaesthetics. However, the biggest problem with the whole issue is the question of liability and litigation. Some 20 years ago a friend’s life was saved after a road traffic accident by a doctor who was jogging past the scene. He vanished immediately and has never been traced. We were told clearly that his reason for leaving was because he could have been sued if the patient had not been satisfied with how well she had been treated, even though he definitely saved her life. I know that to be the medical view. While I take the point that a lay person with only basic training cannot be expected to do more than the basic minimum, and in that way the proposal is good, we need to change our law in other respects. We should adopt the French system whereby an obligation is placed upon citizens to be the Good Samaritan, but they are not held liable if whatever is done to aid the injured person is intended to help them. Here, however, there is a great reluctance to help anyone for fear that they will not be 100 per cent pleased with the outcome. It is an interesting issue and should certainly be considered. In serious cases—someone mentioned the recent terrible bomb incidents or train crashes—any degree of first aid knowledge is extremely valuable. However, if this is something that everyone has to acquire in order to pass their driving test, I am not sure that a good enough standard will be achieved. The points made by the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, could well be incorporated in the Highway Code or in advice to people. Then it would be up to people to do their best. I do not think that this Act could cover the change to a Good Samaritan system whereby you were obliged to help people and if you did not do so you were at fault. That change would be needed before these measures could really work properly.