Cats - petition so cats are treated the same as dogs in a road accident

Sorry I was so grumpy BB I’m not feeling great and you criticised something I hadn’t even said.

Peace.

OldMeg I do have a brain cell last time I check but thanks for your concern

I totally agree with Ingejones and that’s exactly what I would do if I found an injured cat, we don’t need any more legislation Cats are free to roam and with that comes danger

In my experience, the best thing to do if you hit a cat while driving is obviously first see if you can save its life. After you have done all you can for the cat, post a full description of the cat and say what road it was on the local facebook group for the area. I am on my local groups and over the years it has proven a highly successful way of around 90% success in matching missing/dead cats with their owners. Even if the owner is not on facebook, one of their close neighbors will be, and will let them know.

I agree with Ingejones,as in my last thread I mentioned cats roaming freely. I would never leave any injured animal anywhere,but if you want to change the law,then the responsibility would be on the cat owner.As they would then have to be responsible for their pets behaviours, and that would open up a whole new area of responsibility.

I think things are best left as they are for several reasons as stated by other posters. Any responsible person will try and help if a cat is injured, the irresponsible will not do anything regardless of the law. The police are stretched as far as resources go and this in my opinion is unnecessary.
I speak as an owner of both cats and dogs. Cats need to be allowed outside but along with this comes risk, we have to balance the two.

If you start changing the law in this respect, next thing is cat owners will be required to control their cats like dog owners are, and to be legally responsible for any damage they do, like dog owners are. Then that will put an end to being allowed to let cats out because you'll probably have to compensate your neighbors if they poo in their gardens or catch their budgie. Or if they run into the road and cause a driver to swerve into a lamppost. Or if they scratch a visitor. Careful what you wish for...

This is copied from the police website. Try not to get ratty with me if you disagre with the law. I didn’t make them.

“Some animals are not included in the definition of animal given in the Road Traffic Act 1988 so you are not required to report accidents with them to the police. However, it may be worth contacting the police to inform them of the incident. Additionally, the local authority will need to be contacted to remove the remains of the animal.

See the website in related information to find your local authority.

A dog (as well as a goat, horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep and pig) does come within the remit of the Road Traffic Act and is a reportable accident so you are required by law to report it to the police.

Important: Badgers are specially protected and it is an offence to possess one, dead or alive, (without the proper authority), so if you kill one, leave it at the roadside. If you are concerned, as stated above, you can voluntarily contact the police.”

OK

Don’t you understand BB that the crime is if you don’t stop and report the accident. Bloody hell! Jump in and attack won’t you without passing it over a brain cell.

Sorry to disagree OldMeg the driver has NOT committed a crime if a dog runs in front of his vehicle the owner has committed the crime by allowing their dog to be loose

I am an animal lover but I won’t be signing the petition I think this is the least of the police or countries worries Cats if allowed to live a reasonably normal life ( and I think house detention is a cruel way to keep a cat ) learn how to negotiate the outside perils but if they seccumb to a traffic accident that is very very sad ( it happened to my last precious cat) but is part of life/death
Cats can be very lightweight and I can imagine a driver may not even know sometimes if the hit a cat

I didn't say to leave an injured dog in the road my concern is phoning 999 if you get the registration number you can report via 111

That is not my opinion Nanwind it is UK LAW and I cut and pasted that from a page on the law concerning dogs and traffic accidents.

The driver has committed a crime. If you don’t want to ring 999 then to report and to give a registration number then that’s your prerogative. If you are prepared to leave an injured animal lying in the road then you have a harder heart than I.

If you have given a registration number, the police don’t have to ‘chase’ anyone. They can find the address of the car owner easily.

And I’m not jumping down your throat any more than you are doing the sand to me.

Oldmeg are you seriously telling people to phone 999 over a collision with a dog and before you jump down my throat I have dogs of my own yes it would be upsetting if it was one of my dogs and yes the driver would be in the wrong to drive off, but I would hate to think the police were chasing this driver when someone needs there help more urgently.

That’s the doggy law.

If you are involved in a collision between your vehicle and a dog, you must stop, and the police must be informed. It’s the law!

The driver of a car involved in a collision with a dog is obliged to stop and stay on the scene until the police have given the driver permission to leave (which usually only happens after they have attended the scene), and the police must be informed of such an incident.

If you are not the driver involved and the driver drives off after the collision or does not stick around to await the police, call the police on 999 and try to take down the registration details of the vehicle to pass onto them if possible.

I'm with NanaandGrampy on this - while cats are allowed to leave their mess anywhere they choose with impunity, I will not be signing.

This would not work,as cats seem to roam freely,they don’t go out with owners,and I have often seen cats dart across a road. Perhaps if they were not allowed to roam freely this might work.

Sorry I'd forgotten dogs no longer need to be licensed but agree with what the others say.

Dogs don't need a license these days, but you must, by law, have them microchipped. I can't see how you could apply this to cats. There are so many feral cats in every town in the country that you'd never be able to chip them all.
I don't think I'll be signing the petition.

I would only sign this if all the rules ( that could be) that apply to dogs apply to cats .

As that's unlikely to happen , I'm afraid I cant sign .

I would sign this if the link worked. Not sure, do dogs need to be licensed now? It seemed to taper out and was said to be too costly to administer? Think they want to bring dog licenses back in, bit hazy here, don’t have a dog anymore. Point is, if a dog is run over it has to be reported, licence or not. Should be the same for cats.

Won't cats need a licence to facilitate this? Sorry your link doesn't work.