Grant cats the same status under the Road Traffic Act 1988 as dogs

Grant cats the same status under the Road Traffic Act 1988 as dogs and other animals, whereby it becomes law to report any accident to the Police and grant the Police powers to prosecute motorists who fail to report or stop at the scene of an accident.

Cats are considered as family members by many households and are more vulnerable to injury and sadly death when involved in a collision.

Sadly, many motorists will not stop after hitting cats as there is no legal requirement for them to do so. This leads to many households never knowing what has happened to their cats.

We want to ensure cats are afforded the same status as dogs and other animals and end the killing of cats on the roads.

A main focus for this Government is to make our roads safer for all users, which will in turn reduce the risk to all animals.

Under section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, a driver is required to stop and report an accident involving specified animals including horses, cattle ass, mules, sheep, pigs, goats or dogs, but not cats or wild animals. This requirement arises from their status as working animals rather than as domestic pets. To introduce such a measure within the provision of section 170, would require primary legislation.

Having a law making it a requirement to report road accidents involving cats would be very difficult to enforce and we have reservations about the difference it would make to the behaviour of drivers, who are aware that they have run over a cat and do not report it.

Although there is no obligation to report all animal deaths on roads, the police do advise drivers that, if possible, they should make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals, such as cats, and advise them of the situation.

In addition, Rule 286 of The Highway Code advises drivers to report any accident involving an animal to the police, and if possible, they should make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals, such as cats, and advise them of the situation.

The Government can understand the distress of owners who lose a beloved pet such as a cat. Cats and dogs become members of the family and it is a great source of worry and uncertainty when they are lost. The Government strongly supports the campaigns by Cats Protection and others for people to voluntarily microchip their cats as the key method for identifying the cat and linking it to its owner. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will shortly be publishing the results of their call for evidence on compulsory microchipping cats in England, which seeks to understand the consequences of making owners get their cats microchipped in England.

Department for Transport