Cat 'hit and run' law will be "unpoliceable" says Centenier

Friday 13 August 2021

A Centenier has voiced concerns that the law proposed to end ‘hit and runs’ on cats will not be practical, and won’t provide much protection to the pets.

Amanda Wright, the Centenier for St. Brelade, has shared her thoughts about the proposed law in a letter to the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel who are currently reviewing the proposals brought forward by the Environment Minister, Deputy Kevin Lewis.

If approved, the Draft Regulations would make it an offence not to report hitting a cat with a motor vehicle, with a maximum fine of £10,000 and a potential disqualification for the driver.

The proposals were brought forward after politicians unanimously voted in support of a proposition to give better protection to cats and help prevent hit-and-runs published in 2019 by Deputy Jeremy Maçon.

Concerns surrounding the policing of the law were shared with the Scrutiny shortly before the debate in June, prompting a review ahead of a revised date on 5 October 2021.

Pictured: The proposed law says an offence has been committed if someone who reasonably believe they have struck a cat does not report it.

As part of the review, Centenier Wright wrote a seven-page letter to the panel explaining why she thinks the law will be “unpoliceable."

She explained that it will be difficult to prove an offence has been committed because the wording of the law states they have committed an offence if they “reasonably believe that a cat has been struck."

“It’s going to be difficult if the driver does not think or know they have hit a cat,” she said. “If you have to police from that point of view, most drivers will have the defence that they did not think they hit something. Nine times out of 10, the person will say ‘I did not know I hit a cat’.”

Due to the small size of cats and the fact they are “quick and agile”, the Centenier believes a number of drivers could hit one without knowing they have done so, or without knowing it was indeed a cat.

“If it disappeared in a field, you may never know you hit it, you may have absolutely no certainty,” he said. “The only person who would be able to report it is someone behind you and the only time it would be known is if it was recorded on the dash cam.”

Pictured: Centenier Wright does not believe the law will provide better protection for local cats.

Centenier Wright also pointed out that because cats are not required to wear a collar with the name and details of their owners and there is no central or Parish register for cats, a driver would find it very hard to “work out who is the owner of a cat which they may have only caught a glimpse of as it receded in their rear-view mirror."

She also noted that while the law states it is a criminal matter not to report hitting a cat, there is no control as to where it would be reported to, although the default position, as she said, would seem to be to report to the JSPCA.

The law, as it is currently written, also does not require the driver to give their own details or describe the cat, only to report when the cat was struck and where was it the last time they say it. Centenier Wright says this would mean that drivers who have complied with the law could not prove they have done so.

She also pointed out that the need to report is triggered by the cat being struck, not by the fact it’s been injured. “If there is no injury, is it reasonable to require a driver to report it on pain of a criminal conviction if they do not?”

Centenier Wright, who described the law as “awfully complicated”, believes it will be “unpoliceable”.

“We have to look for a failure to report by a driver, but it is often a witness who is the likely person to report having seen a cat being hit,” she said. “We would then have to identify the vehicle and then the driver (the JSPCA or person responsible for the cat would not be able to do this).”

“I do not think the majority of people would dream of hitting a pet if they could avoid it, the majority stop if they hit something and they know about it,” she added. “It’s a minefield and I do not think that the law offers more protection to cats.”