In what are generally known as ‘running-down’ cases, that is to say, actions of negligence by pedestrians against motorists who have caused them injuries, the pedestrian, like every other plaintiff, has to discharge the burden of showing that the accident was due to the negligence of the motorist. This burden is made heavier by the fact that in most cases the pedestrian will have been disabled at the time of the accident from observing accurately the exact circumstances of the case and from enlisting the support of eye-witnesses. This latter disadvantage is a very real one if one takes into consideration the extraordinary reluctance of the average citizen to come forward and testify voluntarily in legal proceedings. The appalling wastage of human life and the suffering caused by road accidents in recent years is reflected in the anxiety of legislators to devise regulations for the protection and safeguarding of all road-users, and pedestrians in particular. The time is apt, therefore, to consider once again the desirability of altering in this class of cases the common law burden of proof of negligence.
An ex-ante impact assessment of the Common Agricultural Policy reform in the North-Western Romania
