If there’s one thing that’s likely to improve traffic conditions for cyclists – particularly in cities – it’s automatically blaming the driver for any bike or pedestrian collision unless the driver can prove otherwise.

Sound too good to be true? Well it’s already the law in the Netherlands, where drivers are a whole lot more careful when mixing with ‘unprotected’ road and street users. Now European bike site bike-eu.com reports that the law could be going Europe-wide.

This could potentially turn the ‘second class citizen’ status of UK cyclists on its head overnight and massively increase the appeal of urban riding and commuting. However, as it stands the law also establishes that bikers or pedestrians should be compensated for damage and/or injury incurred when they are infringing the traffic regulations (eg: biking without proper lighting, going through red lights, riding in the wrong direction, riding while drunk, etc.), which may well make adopting the law problematic.

It’s very early days yet, and we can see there being huge resistance to the idea from all the motorists who view us as an expendable, irritating obstruction. We’ll let you know how things develop.