It is 2050, and despite improving vaccines and treatments, the pandemic which started with Covid-19 in 2020 continues to exert a significant impact on the world in terms of deaths, hospitalizations, and general economic and social disruption. Everyone has lost relatives, friends, neighbours and colleagues of all ages to this horrid disease. Partly as a consequence surveys around the world have consistently shown an increased appreciation of the value of human life over the intervening period.

Given this ‘safer society’ paradigm, the legal judgement of the Supreme Court on 17 May 2029 that led to a fundamental rethink of how both vehicles and the streets they operated in were designed was perhaps unsurprising. Fleming versus Universal Motor Company and the Borough of Northwark established that vehicle manufacturers and infrastructure providers were each partially liable for any person(s) being injured or killed as a result of collisions involving their vehicles/road infrastructure, because in most cases they had not paid sufficient attention to protecting vulnerable road users, who had a human right to be as safe as reasonably was possible when using the road. At the same time, there was a realization that guaranteeing 100 per cent safety from autonomous vehicles was proving more difficult than expected, unless the promised efficiency gains across the network were severely compromised as a result. Hence in short order, hard road and footway surfaces were replaced with softer and more forgiving infrastructure in neighbourhoods around the country, while much lighter and slower vehicles began to supplant the overly heavy, unyielding and speeding vehicles of the early 21st century.