McCoy was ruled out of action for today and tomorrow following a fall at Taunton

McCoy was ruled out of action for today and tomorrow following a fall at Taunton. Martin Pipe stands on the brink of reaching another century of winners in a season after gaining his 99th victory yesterday – but the stable’s favoured rider, Tony McCoy, is unlikely to be joining the ton-up party. Rather than subsidising the carelessness of bad drivers (or the mistakes of hikers, and gambles by smokers) society would end up lining the pockets of lawyers instead.*NEXUS can be found on http:// www.dar.cam.ac.uk/nexus. Sadly, it seems, the Law Commission’s idea is not the best way to do either.

Finding ways to make individuals take responsibility for their own behaviour is a worthy enough aim So too is finding genuine savings for the taxpayer. Armies of ambulance chasers (otherwise known as personal injury lawyers) could sue the driver of the car that hit you, the owner of the firm that didn’t provide you with adequate safety equipment at work, the waitress who spilt coffee on you, the council that failed to mend the pavement you tripped up over, and so on and so on.Far from making the allocation of resources in society and the economy more efficient, it looks as if the Law Commission proposal would simply shift resources round in circles. Cynics might suggest that behind that veneer of concern for the taxpayer’s cash lies a large amount of self-interest A US-style litigation culture is in sight. And guess what? The lawyers would have a field day.No wonder the Law Commission is so keen on the plan. Motorists and their insurance companies would contest it furiously, battling to shift the blame on to someone else.

Rather than getting extra cash for lung cancer through a levy raised by the state, the NHS would have to sue for extra cash for accidents through the courts. But using private insurance companies as the mechanism to make people pay the cost of the accidents they cause, as the Law Commission suggests, is fraught with practical problems.Imagine it. But the limits aren’t just ethical, they are practical, and this is where the Law Commission’s proposal comes unstuck.It is easy enough for the state to levy a tax on cigarettes, or on cars, so that smokers and drivers share the cost of their risky escapades. Some of the fiercest opponents of extra charges on hill-walkers at the moment, for example, are those who volunteer to pace the fells in rescue teams whenever someone gets lost.Halpern and White are the first to admit that their approach should not be applied to every problem. What happens, for example, to the woman who chooses to get pregnant – one of the riskiest and costliest decisions a woman can make? Should we charge her for it, her family, or all women of menstruating age? Or should we bear the costs together, accepting that we all share obligations to the next generation, whether they are our own children or not?Consider, too, the insidious effect this cost calculus could have on those who willingly share their risks and mutual obligations in a different kind of way.