E-petition debate: Requirement to report collisions with cats

E-petition 750612

On 26 October 2026 there will be a Westminster Hall debate on e-petition 750612 relating to placing a requirement on drivers to report collisions with cats. The petition specifically calls on the government to:

“Legislate to require drivers to stop, check and report any road collisions with cats if they’re injured on the road, and holds drivers accountable if they fail to stop and report a collision involving a cat on the basis they left a cat to unnecessarily suffer.”

As of 6 October 2026, the petition has 189,000 signatures.

An e-petition on the same topic was debated in parliament on 9 January 2023.

Legislation

Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires a driver to stop and provide their details or report the incident to the police within 24 hours, if an accident causes injury to a person, damage to property, or injury to certain specified animals.

The animals covered by this specific legislation are:

• Horses
• Cattle
• Asses and mules
• Sheep
• Pigs
• Goats
• Dogs

Where a collision involves one of these animals, the driver must comply with the reporting requirements set out in this Act specifically.

Why are cats excluded?

The government has stated that the animals included in the legislation were originally selected because of their status as working animals, rather than as domestic pets. The same provision also does not require collisions involving wild animals to be reported.

The government noted that extending the reporting requirement to cats would require primary legislation. Whilst cats are not included in Road Traffic Act 1988 , Rule 286 of the Highway Code advises drivers to report any collisions involving animals to the police and, where possible, to make enquiries to identify and notify the owner of a domestic animal.

However, only the Road Traffic Act 1988 determines whether failing to follow that recommendation constitutes a criminal offense.

Recent Government position

In February 2026, the government confirmed in answer to a parliamentary question, that it had no plans to amend section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to make it mandatory for drivers to report road collisions involving cats. In the response the government also stated that having a law making it a requirement to report road collisions involving cats would be very difficult to enforce and it was not clear what difference it would make to the behaviour of drivers, who were aware that they had run over a cat and did not report it. As discussed by the government, drivers, especially those of larger vehicles, may not be aware of collisions.

In the government’s response to e-petition 750612, published February 2026, it noted that it had commissioned a research project to understand the operational challenges that currently prevent some cats from being reunited with their owner after a road traffic collision. The government said this project will provide an evidence base to inform best practice for local authorities and is due to report later in 2026.

The government has also noted that compulsory microchipping of pet cats in England, introduced in 2024, may improve the ability of owners to be notified where a cat has been involved in a road collision.

Cat microchipping 

Since 10 June 2024, it has been a for a cat keeper (that is, the person with whom the cat normally resides) to ensure that the cat is microchipped and its details, and those of the keeper, are recorded on an approved database before the cat reaches 20 weeks of age.

The requirement was introduced by the Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023, made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The Regulations apply in England only. When the law was introduced, the government estimated that England had more than nine million owned cats, of which as many as 2.3 million were not microchipped. Cat microchipping remains voluntary in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Calls for mandatory scanning of deceased cats found by the roadside

Despite the introduction of mandatory microchipping, concerns remain about whether deceased cats involved in road traffic collisions are consistently scanned for microchips and identified.

In response to a 2022 government cat and dog microchipping consultation some respondents referred to the handling of deceased cats found by the roadside, suggesting that local authorities should be under a legal obligation to scan for any microchip and seek to unite the cat with its owner. The government responded that it understands the “majority of local authorities have arrangements in place to scan dead cats and dogs found by the roadside. However, we are aware that procedures differ between them and that they may not always work effectively in practice. That is why we are encouraging local authorities to develop and share best practice in this area.”