Disquisition On The Accident Responsibility Of The Self-help Travel

The 21 st century is characterized by demonstration of individual personality. With improvement in living standard, people have increasingly urgent demands on their mental world, so they prefer to engage in body and mind-relaxing independent travels and outdoor adventures as leisure and entertainment activities. In particular, the Internet is developing in a prosperous way at present, which provides a convenient and speedy communication tool to frequent travelers on one hand and facilitates an increasing number of independent travel groups running in a non-profit and temporary way on the other hand. However, with emergence of such travel groups, a large number of disputes were caused because injuries suffered by independent travelers in mishaps couldn’t be properly solved due to incomplete insurance system and unsound salvage mechanism for such new way of traveling. When some travelers had to resort to laws, there existed no unified standard that can be used by judges during court trial due to deficiency of law, which sometimes resulted in the phenomenon of different judgments on similar cases. Based on the above issues, the author of this paper attempts to make an analysis and discussion on relevant legal issues concerning dangerous situations confronted by travelers during travels based on Going Dutch Method through interpretation of July 9th Mishap Confronted by Travelers in Nanning and August 15 th Mishap Confronted by Travelers in Henan Province.In Part I, it is explained that independent travel based on Going Dutch Method is a newly emerging thing, so there is no clear definition on itself and its nature in laws. Characteristics of Going Dutch Method after its combination with independent travel are interpreted through research on origin of such method and its meaning endowed by this country. Travel based on Going Dutch Method refers to a new way of traveling based on voluntary gathering, independent time regulation and equal sharing of expenses. As for nature of such travel, various scholars put forward different views. In this paper, an analysis on such type of travel made from the perspective of Contract Law and theory of friendship behavior is used for reference, based on which it is pointed out that laws shouldn’t intervene in the field of private law to an excessive degree, and people should be endowed with a certain degree of freedom of conduct. Therefore, travel based on Going Dutch Method shouldn’t be deemed as a legal act but should be deemed as a friendship behavior based on mutual trust and help among independent travelers.In Part II, an analysis on whether head of an independent travel group can be determined as subject of liability for breach of obligation of safety guarantee is made based on the starting point of theoretical origin of safety guarantee obligation as well as regulations on subject of liability for safety guarantee obligation in Tort Liability Law and Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning Application of Law in Trial of Cases Involving Personal Injury. In process of travel based on Going Dutch Method, behaviors of the travel group head open the “source of danger” for other independent travelers and cause an uncertainty to personal safety of travelers, for which they shall assume a higher degree of duty of care. However, based on the nature of friendship behavior of travel based on Going Dutch Method, content of such duty of care is limited and shouldn’t be expanded in an unlimited way. Head of such travel group can be required to assume liability for damages suffered by other travelers only when he or she conducts wrongful behaviors indeed. In addition, essential conditions of torts of such travel group head should be consistent with essential conditions of general torts, including illegal act, fault, result of damage and causal relationship between illegal act and result of damage. As for mishaps confronted by independent travelers, such travelers shouldn’t assume the obligation to render salvage service to each other, but they still should make an active effort to save each other from the moral perspective.In Part III, it is pointed out that more consideration should be given to particularity of independent travel based on Going Dutch Method in addition to analysis on liability assumed by heads of such independent travel groups. It is well-known that there are risks in independent travel, but such travel is still popular among a large number of independent travelers, for which the main reason is that independent travel is the best way to realize self-worth and challenge the nature to a certain degree. Since independent travelers know about the risks in such travel, they should also be responsible for any possible consequence caused by any mishap if the head doesn’t have any serious negligence. In this part, an analysis on theoretical origin and basic content of principle of assuming sole responsibility for risks is made, based on which it is pointed out that introduction of principle of assuming sole responsibility for risks into independent travel based on Going Dutch Method is very necessary. Not only can such introduction protect selfless contribution of heads of independent travel groups, it can also restrain behaviors of independent travelers and thus make them become more responsible for themselves during travel process. It is evident that even if there exists the best solution to issues emerging after mishaps, it is quite necessary to take sufficient preventive measures. Therefore, for the purpose of reducing loss suffered by independent travelers, China should make great efforts to improve insurance services for independent travel based on Going Dutch Method based on shortcomings existing in the insurance industry at present, through which burden of concerns of independent travelers can be correspondingly relieved. In addition, China should draw on the mature experience of the US and European countries in salvage services provided during outdoor mishaps, establish a salvage system based on combination of state-run and non-government salvage organizations as well as improve efficiency and success rate of salvage services in order to avoid tragedies. Obviously, further improvement in legislation on independent travel in China is the only approach to realize the establishment of legal basis and end the dilemma confronted by independent travelers when they resort to law after mishap, through which China’s tourist industry can develop in a healthier and more orderly way.