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Cyclist and Palace of Westminster (copyright Simon MacMichael)Iain Duncan Smith calls for creation of “causing death by dangerous, careless, or inconsiderate cycling” law
Proposals to ensure that cyclists found guilty of causing death or serious injury through “dangerous, careless, or inconsiderate cycling” will face harsher prison sentences have been introduced in the House of Commons by senior Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, eight months after the government said it was still considering legislation to tackle “dangerous cycling”.
The former Tory party leader has tabled a series of amendments to Home Secretary James Cleverly’s Criminal Justice Bill, which would lead to tougher penalties for those who kill or injure while riding bikes, e-bikes, electric scooters, unicycles, and “personal transporters”.
The proposed update to the legislation concerning dangerous cycling, which can currently see a cyclist who kills while riding recklessly jailed for a maximum of two years under the 1861 ‘wanton or furious driving’ law, would see the creation of an “offence of causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless, or inconsiderate cycling”, along with an offence of killing through “inconsiderate” cycling.
According to Duncan Smith’s amendments, bikes would also be legally required to be “equipped and maintained” to standards set out in the Act.
The MP’s amendments, the success of which is reliant up on the Speaker selecting them for debate in the House of Commons, comes days after no charges were brought against a cyclist who crashed into a pensioner, causing fatal injuries, while riding laps of London’s Regent’s Park.
The cyclist, Brian Fitzgerald, was riding in a group at a speed of between 25mph and 29mph at the time of the fatal crash. The speed limit in the park is 20mph, but the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it does not apply to people riding bicycles (as is the case throughout the country), and that the case had been closed because there was “insufficient evidence for a real prospect of conviction”.
Duncan Smith’s amendments have been welcomed by Matthew Briggs, whose wife Kim was hit and killed by a cyclist riding with no front brakes in London in 2016, with the cyclist Charlie Alliston later being jailed for 18 months after being found guilty of causing bodily harm by “wanton and furious riding”.
“After seven years of campaigning alongside other families who have lost loved ones, I’m delighted and very grateful to Sir Iain Duncan Smith for his support,” Briggs, a longstanding campaigner for a dangerous cycling law, told the Telegraph.
“It finally seems we are making some progress. This amendment could bring a degree of comfort for families in knowing that they may not have to face the same legal trauma that my family – and others – have had to face after cyclists have caused fatal injuries.
“It would also act as a much-needed deterrent to ensure cyclists obey the rules of the road in the same way motorists are required to do.”
> Conservative minister says government still considering new "dangerous cycling" law
The prospect of a new dangerous cycling law has lingered around parliament over the past few years, since former Transport Secretary Grant Shapps raised the issue in January 2022, before declaring his intention to introduce the law again later that year during his infamous summer of backpedalling and U-turns that saw him suggest – and almost immediately retract – that cyclists should have licences, number plates, be insured, and subject to speed limits.
In June 2023, however, it was reported that the Department for Transport had admitted to campaigners that there is a lack of parliamentary time to implement such a law before the next general election, with attention then being turned to a private member’s bill as the primary hope of securing legislative success for the initiative.
But in September, Justice Minister Edward Argar confirmed to parliament that the government is still considering legislation to tackle “dangerous cycling”, after former Leader of the House Andrea Leadsom asked what work was being done to “make sure that the sentencing for those convicted of dangerous cycling is equalised with the sentencing guidelines for those convicted of dangerous driving.”
“The safety of our roads is a key objective for the government. Protecting all road users is a priority," Argar replied in the House of Commons. “Like all road users, cyclists have a duty to behave in a safe and responsible manner. While laws are in place for cyclists, the current laws are old and it can be difficult to successfully prosecute offences.
“That’s why DfT colleagues are considering bringing forward legislation to introduce new offences concerning dangerous cycling to tackle those rare instances where victims have been killed or seriously injured by irresponsible cycling behaviour.”
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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According to this https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/oct/28/mortality-statisti... (ok a bit old) it is more likely to die by wasps and bees, or dogs, or your pillow, or almost lightnings yet somehow people are eager to focus on death by bicycle.
Whats funny is that if they managed to push this through, you can bet your ass that a cyclist that kills someone doing something stupid will get a far harsher sentence than someone doing similar in a car. As everyone knows, cyclists are all maniacs who want to cause problems and drivers are just sweet innocent upstanding members of society who are probably just a little tired from their days work trying to provide for their family and they had a single, momentary lapse of concentration when they drove at 45 in a 30 when drunk.
Glad to hear they're finally tackling the unicycle menace. One nearly killed me*.
Also - "personal transporters" - weren't they in some dystopian sci-fi? I can't remember what they were exactly but they sound worrying and ordinary people can't afford another setback at a time like this.
* I fell off when trying to learn. I was fine, but it *could* have been the end!
With the cost of living at a record high (work no longer pays for the vast amount of people and brings a home and financial security) - our health and social care, the NHS underfunded to the point it's not fit for purpose - our children's education also underfunded so it no longer equips for the modern world that our future workers with the skills needed to be the best they can in the future, and we get this waste of time and air from our goverment. Time for a GE and a change of plan, fast!!!
Wait - is this true? I need to stop posting and call the boss about this!
Are you referring to the difficulty of reducing your benefits, if you're in receipt of benefits? I'd agree that reducing benefits but still earning enough to get by can be pretty difficult. Unless you're Rishi Sunak.
work no longer pays for the vast amount of people
Perhaps I should have wrote
Working full time in many key public and private jobs no longer pays enough
I am not in receipt of any benefits, I for example work for the NHS and have done long before 2008. I have wage slips going back many years. If I input My take home pay for 2009 into the BE inflation calc, I see a gap of over %25 in take home pay over 15 years. Yet My work department could be, according to many higher in the food chain, four times its size but only touch the surface as needed. This, when it is rare that we work now fully staffed or I get a day off without a ping from a manager offering overtime shifts.
So he presumably wants to introduce a "bicycle MOT" type test? With associated paperwork and fees? Which means you'd need to have a bike registered to an owner (shall we call it 'a keeper'?). With all of the associated paperwork and administration for that, too.
I thought that the Tories wanted to reduce paperwork and regulation, or was that only for when a wealthy person wants to avoid paying their tax?
(edited) - Dammit! I must remember to read the comments before commenting - Jimmy Ray Will made the same point 20 minutes ago…
Needs a commensurate law called "dangerous pedestrianising", for the instances when the cylist is injured or dies in the collision, but where the pedestrian is to blame.
Fun fact - you are 15 times more likely to be killed as a pedestrian by a person on a mobility scooter than on a bike. According to DfT stats
don't want to introduce legislation against the only people still voting for them though.
I think the over 70s are the only group still voting for them
I think the over 70s are the only group still voting for them
I deny it!
Not all of them, then
Do you have a link?
When I went looking for that one people killed in mobility scooter collisions seemed mainly to be people on mobility scooters killed by drivers of motor vehicles.
Of all the ills faced by society today (in no small part brought about by 14 years of these imbeciles) it's this that's important.
or could it be a desperate appeal to the culture warrior vote?
It's definitely just a culture war gesture; without government support a random back-bench amendment like this has zero chance of making it into law.
As I've mentioned before, I can't see any law being workable without introducing legislation requiring cyclists to hold a licence and bicycles to be MOT'd.
Without this, no 'dangerous' charge has a realistic chance of conviction.
Licencing and MOT legislation will effectively end cycling as a means of travel - I don't see this one coming off.
As for Mr Briggs, Alliston was tried and cleared of manslaughter. Why does he think a specific law have had returned a different verdict?
I'm not looking forward to getting MOTs for my current stable of 48
The big worry for a cycle MOT is that it's very likely to be supported (and lobbied for) by the the likes of the cycling industry, Halfords and your LBS to get people through the doors to sell stuff to.
"Can't pass that mate - you need a new set of brake blocks."
Who uses them these days?
Yes, those spoon brakes and cotter pins would have been much more relevant instead of that new fangled stuff.
Shurely "Can't pass that mate - you've got your forks on back to front" ?
and those stem bolts are far too tight, you should be able to turn them by hand!
Of the very few people are killed by bicycles, what fraction of those are killed by bicycles that are demonstrably defective ? I suspect it is a number very close to zero. Hopefully the speaker will see sense and this will get a similar fraction of parliamentary time.
Depends what you class as defective. As a track bike, Charlie Alliston's bike was not defective - it had all the required features for a track bike.
Is the bike defective because it doesn't have a bell ? pedal reflectors ? wheel reflectors ? doesn't exactly meet the construction and use regulations ? has after market bits fitted ?
Defective :-
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
We'll just carry on riding without licence or MOT, they haven't got room in the prisons to lock us up!
It doesn't seem to be deterring drivers...
If in doubt just relocate to Lancs; we know they don't fuss with pointless paperwork there.
But how many drivers are they actually locking up, they can barely be bothered to fine them!
I used to live in Lancs before Greater Manchester became a thing, those were the good old days!
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