British cycling safety laws under ‘urgent’ government review after series of deaths – The Independent
The Government is to carry out an “urgent” review of laws covering reckless cycling after a spate of road incidents involving bikes, ministers have announced.
The probe will consider whether dangerous driving laws that currently apply only to people in motorised vehicles should be extended to cyclists.
Jesse Norman, the transport minister, said other changes to make roads safer for cyclists and those around them will also be considered.
The announcement follows several high-profile incidents involving cyclists, including the death of Kim Briggs, a 44-year-old mother of two, who was killed in central London last year by a man riding a bike without front brakes.
Last month, Charlie Alliston, 20, was found guilty of causing her death and was later jailed for 18 months.
During the trial, prosecutors had to rely on an 1861 law that was designed to cover offences by drivers of horse-drawn carriages, because there are currently no charges that apply specifically to cyclists who cause death or injury.
Ms Briggs’ husband, Matthew, has campaigned for the introduction of new offences such as causing death by dangerous cycling or causing death by careless cycling – the equivalent of which already exist, under the Road Traffic Act, for drivers of motorised vehicles.
Under current laws, cyclists can only be charged with careless or dangerous cycling, which carry maximum fines of £1,000 and £2,500 respectively. Riders who cause bodily harm can only be convicted under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which covers “wanton and furious driving”.
Earlier this month, Theresa May hinted that ministers were considering making changes to laws on cycling. The Prime Minister told MPs it was important that “our legislation keeps up to date with developments that take place” and said the Department of Transport was “looking at” the issue.
UK news in pictures
-
1/76
20 September 2017One of the final 55m turbine blades is manoeuvred into position. The last of 116 wind turbines have been installed at the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm 13 kms off the Brighton Coast. It will provide enough electricity to supply the equivalent of half the homes in Sussex
Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
-
2/76
16 September 2017An armed police officer patrols in Horse Guards Parade in London. An 18-year-old man has been arrested in Dover in connection with yesterday’s terror attack on Parsons Green station in which 30 people were injured. The UK terror threat level has been raised to ‘critical’
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
-
3/76
13 September 2017Demonstrators hold banners during a protest to lobby MPs to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, after Brexit, outside the Houses of Parliament
Tolga Akmen/AFP
-
4/76
12 September 2017Rupert van der Werff, Summer Place Auctions’ Natural History specialist, moves a one-year-old baby mammoth skeleton at Summers Place Auctions on September 12, 2017 in Billingshurst. A family of four mammoths, found together during building works near the Siberian city of Tomsk in 2002, will be on sale on November 21, 2017, and are expected to sell in the region of £ 250,000 – 400,000
Rob Stothard/Getty Images
-
5/76
11 September 2017Members of the Royal Navy carry supplies on board the amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean at the Naval Base in Gibraltar before leaving to provide humanitarian assistance and vital aid to British Overseas Territories and Commonwealth partners affected by Hurricane Irma. Britain has pledged £32 million (35 million euros, $42 million) in aid and sent hundreds of troops, supplies and rescue equipment on several flights to the British territories in the Caribbean since the disaster
JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images
-
6/76
10 September 2017His Holiness The Dalai Lama holds the hand of Richard Moore as he gives a public talk on the theme of ‘Compassion in Action’ to celebrate 20 years of the Children in Crossfire initiative in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The Dalai Lama is the patron of the Children in Crossfire charity which was founded by Richard Moore. Mr Moore was blinded by a plastic bullet fired by a British Soldier during the Troubles in Derry.
Getty Images
-
7/76
9 September 2017Participants in the annual Jane Austen Regency Costumed Parade dance on the lawn of the historic Georgian Royal Crescent before they walk through the city centre in Bath, England. This year, the annual event coincided with the 200th anniversary of 19th century author’s death and saw hundreds of people parade through city centre streets dressed in regency costume. The event marks the start of a 10-day Jane Austen festival that celebrates the 19th century author who lived in the city from 1801 to 1806 and set two of her six published novels, ‘Northanger Abbey’ and ‘Persuasion’, in Bath.
Getty
-
8/76
8 September 2017Festival goers brave the wind and the rain at Bestival festival on the Lulworth Estate in Dorset
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
-
9/76
7 September 2017Conservators and museum staff pose as they inspect the Manchester suffragette banner hanging in the conservation department of Manchester People’s History Museum. For nearly 50 years the banner lay undiscovered in a Leeds charity shop. It will go on public display next year to mark the centenary of women gaining the vote
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
-
10/76
6 September 2017Protesters wave placards in Parliament Square during a protest against a Government pay cap in London. Thousands of protesters made up of nurses and supporters hold a demonstration in Westminster today calling on the Government to end the 1% cap on public sector pay
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
-
11/76
5 September 2017U Soe Win, the great-grandson of Burma’s last King, visits Buckingham Palace
John Phillips/Getty Images
-
12/76
4 September 2017Protestors demonstrate in support of workers at British McDonalds restaurants striking over pay and other industrial relations issues, near the Houses of Parliament in London
Reuters
-
13/76
3 September 2017World War II veteran from the Auxiliary Territorial Service Betty Webb (R) joins other veterans who worked at Bletchley Park and its outstations for a group picture in front of Bletchley Park Mansion during an annual reunion in Milton Keynes, England. Bletchley Park was the Government Code and Cypher School’s (GC&CS) main codebreaking centre during World War II and the site where codebreakers famously cracked the German’s Enigma and Lorenz cyphers.
Getty Images
-
14/76
2 September 201750,000 people making the foot crossing over new Queensferry road bridge
EPA
-
15/76
1 September 2017Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, is greeted by Emperor Akihito of Japan during her visit to the Royal Palace in Tokyo, Japan. Mrs May is on the third and final day of her visit to Japan where she has discussed a number of issues including trade and security
Carl Court/Getty Images
-
16/76
31 August 2017Well-wishers and Royal ‘enthusiasts’ gather outside the gates of Kensington Palace where tributes continue to be left, on the 20th anniversary of the death of Princess Diana
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
-
17/76
30 August 2017Prime Minister Theresa May takes part in a tea ceremony in Kyoto, during her visit to Japan.
PA
-
18/76
28 August 2017Revellers dance to music from a sound system with a Grenfell poster on it during the Notting Hill Carnival in London. The Notting Hill Carnival has taken place since 1966 and now has an attendance of over two million people
Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images
-
19/76
27 August 2017Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in a release of doves as a show of respect for those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire, during the Notting Hill Carnival Family Day in west London.
PA
-
20/76
26 August 2017Eight people have died in a crash involving a minibus and two lorries on the M1 near Milton Keynes.
All of those who died are believed to have been travelling in the minibus, which was from the Nottingham area.
The two lorry drivers have been arrested, one of them on suspicion of driving while over the alcohol limit.Alamy
-
21/76
25 August 2017A Science Museum employee poses next to the Wells Cathedral Clock mechanism during a photocall at the Science Museum in London, England. The Wells Cathedral Clock mechanism is believed to be one of the oldest in the world.
Getty Images
-
22/76
24 August 2017Lavlyn Mendoza (left) and Jennifer Quila celebrate after collecting their GCSE results, at Sion-Manning Roman Catholic Girls school in west London
Ben Stevens/PA Wire
-
23/76
24 August 2017Reverend Andrew Poppe takes part in cricket match on the Brambles sandbank at low tide on August 24, 2017 in Hamble, England. The annual event sees Hamble’s Royal Southern Yacht Club team take on the Cowes-based Island Sailing Club in a game of cricket. Spectators from the Isle of White and Southampton travel on boats to watch the match which lasts for around 45 minutes while the sandbank is exposed
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
-
24/76
21 August 2017People gather in Parliament Square to listen to the final chimes of Big Ben ahead of a four-year renovation plan in London. The bell will still be used for special occasions such as marking New Year, but will remain silent on a daily basis, to allow the work teams to carry out structural repairs
Getty Images
-
25/76
20 August 2017The Liverpool crew enters the Mersey, during the start of the Clipper Round the World Race at the Albert Docks, Liverpool.
PA
-
26/76
19 August 2017Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage poses for photographs with veterans and Chelsea Pensioners next to a Spitfire on display at the Biggin Hill Festival of Flight in Biggin Hill, England. The Biggin Hill Festival of Flight is an annual airshow event and in 2017 the airport is celebrating its centenary. The airport only became exclusively business and general aviation in 1959, prior to which it was used by the British Royal Air Force.
Getty
-
27/76
18 August 2017The Isle of Skye is known as one of the most beautiful places in Scotland, however its infrastructure services are being stretched to the limit by the number of visitors heading there to enjoy its rugged scenic beauty.
Getty Images
-
28/76
17 August 2017Grainne Close (L) and Shannon Sickles (2nd L) alongside Henry Edmond Kane (3rd L) and Christopher Patrick Flanagan (4th L) at Belfast High Court speak to the media through their solicitor Mark O’Connor (R) after the ruling on whether to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The judge dismissed both cases. Same-sex marriage is recognised in the rest of the United Kingdom but not in Northern Ireland were the largest political party, the DUP has blocked proposed legislation. Shannon Sickles and Grainne Close, the first women to have a civil partnership in the UK and Henry Edmond Kane and Christopher Patrick Flanagan were challenging the NI Assembly’s repeated refusal to legislate for same sex marriage.
Getty
-
29/76
16 August 2017Ratings line the flight deck of HMS Queen Elizabeth, the UK’s newest aircraft carrier, as she arrives in Portsmouth.
The 65,000-tonne carrier, the largest warship ever to be built in Britain, is expected to be the Navy’s flagship for at least 50 years.PA
-
30/76
15 August 2017People watch a bonfire in the bogside area of Londonderry, which is traditionally torched on August 15 to mark a Catholic feast day celebrating the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven, but in modern times the fire has become a source of contention and associated with anti-social behaviour.
PA
-
31/76
14 August 2017An artist’s impression showing the proposed London Garden Bridge. The £200m plan to build a bridge covered with trees over the River Thames in central London has been abandoned. The Garden Bridge Trust said it had failed to raise funds since losing the support of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan in April
EPA
-
32/76
13 August 2017Sir Mo Farah stands at the top of the Coca-Cola London Eye as he bids a final farewell to British track athletics after winning gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m at the IAAF World Championships in his home city
PA
-
33/76
12 August 2017A dog retrieves a shot grouse on Lofthouse Moor in North Yorkshire as the Glorious 12th, the official start of the grouse shooting season, gets underway.Grouse moor estates received millions of pounds in subsidies last year, according to analysis which comes amid a debate over the future of farming payments after Brexit
PA
-
34/76
11 August 2017Hot air balloons in the air after taking off in a mass ascent at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.
PA
-
35/76
11 August 2017The scene in Rosslyn Avenue, Sunderland, after an explosion at a house.
PA
-
36/76
10 August 2017Police on Goose Lane bridge which goes over the M11 motorway near Birchanger which is closed after a van driver was killed in a motorway crash after what “appears to be a lump of concrete” struck his windscreen and his vehicle hit a tree.
PA
-
37/76
10 August 2017Emergency services at the scene in Lavender Hill, southwest London, after a bus left the road and hit a shop.
PA
-
38/76
9 August 2017Guards march up to Windsor Castle in the rain as a yellow weather warning for rain has been issued for parts of the UK. Heavy rain has brought flooding to the north-east of England
PA Wire
-
39/76
8 August 2017A car on fire in the North Queen Street area of Belfast, close to the site of a contentious bonfire. The car was torched shortly after 10pm on Monday night
PA Wire
-
40/76
7 August 2017A post-Brexit trade deal with the US could see a massive increase in the amount of cancer-causing toxins in British milk and baby food
Reuters
-
41/76
6 August 2017Acts gather amongst the crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh.
PA
-
42/76
5 August 2017New world 100m champion Justin Gatlin pays respect to Usain Bolt after the Jamaican’s last solo race
Reuters
-
43/76
5 August 2017Katarina Johnson-Thompson of Great Britain (Lane 6) and Carolin Schafer of Germany (Lane 7) and their opponants compete in the Women’s Heptathlon 100 metres hurdles during day two of the 16th IAAF World Athletics Championships London 2017 at The London Stadium.
Getty Images
-
44/76
5 August 2017Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is greeted by PSNI and Garda police officers representative of the gay community as he attends a Belfast Gay Pride breakfast meeting in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Irish Prime Minister is on a two day visit to the province having already met with DUP leader Arlene Foster yesterday. The DUP, Northern Ireland’s largest political party have so far blocked attempts to legalise gay marriage.
Getty Images
-
45/76
Members of Unite employed by Serco at Barts Health NHS Trust, on strike over pay, protest outside Serco’s presentation of financial results at JP Morgan, in London.
PA
-
46/76
3 August 2017Athletics – IAAF World Athletics Championships Preview – London, Britain – August 3, 2017 Great Britain’s Mo Farah takes a photo in the stadium
Reuters
-
47/76
3 August 2017Britain’s Bank of England Governor, Mark Carney, addresses journalists during a press conference to deliver the quarterly inflation report in London, August 3, 2017. REUTERS
Reuters
-
48/76
Bank of England and British Airways workers stage a protest outside the Bank of England in the City of London.
PA
-
49/76
2 August 2017Britain’s Prince Philip, in his role as Captain General, Royal Marines, attends a Parade to mark the finale of the 1664 Global Challenge, on the Buckingham Palace Forecourt, in central London, Britain.The 96-year-old husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, made his final solo appearance at the official engagement on Wednesday, before retiring from active public life.
REUTERS
-
50/76
2 August 2017Jamaica’s Usain Bolt gestures during a press conference prior to Bolt’s last World Championship, in east London
AFP/Getty Images
-
51/76
30 July 2017Riders wait at the start on Horse Guards Parade in central London ahead of the “Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic 2017”, UCI World Tour cycle race in London.
AFP/Getty Images
-
52/76
29 July 2017Horse and riders take part in the Riding of the Marches ford on the River Esk, alongside the Roman Bridge in Musselburgh, East Lothian, during the annual Musselburgh Festival organised by the Honest Toun’s Association.
PA
-
53/76
28 July 2017A wide view of play during day two of the 3rd Investec Test match between England and South Africa at The Kia Oval
Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images
-
54/76
27 July 2017A nurse shows a message on his phone to colleagues as they take part in a protest near Downing Street in London. The Royal College of Nursing have launched a series of demonstrations, as part of their ‘Summer of Protest’ campaign against the 1 percent cap on annual pay rises for most NHS staff
Carl Court/Getty Images
-
55/76
27 July 2017Two men look through binoculars at US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush anchored off the coast on in Portsmouth, England. The 100,000 ton ship dropped anchor in the Solent this morning ahead of Exercise Saxon Warrior 2017, a training exercise between the UK and USA
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
-
56/76
26 July 2017Connie Yates, mother of terminally-ill 11-month-old Charlie Gard, arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on where a High Court judge is set to decide where baby Charlie Gard will end his life
Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP
-
57/76
26 July 2017UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson gestures while posing for a photograph at the Sydney Opera House, in Sydney. Johnson is there to attend AUKMIN, the annual meeting of UK and Australian Foreign and Defence Ministers.
Dan Himbrechts
-
58/76
25 July 2017Britain Prime Minister Theresa May walks with her husband Philip in Desenzano del Garda, by the Garda lake, as they holiday in northern Italy
Antonio Calanni/AFP
-
59/76
23 July 2017England team players pose after winning the ICC Women’s World Cup cricket final between England and India at Lord’s cricket ground in London
Adrian Dennis/AFP
-
60/76
23 July 2017Rajeshwari Gayakwad of India attempts to run out Jenny Gunn of England during the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 Final between England and India at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
-
61/76
22 July 2017Chris Froome, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, celebrates on the podium after the twentieth stage of the Tour de France cycling race, an individual time trial over 22.5 kilometers (14 miles) with start and finish in Marseille, France.
AP
-
62/76
22 July 2017Competitors take part in the swim stage during the AJ Bell London Triathlon 2017 at Royal Victoria Docks in London, England. The 21st annual AJ Bell Triathlon sees 13000 competitors take part in the world’s largest triathlon.
Getty Images
-
63/76
21 July 2017Environment Secretary Michael Gove looks at screens in the information pod in the forest zone at the WWF Living Planet Centre in Woking, after he told an audience of environmental and countryside organisations that Brexit gives scope for Britain to be a global leader in green policy
PA
-
64/76
21 July 2017Screen grabbed image taken from video issued by NATS showing air traffic over the UK yesterday at 12:15pm, with red representing departures, yellow arrivals, purple domestic and blue overflights. Air traffic controllers are dealing with the busiest day in the UK’s aviation history. A total of 8,800 planes are to be handled by controllers across the country over 24 hours, at the start of a summer season which is due to see a record 770,000 flights in UK airspace – 40,000 more than last year
PA
-
65/76
20 July 2017Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon shows off his cufflinks after cutting steel on the first Type 26 frigate at BAE System’s Govan Shipyard near Glasgow.
PA
-
66/76
20 July 2017Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson looks at a bipedal humanoid robot Wabian2 at Research Institute for Science and Engineering at Waseda University’s Kikuicho Campus in Tokyo
Reuters/Eugene Hoshiko/Pool
-
67/76
19 July 2017A damaged road in Coverack, Cornwall, after intense rain caused flash flooding in the coastal village.
PA
-
68/76
19 July 2017Prince George holds hands with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they leave Warsaw
PA
-
69/76
18 July 2017Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during her visit to the site of Aberdeen Harbour’s expansion into Nigg Bay
Getty Images
-
70/76
18 July 2017Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson arrives at Downing Street for the weekly cabinet meeting
Getty Images
-
71/76
17 July 2017Daniel Goodfellow and Tom Daley of Great Britain compete during the Men’s Diving 10M Synchro Platform, preliminary round on day four of the Budapest 2017 FINA World Championships on July 17, 2017 in Budapest, Hungary
Getty Images
-
72/76
17 July 2017Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks to the press upon his arrival at the European Council for the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels
Aurore Belot/AFP/Getty Images
-
73/76
16 July 2017Switzerland’s Roger Federer holds aloft the winner’s trophy after beating Croatia’s Marin Cilic in their men’s singles final match, during the presentation on the last day of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London. Roger Federer won 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.
AFP/Getty Images
-
74/76
15 July 2017Garbine Muguruza of Spain celebrates victory with the trophy after the Ladies Singles final against Venus Williams of The United States on day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club at Wimbledon.
Getty
-
75/76
14 July 2017The hearse departs St Joseph’s Church after the funeral service for six year old Sunderland FC fan, Bradley Lowery on in Hartlepool, England. Bradley was diagnosed with neuroblastoma aged only 18 months. Hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects to the Sunderland football supporter who lost his battle with cancer last Friday.
Getty Images
-
76/76
13 July 2017The EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, right, receives an Arsenal football top from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn prior to a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels
Olivier Hoslet/AP
Announcing the review, Mr Norman said: “Although the UK has some of the safest roads in the world, we are always looking to make them safer.
“It’s great that cycling has become so popular in recent years but we need to make sure that our road safety rules keep pace with this change.
“We already have strict laws that ensure that drivers who put people’s lives at risk are punished but, given recent cases, it is only right for us to look at whether dangerous cyclists should face the same consequences.
“We’ve seen the devastation that reckless cycling and driving can cause, and this review will help safeguard both Britain’s cyclists and those who share the roads with them.”
The review will be conducted in two phases. The first, which will conclude early in 2018, will assess the case for creating new criminal offenses for causing death or injury by careless or dangerous cycling.
The second phase will look at wider issues involving road safety and cycling, including ways to make highways safer for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
In 2015, the latest year for which data is available, two pedestrians were killed and 96 seriously injured after being hit by a bike.
Meanwhile more than 100 cyclists are killed and 3,000 seriously injured on Britain’s roads each year.
Reuse contentAbout Us
Free Shipping
If your order is $35 or more, you may qualify for free shipping. With free shipping, your order will be delivered 5-8 business days.
