Cyclist Clamp Down: Rider killed pensioner but avoided jail because speed limits are only for cars!

‘We wouldn’t tolerate boy racers in cars’, so why are there not speed limits for bicycles?

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now a cyclist who collided with a pensioner could not be prosecuted because speed limits don’t apply to bicycles the man was going 29 miles an hour he’s doing timed laps around Regent Park in London and he hit 81-year-old Hilda Griffith as she crossed the road as she was trying to reach a pedestrian Island so the legal speed limit there is 20 M an hour and 59 days after the accident uh Miss Griffith died from head injury complications so we are encouraged to cycle more and more aren’t we but the law apparently seems to have failed to keep up with the dangers that bikes pose to pedestrians what do you think Scarlet are you a cyclist I’m a slow I’m a slow cyclist I will never ever be done for speeding and I don’t bicycle that much anymore but what what I find odd about this story is that I remember I mean it was years ago a cyclist being done in Cambridge uh in the middle of the night for exceeding the speed limit and he too was trying to race I mean I think the the big problem with cyclist so there were two problems is one is this guy was part was obviously he was in a peleton there was a whole bunch of them that were obviously trying to practice for racing I mean I think it was at something like 7 a.m. but the terrible problem if you’re trying to cross the road is you don’t hear them I mean is I mean that’s that’s what happened to this woman is that clearly like I do quite often you know she went across the road didn’t look properly and bang um and and I think had she had he been going at under 20 I mean of course you know cyclists should stick to the speed limit of course there should be a speed limit but most cyclists do not go over 20 miles an hour so although you can’t be done for speeding because that’s got to be only motorized vehicles cyclist can be fined for w and Furious cycling if bodily harm is inflicted on someone due to cycling you can get a 2-year prison sentence most cyclists I see are cycling I would say as Wen and furiously I think in London certainly there is a culture around cycling where actually a lot of people do not behave particularly courteously should we see on that every day I see people jumping red lights always cyclist always men it must be said never women that I see doing always men of a certain age normally wearing lyro oh yes do you know what actually having having got very upset about the generalizations of certain people early I’m happy to generalize this kind of cyclist because we all know who it is that we’re talking about I think the motorized vehicle thing I get why that exists but I do think it’s about well it’s a simple question of velocity actually if it doesn’t matter if you’re riding a horse or riding a bike or whatever it is if you’re going at a certain speed and you hit somebody Point Blank you’re going to cause a lot of damage so it does apply to other Road users based simply on the fact that they are Road users it should apply to all I don’t think that it’s a very fair thing and as we say there is a culture look we wouldn’t tolerate boy races in the middle of London like we do these cyclists and I do think actually it’s about time simply because of the general culture around cycling that I see certainly in the capital city I know that you it might be different elsewhere in the countryside I know it’s you know perfectly fine to go sort of 30 40 m hour because you’d probably not going to come into contact with a lot of people but in those kind of built up urban areas actually yeah I think you probably should have to but how do you police that then then we’re starting to go down the route of well cyclists therefore should have a registration plate or they should be wearing something which identifies this this person um was prosecuted so there was no question that he was he was identified I mean the whole problem but he was in like say he was in a pelaton he was in a group that were training for an event if you are a cyclist and you run over an old lady you can just cycle away and no one’s ever going to know who you are yeah but but I know I mean a friend of mine a friend of mine who was on her way to interview President Obama was run down by a cyclist um and ended up in hospital uh and didn’t do the interview with with with Obama um so she was pretty bitter about it I can tell you and he technically he wasn’t breaking the law I mean she was crossing the road he was and he thought that that shouting at her was good enough and she just assumed it was her husband but there’s so much Fury and anger on the roads now cars versus bikes but right there that’s a sort of a opportunities to interview pres the president of the United States do not come along very often not that that should be the thing that sort of determines but it can ruin your day it can ruin your life it can kill you ultimately the end result of is is the same so you know whilst I don’t think we do want to go down the route of you know say have you got a license for this bike and having registration plates and all that if people can’t behave a certain way ultimately there will I think be more tolerance of government getting involved and saying well hang on no if if enough people are misbehaving then that’s what’s going to happen and so you do have to kind of turn around to people and say well look if you don’t want this to happen maybe don’t behave a certain way while it’s just like along because you will ruin it for yourselves and for everybody else but who is this cycle culture for because it’s been subsequent governments it’s not just a Sadi KH issue although he has clearly pushed this through and he loves it started with Boris Johnson actually and his Boris yeah but we’re talking about actually we’re talking about different sorts there are three different sorts of cyclists that we’ve discussed on this program there’s the pelaton and they were clearly RAC it was at 7 a.m. they they they were in Regent Park they were tra they were going around the Inner Circle the Outer Circle and and they were training they were train so so we we’re not we’re not talking about the people Benedict is talking about these were people training and tragically some sort of Safeguard in place in that situation somebody a marshal or somebody watching something or or and I think they probably thought that at 7 a.m. it was okay yeah then there’s then there’s the boring cyclists like me and there are an awful lot of us who just who just bicycle and frankly you know the man who mowed down my friend was a boring ordinary cyclist and then there there are I I actually I’m more sympathetic to the deliver people because at least they’re working but but there are the people Benedicts talking about who are just an absolute pain in the ass whether you are a pedestrian or an or I mean as a cyclist I I do find other cyclists can be dangerous Benedict one of our viewers Livy has got in touch and said this country has paid a fortune for bike lanes and that so the cyclist should pay some kind of license and insurance surely they ensure them for theft because I was thinking that if you are a pedestrian hit by a cyclist and you can’t work again you’ve got no insurance well it’s not an unfair Point again well you can sue them but actually them if you can find them you can sue them but I think you know again people who have other kinds of vehicles you can’t drive them legally without some sort of insurance so maybe if you don’t necessarily need a license or registration plate maybe some sort of insurance would be good but you should be taking that out anyway on on on yourself at the VAR because actually bikes do get stolen a lot uh people do get into accidents when it comes but you know the proliferation of cycling in this country I think it comes first and foremost it comes because a lot of the politicians who go onto High office uh went to Oxford and Cambridge and there’s a lot of cycling there so think ah this works for everybody they go to Europe and a lot of the cities are a lot smaller than our post-industrial cities and they think you can cycle everywhere in Bologna or Amsterdam wonderful everybody should do this and also it’s a like again you you’ve sort of Scarlet’s pointed out that there are several different types of cyclist actually when it comes to commuting it tends to be a young person without many strings don’t have children or anything like that they don’t actually have to cycle long distance es so it’s it’s useful for a certain kind of person the sort of person who might want to live within say cycling distance of Westminster in central London it’s the sort of thing that certain people think this is very good it’s not the most practical thing terrible for parents this obsession with cycling is a nightmare for parents because and that’s why I think that these male politicians why why why because my day looks like getting the kids from school with a bootful of Supermarket shopping taking one to a netball team we’re taking one to a swimming club if we want our children to do activities we need to live in a city where we’ve either got amazing public transport and we do not have it but even if we had amazing public transport we as parents can’t give our children the life that they need and grandparents whilst we’re told to get on bikes in the rain on a cold day no nobody’s telling you to get on you you oh they are if you can’t come on you have a choice no if the TR you don’t have a choice that’s my point is you don’t have a choice you you just told me you have a car right you have a car and drive that that’s absolutely fine and you drive your children places so you have a choice I don’t have a car I have a choice I have a choice because actually where I live there is good public transport and for my East West things I take my bike we all we have a choice of course children I mean and actually I taught my kids how to ride a bike I mean I presume you have too no of course they can ride a by of course they can but I wouldn’t want them going out in London I wouldn’t my Elis does ride an electric bike now and he and it’s a cuz it’s it can’t afford barely afford public transport so it’s so expensive yes so he goes out but I will not encourage my daughters to ride bicycles in London not at all and at the when they’re teenagers maybe it’s okay but actually when they’re younger when you want to get them to their activities how are you meant to do that on a bike well then that’s fine you you drive them I mean nobody’s saying that but you put with traffic neighborhoods with all the cycle Lanes which means it’s bumper to bumper to bumper it takes hours to get anywhere in this city now and so who’s part part of the problem is I think we’re talking we’re talking about a lot about cities well no very rarely people actually ever talk about is the countryside we’re still half of the population live it’s much safer to ride a bike in the countryside but it takes you a lot longer to get to anywhere that you want to go and that’s actually where you know the concentration of uh motor vehicle users if you want to use them is most important because also public transport is very where I’m from if you want to get to the nearest city there is one every hour it does not always come exactly on the hour and if you miss it well good luck you got to wait for the next one and they’ve cut back on those Services although actually I would say if you’re in Devon or some places where I was brought up cycling is not safe no it’s not even an option yeah very good point