Speed limits do not apply to cyclists, a fact that Gerard Griffiths found out in the most tragic of ways after his mother Hilda was knocked down and killed by a speeding cyclist in June of 2022. This week her son listened to the details of how she died at her inquest in central London – how his mother was killed by banker Brian Fitzgerald who was cycling at speeds of up to 29 mph in a 20 mph zone. Yet, he avoided any prosecution as no speed limits exist for cyclists so legally.
Broadcast on 08/05/24
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cyclists who kill or injure someone as a result of riding dangerously could be found guilty of new Criminal offenses and face harsher prison sentences under proposed changes to the law yes in June 2022 81-year-old Hilder Griffiths was knocked down by a cyclist who was traveling at 29 M an hour in a 20 mph Zone while she was out walking her dog but because speed limits don’t apply to cyclists in the same way that they do to Mo ISS police concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute and took no further action well with us now is Hilder son Gerard Griffiths and alongside Gerard is campaigner Matt Briggs who has been calling for changes like this in the law after his wife Kim was also killed by a cyclist in 2016 thank you both for coming in to join us this is devastating sit situation for both of you um Gerard your lovely mom uh similar age actually to my mom and I know that my mom finds it very nerve-wracking at the moment being even on Pavements because she’s in an area where cyclists feel forced to go onto the pavement but with the increase in electric bikes electric scooters you can’t hear them coming they shouldn’t be on the Pavements anyway your mom lost her life because somebody was going too fast on a bike and what seems outrageous is that if that had been a car then there would have been a prosecution but in the case of what happened to your mom there wasn’t that’s basically the failings I think in the law that if cyclists can’t be prosecuted for going above the speed limit and killing people then there’s a two-tier system where everybody should be equal under the law in regarding of wrongdoing yeah and the reason it wasn’t the CPS basically has to meet a full code of which the second is is it in the public interest of which I believe it certainly was and this is proof I think yeah but it didn’t meet because of the law failings it didn’t meet the code for the police to bring a prosecution M the cyclist they were doing timed pelaton type laps around Regents Park which the park in London it has a circular Road doesn’t it correct basically they were riding in what is you’d call it a pce line formation which is in a line of four uh where one at the front takes like the lead and then they pull off go to the back and that’s for Speed and for energy yeah um so they’re going hell for leather at 29 miles an hour um and then your mom steps out she steps out apparently according to them without looking but you’ve also got in the coroners inquest The General the cyclist said was asked if he saw a slow sign which is written in three foot high letters on the floor and he didn’t couldn’t recall of which he could recall my mother not looking supposedly be in him mind he goes around that Park 10 times every Saturday and he has done for however long so whether she looked and he didn’t see her look but they were covering such a a distance it went they were covered between 11 and 13 m/ second the point is there’s a 20 mph speed limit for a reason yeah in that Park and he was going at 29 miles hour Matt your wife was killed by a cyclist in 2016 yes but you’ve been campaigning ever since then with with no change in the law there was somebody prosecuted in the case of your wife but under an archaic law that applies to hor drawn carriages now something extraordin happened this week didn’t it yes I’ve been I’ve been campaigning I think people are surprised to know that cycling and I use this word very carefully cycling is literally a lawless activity when it comes to the road traffic tact it it’s literally a lawless activity and I’ve been campaigning for seven years and making some progress and then in 2022 Grant chaps announced he was then transport secretary he announced that he was bringing this law forward he announced it twice once on lb and Once In The Daily Mail and then nothing happened it always gets blocked I have the department for transport telling me that it’s number 10 blocking it I have number 10 telling me that there’s Department of Transport blocking it but what’s happened this week is Gerard’s story and Gerard’s mother’s story has moved things along because it it’s such a powerful story and uh on Monday I did a um an interview with today program Radio 4 and Monday afternoon I took a phone call from Ser Duncan Smith who was very moved by this story and wanted to make a change he yesterday evening has submitted uh tabled an amendment to the criminal justice bill which would see the laws that I’ve been calling for um included in the criminal justice bill now we’re still a long way off but it’s now up for the government to either support this amendment or oppose it and if they oppose it explain why because I think I know why but I want the government to come to the dispatch box and explain whether they’re either going to support this or oppose it why do you think they may oppose it my understanding from being at this for seven years the only conclusion I can come to is that the department for transport has been utterly captured by the cycling Lobby they are terrified of the cycling Lobby and they have been cowed by the cycling Lobby that is the only conclusion I can come to it’s an utter shambles and as I say Department of Transport blaming number 10 sources at number 10 blaming the Department of Transport it’s enough and of course I mean difficult as it is to say to both of you we have seen improvements in cycling infrastructure more people cycling is good for individuals good for their health good for the environment what you’re calling for is safe cycling yes if I make if I may come back on that that point because you’re absolutely right the more people are cycling the better but there is an increase there’s a concomitant increase in Risk when I started this campaign I was told by the cycling Lobby in TV studios like this this is not the priority we need more infrastructure well I can tell you that since Kim’s death and um up till the end of this year they will be spending six billion pounds on cycling infrastructure six billion these are the government’s own figures and yet we still have no law that protects people like my wife people like Gerard’s mother and it’s not just us Peter mombi uh Jim Blackwood Mary Stone Eliza uh Elizabeth Walker I could go on I was told in 2017 by a government Minister who I won’t name we may have to wait for another Kim Briggs well tragedies like what’s happened to Gerald’s mother keep coming and yet still no law um Geral you were able to be with your mom weren’t you at the end yeah she was very very badly injured in this particular accident she’d been walking the dog hadn’t she yes the hospital kind enough to let you take the dog yeah and she did react slightly to him but she said ask my boy but to me she I was never her son I was everyone other than her son she didn’t recognize recogniz she recognized her dog she up until that moment she stepped into the road to cross to The Pedestrian it’s a refuge island is Refuge Island was hit up until that moment she must have been 81 but she was active she was fit she mentally aware wasn’t she she was an independently living elderly lady she had a little routine her life of going up the par with a dog she had um her faith was immense to her she was big in the Lo in her church even run in the church shop every morning before church before Mass even up to the day before the actual um Collision happened and she had a lot more to live for even at 81 I mean test to that is when I got up to say her eulogy at her funeral I looked and the church was absolutely packed elderly people unfortunately lose friends as time go by and I think as testimony to her popularity and the love that she sort of showed people was she was she aware of this risk beforehand had she spoken to you beforehand because she goes in the park about cyclists and uh and road I know yeah I mean I don’t know if I’m allowed to say it on TV but she it’s it was quoted in the the newspaper article that she did say to me when I was around at her once that those bloody cyclists are getting worse you know so I’ve said it sorry yeah uh it’s ironic isn’t it in in the circumstances and Matt your wife young and you know had so many years ahead of her she also concerned about what was happening on the roads I think anybody who even 8 years ago anybody who lives and works and enjoys Central London has noticed an increase in the in the risk and you know tragedies that that befell Kim and Gerard’s mother keep happening and yet there is still no legislation to to deal with this and for that legislation to be enforced because the Department of Transport said dangerous cycling puts lives at risk and is completely unacceptable and I think we all agree with that they point out there are specific offenses for Dangerous cycling already which would see offenders facing fines of up to 2,500 or up to two years imprisonment if they cause bodily harm to others may I take that apart of course um I could I could write what the Department of Transport say in these circumstances okay the first part of that they are summary only offenses they can only be dealt with with uh with fines the second part of that is the 1861 causing uh bodily harm doesn’t even mention death by means of wanting and Furious riding it was a law designed for horse riders uh in the Victorian era and has to be cobbled together and used to prosecute these offenses and that’s what the the person who killed your wife that’s what they were prosecuted under and you were the first to do that weren’t you I don’t know if I was the first um but yesterday morning extraordinary move yesterday morning the judge from my wife’s case who is now um retired went on to Radio 4 to explain exactly why the law needs to be changed because to use a Victorian law designed for horse riders is utterly shambolic and imperfect look thank you both very much indeed we all want there to be safe cycling you know cyclists are at risk of course as well but we want pedestrians to be safe as well could I just add that we’re all pedestrians regard of what you ride Drive everybody’s a pedestrian that’s true and it affects everyone I’m so sorry for the loss that you’ve both faced difficult time thank you very much indeed
32 Comments
Manslaughter charges?
The times i have seen cyclists almost causing accidents by riding side by side blocking traffic from passing safely and then going nuts when people take chances passing them having to drive onto the other side of oncoming traffic
Good!
Everyone on the road should have to start on a bicycle and pass a proficiency test…like we did at school. Then pass a moped test before they get a car licence.
The roads would be much safer.
Cyclists should start paying road tax as well
Currently unenforceable since cyclists carry no identification such as a registration plate and compulsory insurance
About time..
Cyclists nowadays are an absolute menace.
Especially at night.
No lights.
Dark clothing.
Headphones FFS.
Jumping red lights.
Good. CyclingMikey should be the first one for dangerous riding. He cycles the wrong way up the road to catch stationary drivers checking their phones because his Dad was a motorcyclist who was riding dangerously and he was gamed over by a car.
Now he's in a foreign country targeting our people for clicks and views. He should have been prosecuted after a judge found a driver not guilty of hitting him when Mikey threw himself on the driver's bonnet.
Frankly, as a cyclist they are super exposed to being badly injured in case of collision. What might be a good idea is to require to pass a driving theory test and require 3rd party insurance, but more laws to criminalise people is another step towards a fascist state, which Britain has pretty much become (mass surveillance, CCTV everywhere, etc.)
Sad story
I'm an active cyclist and cycle in a moderate safe manner and I have to mention I've seen a lot of reckless cyclist who ride in an arrogant manner and are aggressive when confronted by their behaviour!
Totally agree, they should NOT be practicing on public roads , spread is a killer
Most of them dont even ring warning bells when riding fast behind pedestrians on walking routes. Very very dangerous.
Riding on pavements has become the norm and there are electric bikes and scooters in London doing 30 MPH. They are taking away the safe haven of the vulnerable, disabled, elderly, deaf, children and the blind because cyclists are frightened to ride on the roads. You can't make it up. They are scared, so they cycle on the pavement to scare someone who is a lot more vulnerable than them. Kew Bridge has huge delivery bikes with baskets on doing 20mph on a pavement, and there are electric bikes weighing so much doing over 20 mph on a shared pavement. What are these people thinking who make it that the pavements are shared thinking? As the guy in the video said it seems that the cycling lobby are flexing their muscles and they have infiltrated the road safety departments. Khan is to blame in London he has allowed shared pavements, and that is an absolute disgrace. Get the cyclists off the pavements and make electric bikes illegal, they are a fire hazard and are being taken on the tube and there will be a serious incident causing a fire on the tube or Elizabeth line. There needs to be consequences for the self-centered actions and the people cycling are not reasonable. They have no consideration for anyone but themselves.
i live in small town in nottinghamshire suttton in ashfield. The local council spent a huge sum of money on a cycle lane and no one uses it
How did cycling become so divisive?
we should have had this decades ago
also all cyclists should have to have public liabilty insurance
two tier system is wrong
thats classes as racing that techneak
Cyclists should be required to buy and display a registration tag every year. Good money maker to invest in cycle lanes and easy money for the Tory party donors that could profit from the scheme. It would be unworkable but that's never stopped a politician before.
How do you define dangerous cycling? Cars have speedometers
Do you realise that yhis type of rhetoric causes danger to cyclists? London is another planet. Outside London the very dangerous cycling haters pose a real threat to the lives of cyclists who deliberately use their cars as weapons. Far more innocent law abiding cyclists are killed by drivers than are killed by cyclists. Powerful story but victimising and encouraging hate of cyclists is far more dangerous
Leave cyclists alone, car drivers in the UK have oftentimes zero idea on how to drive next to a cycler… Cycling is the most eco-friendly and local mean of transportation, just let us exist.
Cyclists think the law doesn’t apply to them, god knows how many dogs are (also) killed by them, they come speeding past when I’m walking my little dogs, it’s terrifying, you don’t even hear them coming, they don’t even have to wear a bell , I’ve seen many dogs that have been killing by them on social media, something needs doing about it , they seem to be very selfish people
They need to be taxed and insured, like other vehicles have to be.
As a cyclist, i agree that there needs to be restrictions for cyclists whilst in certain urban areas. There also needs to he more cycle paths
Why does someone have to die before the government take these matters seriously. How can it be 7 years of deflecting responsibility in the department of transport and 10 Downing Street.
In both of these cases, the victims were at fault & there was nothing the cyclists could have done. Witnesses recorded that the old woman stepped out into the road without looking.
Crock
Bicycle riders who race everywhere are the worst.They are so focussed on their speed and route that anything or anyone who happens to be in their way is seen as an inconvenience to them. Running red lights,riding over pedestrian crossings when they shoudn't and weaving all over both sides of the road just so they can get to their destination quickly.
It's well overdue that they are held to account for their reckless cycling.
An elderly friend of mine was walking his dog along the roadside in Cumbria and was struck from behind by a cyclist training on one of his time trial things travelling at approximately 30 miles per hour with his head down and not paying attention to what was in front of him on the public highway..my friend lost an entire eye and suffered life changing brain injuries and spent months in hospital..
If a car driver had been responsible then there would of been a prosecution and probable jail ..but nothing whatsoever for the cyclist who was actually more concerned about the catastrophic damage to his bike than he was about my blameless friends horrific injuries..
The public highway is not a velodrome..or the route for wannabe Tour de France entrants..and treating offending dangerous cyclists as the thoughtless criminals they are is long overdue..