Dangerous cycling that causes death could land people up to 14 years in prison after the House of Commons backed a proposed change to the law.
The son of the latest victim – 81-year-old Hilda Griffiths – says it’s a two-tier system for cars and bikes and data collection is being skewed due to technicalities around the recording of deaths.
Hilda Griffiths, 81, died from head injuries 59 days after being struck by a cyclist who was exceeding the speed limit for cars while doing a timed lap of the London park in June 2022.
But an inquest ruled the cyclist could not be prosecuted because the speed limit did not apply to bikes. During the hearing, it was revealed the cyclists were travelling at speeds of up to 29mph.
The speed limit in Regent’s Park is 20mph, which the park authorities ask cyclists to stick to. An amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to ensure speeding cyclists are subject to the same prosecution as motorists will be debated today in parliament – led by Iain Duncan Smith.
On Wednesday night, MPs voted in favour of an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that would create three new offences: causing death by dangerous cycling; causing serious injury by dangerous cycling and causing death by careless or inconsiderate cycling.
The amendment, put forward by former minister and Tory party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, was supported by the government and will now form part of the bill.
Speaking in the Commons, Sir Ian described the new law as “urgent” and added: “This is not, as is often accused by people who say anything about it, anti-cycling.
#london #cycling #bicycle #cyclinglife
it’s been likened to a Vel drone cyclists going much faster than cars we’re in Regent Park with a speed gun 24 25 and some are going 12 m above the speed limit going to 32 mph she came out for Gerard Griffith’s mom the cyclist speed was deadly killed by a bike as she crossed the road another group came along and she basically was struck by the fur in line she was a lovely beautiful lady she was to mean mom but she was beautiful to everyone she had dogs all all my life would always come to the park to walk her dogs and her last one in her retirement was a little rescue dog from Battery who she used to call her four legged husband believe it or not the Regents Park speed limit is 20 but the cyclist who hit Hilda was reaching speeds of 29 mph but because he was on a bike he wasn’t prosecuted naively maybe I thought that because my mom had been killed on the road there’d be some sort of even a cult appearance but to not actually even get it to court that is something you know if a judge told me there was no nothing anyone could do I wouldn’t necessarily agree but have to accept it inconsiderate cycling but this afternoon a proposal to change the law by Sir Ian Duncan Smith to make cyclists obey the same rules as cars the fact is that cyclists are on the road and for pedestrians they can be a danger so you want them to ride conscious of that and also knowing that there are laws that say things they shouldn’t do in wesworth plant boxes have been added to the temp’s cycle path to slow bikes down but cycling campaigners believe the change of law isn’t needed I think we are covered by dangerous Cy laws already if it’s Reckless if it’s Furious driving I think is the term then you can be prosecuted and for instances where you you’re being Reckless then that should be should be the case but here it was kind of proved that the cyclist was doing 29 miles hour and there was no prosecution so there’s obviously yeah I mean I think in that incident that is that is ridiculous I think for a cyclist to be doing 29 milph in an area where there’s clearly pedestrians so yeah I mean that that should be dealt with her last faults would have been probably her life flashing in front of her another pedestrian was hit earlier this month at the exact spot where Gerald’s mom died but with no speed laws for cyclists the vrone racing continues unchecked so so Rags what’s happening with um Syrian Duncan Smith’s changing the law well this is all about equality for Road users speed law should be the same for cars and for bicycles he says Parliament is still discussing the issue tonight of voter is expected within the next hour but we understand that the government will support City in Duncan Smith’s Amendment but with the speed gun today it was amazing because most bikes were obeying the speed limit but quite a few were going way above 20 and it doesn’t seem fair at the moment Gerald told me the person who hit his mom while going too fast was able to cycle home so expect to change in the law but enforcing this law might be another issue Al together very good point thank you
32 Comments
Yes, they all need to display licence plate. and yes rider licence. and yes, fined for speeding.
I have a young child. and if he gets bitten by a dog or ran over by a cyclist, the other person is going to need surgey.
You have equality to paying motorists, you need the same responsibilities.
How do they cope in Holland?
Cyclist should have 3rd party insurance and all road users should be subjected to the rules of the road,
But nobody has an issue with cars capable of speeds over 200mph being sold when the maximum speed limit in the UK is 70mph.
Sad story but sh* happens. Let's not over-regulate everything for the few bike deaths that happen every year.
so this video is trying to say that a cyclist at 29mph is more dangerous than a car at 20mph? does no-one do math anymore? Obviously it is a tragedy that anyone loses their lives at the hands of another
How about reporting the facts? She stepped out into the road and didn’t look. How many people are killed by cars doing that each year?
Cyclist Momentum at 20mph (approx 9 m/s) for a HEAVY bloke = 9x100kg = 900kg.m/s
Avg car + Passenger momentum at 20 mph = 9x1500kg = 13,500kg.m/s
so 15 x more momentum. That's whats most likely to kill you, not speed alone.
Literally every cyclist when they see the speed gun: SPRINT
Fixing the infrastructure is too obvious a solution I guess?
I live in a city, I would like to commute by bicycle along a theoretically pleasant and flat route that is almost exclusively 20mph. I feel completely unable to do so as it is no exaggeration to say 70% of drivers break the limit and about 10% exceed 30mph. they aggressively overtake in the most ridiculous places in spite of the fact that not only do I keep with the speed limit but I also match the speed of the traffic. There is a portion of the population that feels a pavlovian urge to overtake a cyclist no matter the circumstances.
The drivers simply don’t care.
The councillors simply don’t care.
The police simply don’t care.
The snivelling excuse for a prime minister we suffer under has spotted a chance to stir up some hatred in a vain attempt to cling to power like dog mess to your shoe and this is the result. Laws already exist to prosecute dangerous cycling this is nothing but a dark publicity stunt.
Tom Fyans representing cyclists but wearing all black the worst possible colour to stand out on the roads….. says it all.
Some really negative comments but cyclists having licence plates on a bike come on really most cyclists have insurance threw British cycling
And how many are killed by cars vs bicycles? Blaming others for your own fault is the new norm, move on.
Dutch cycling culture – upright stance, calmly pedalling along. UK cycling culture – head down Tour de France mode, fast as possible.
If a pedestrian is hit by a car, the dissipation of the kinetic energy into the body is across a much smaller surface area than if the person was hit by a motorist at the same speed. The kinetic energy is thus focussed into a smaller point. As a result, the most serious cycle-on-pedestrian injuries are caused by internal organ trauma as well as brain damage caused by the impact of the head on the kerb or road surface as the person falls. Also, a car's body has metal panels that are flexible and absorb some of the impact whereas bike's frames consist of hard, inflexible tubing. Someone being hit by a car at 20mph is more likely to suffer limb fractures than internal injuries. Focussing on the speed the of cyclists is not anti-cycling. If motor vehicles are travelling, for example, at 20mph, then a cyclist doing 29mph is going to surprise a person traversing a pedestrian-crossing, not least because a cyclist is much more difficult to see than a motor vehicle and is especially the case for people who are sight-impaired. In addition, the increased speed gives the pedestrian less time to react to the cyclist once they've seen them. The pelotons highlighted in this report, where large groups of cyclists, riding several abreast, speed along urban roads like swarms of locusts, are at best highly intimidating and at worse, lethal. Nothing screams 'self-entitled devil-may-care attitude to all other road users' than that. As a cyclist, driver and pedestrian, I firmly believe that all road users should be looking out for each other instead of dominating the road for their own selfish ends. Dead is dead. There's no coming back from it.
25 years driving HGV ! I know for a fact the majority of cyclists are ARSEHOLES ! !
It's ridiculous to call it a velodrome, or to infer that the cyclists are 'racing'. Cyclists are covered by existing laws where dangerous or inconsiderate cycling occurs, but this is an hysterical overreaction, driven by media frenzy and ill informed individuals. All road users have a duty of care, including pedestrians, and if you wander out in front of moving vehicles without due care the consequences for both parties are serious. Falling off a bike at 30mph because of a jaywalker is the last thing responsible cyclists want!
I'm sure you will have mentioned it, but speed laws do not apply to cyclists. So they are NOT speeding. Apparently the reason is that they don't have speedometers which means ignorance is an excuse under the law. Personally I think the law should apply to cyclists but be applied by the police with a little tolerance. So if you are found to be doing 25 in a Welsh town that might be acceptable, whereas a car driver has no excuse.
I thought the idea is that we're meant to be encouraging cycling. Yes, it would be wise for cyclists not to exceed speed limits. It's very sad the lady died but she shouldn't have stepped out into traffic, putting herself and the cyclists in danger. She's entirely at fault.
Cyclists should have insurance if they believe they're entitled to take up as much road as car users.
Yes, they're on a vehicle on the road, they should also pay tax and insurance.
Going by the logic of a lot of cyclists here, if a cyclist rides out in front of a car without looking, it's their own fault if they're killed? The motorist shouldn't be investigated and should just be allowed to drive home?
"Causing death by dangerous _anything_" is already illegal
It's not just bikes that are the problem at all, these days you have to be on alert for scooters on the pavement, bicycles undertaking cars, motorbikes overtaking cars, and teenagers on all sorts of illegal craft doing what the hell they want, from every direction. It's like you need your head on a swivel and five pairs of eyes. Cars are the least of my worries, they're more predictable, larger, and generally slower or stationary in our modern cities! Which is ironic, because they are the only ones that have rules enforced on them to behave in a certain way.
Love how the fella who was doing the interview decided it was a great idea to be standing out in the road while interviewing the guy on the bike about safe behaviour on the roads.
RIP the poor lady who perished from the accident. But let’s be clear, it was an accident. That cyclist did not wake up that morning and decide to go out and kill someone. There is duplicity in the cause of the accident, perhaps the cyclist was going fast, perhaps the pedestrian did not look properly, both are at fault. Sir Ian Duncan Smith looks like the type of fat bastard that needs to get on his bike a lot more that he does. The existing laws were more than adequate, this is just politicians wasting our time once again.
Just leave cyclists alone and get a life for Christ sake!.
This is very poor….its not even click bait as any cyclist will find it hard to comment when you wheel out a relative from someone who has died from a cyclist collision, i mean how you you mention the countless near misses in London from pedestrians just stepping out…..
This is a storm in teacup. When the limit was 30mph the number of cyclists going faster would have been close to zero. Now at 20, its barely any more.
The faux outrage is absurd
Plenty of cyclists on here arguing that fatalities caused by bicycles colliding with pedestrians can be counted on one hand, what they neglect to mention is that the government’s road accident fatalities stats are fudged in favour of cyclists, pedestrians killed on cycle paths, paths & in parks aren’t included in road fatalities statistics
How pathetic of this person who's in issuing a person on a bike when he is on the road when cars or bikes or anything could go past and knock him down but how did they know the cyclist who knocked down a woman down was doing it in 30 miles an hour it doesn't make a lot of sense a cyclist we don't know if he was a a normal cyclists or a person who is in micro cyclist who has club colours if this woman was going to cross the road Levi was doing 29 miles an hour what was she doing standing in the road when the bike was coming down the road she could kept walking across or she stopped I'm an if there was a car parked on the side or a fan you could not see anything coming past that would make a lot of sense there are lots of bike riders and cyclists if you have a load a cyclist coming towards you was crossing a road and if there was travelling pretty fast I think you will stay on the Curve you know it is safe to go across is there speed limit is 25 mph or 30 mph and if it was too abreast the cyclist would miss her but any person who is a person who rides or dries in London you got to be on your toes and be alert when traffic or bikes are on the road there are lots of bike riders who use the road and they go through red lights do not buy the rules of the road and you wouldn't use London to to race to with a pack of cyclists when they give them the law motorbikes all Cycles can filter between traffic when you have pedestrians walking out of a rope because a car is stopped and they don't know what's coming down the middle of the road I do not believe in filtering go inside the side of cars if there is enough room to get down on the left-hand side of the road and when motorbikes and push bikes when it comes to a crossroads on the left hand side and they recycling down the middle of the road or writing their riding their motorbike or push bike down the middle of the road Wayne cars are bumper to bumper when the car is in Front has let another car out or a bike out on the left-hand side of a junction when it is turning right but a pedestrian should be more alerted and concentrating when they are walking from one side to the other if there is a clear path on your right hand side left to right you are constantly looking more to your right before you cross into the middle of the road then you look left see it is clear to walk across and it would make a lot of sense if it was a car hittinger but pedestrians do not bye-bye the rules and law how to use the road safely but if the Cycles was travelling a little bit fast you think to yourself she this woman was not paying a much attention on a right-hand side if she was she would be still alive today they are a lot of bad cyclists in London when you have teenagers doing stunts or doing wheelies backwards and forwards named trying to go one side of the road and to the other when they are breaking the rules it seems to me it was an accident seems to meet this reporter trying to make a name for herself