bikebuddha 

The government is looking at introducing a new offence of causing death by dangerous cycling following concerns that there is no suitable legislation to deal with riders who are involved in incidents such as hitting pedestrians on pavements.

A transport minister has privately promised to support a bill presented to the House of Commons by Andrea Leadsom, the Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire, who is campaigning on behalf of a family whose teenage daughter was struck and killed by a reckless cyclist.

The move follows a significant increase in cycling in many parts of the UK over recent years and a parallel spate of alarmist media stories about "Lycra louts".

Can anyone in the UK comment on this?

DW-Radio's living planet podcast also looked at cycling this week.

UptownJoe60640

I am not in the UK but I think the responses to this are quit simple. If a cyclist is breaking the law and hits a pedestrian (who is crossing the street, legally, in a crosswalk with the cross light) then I think
the charge should be same as if a car hit a person in the same situation. If the pedestrian is obeying the law and hits hit, is it the pedestrians fault? Absolutely, not! Now, the flip side of that. If tjhe
pedestrian is crossing the street in any other place but a designated crosswalk I do not think the cyclist/motorist should be to blame! Do I think the motorist should open their eyes, pay attention and
be prepared to stop in such situations? Absolutely, but, if the car were to hit the pedestrian when they are jaywalking I do not believe the cyclist/motorist should be to blame. I do not believe there
should be a new law per say but most cyclist want the respect of a motorist and the space. So, what am I saying, we need to accept the fines/fee/jail-time a motorist would when breaking the law!

Scott1

Having lived in the UK for the last 4 years, I have to say I that the media here tends to be extraordinarly sensationalist and I don't know that the problem is as big as the media would have us believe (when we first moved here, there were seemly endless front page stories about the wave of "Road Rage" sweeping across the north of England after two incidents in one year). Generally the only people I see riding bikes on the pavements are kids, who probably wouldn't be punished much anyway, other than the teens who seem to disregard the current ASBOs or regard them as a sought-after prize (ASBO = Anti Social Behavior Order).

As a clarification/translation - in the UK, "pavements" refers to what North Americans would call sidewalks - if a cyclist kills a pedestrian on a sidewalk, that cyclist was clearly doing something they shouldn't have been and should be punished...

atbman

See https://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...us-cycling-law for some coverage - bear in mind that The Guardian is dangerously liberal, left-of-centre newspaper and generally in faovur of cycling

The CTC's response can be found on https://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopModules...=617&mid=13641
and, for a variety of viewpoints see various articles via:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?sourc...00a68146ad3ff5

The trouble is that pretty much any pedestrian death caused by a cyclist merits major news coverage nationally, whereas those caused by drivers pass almost unnoticed except in local papers. This tends to lead to a considerable amount of bile in readers' letters tho', usually, not of the level of vituperation found in the US press.

The "gap" in the law probably arises from the rarity of such fatalities. For example, in the 8 years ending 31/12/05 (I know, you'd put it 12/31/05 but I see no reason to pander to the incorrect usage of former colonials) there were 382 pedestrian deaths on pavements (UK usage) caused in collision with drivers and 2 caused in collision with cyclists with another 530 and 3 ditto on pedestrian crossings. In London, in the last 5 years, there have been 17 pedestrian pavement deaths caused by collisions with mvs and none by cyclists (tho' there was one on the roadway).

But guess which ones have had the most publicity. And guess how many drivers have been imprisoned for killing pedestrians under such circumstances - very few- I don't have any figures, but many will not have led to any charges and the majority will only have attracted a charge of careless driving. The punishment for the latter is usually a fine and, possibly, points on their licence, since that particular charge cannot take the consequences of the carelessness into account.

I've no particular objection to the law for cyclists being brought into line with that for drivers, but, as the CTC press release points out, this may only affect a couple of cases per decade or so. And, bearing in mind the publicity given to such cases c/w that for drivers, how even-handed do you think the treatment w ould be?