Does there really need to be a law for causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling?

Momentum grew in support of this new law following the tragic death of Mrs Briggs in 2016. Mr Alliston was riding a bicycle with no front brakes when he collided with Mrs Briggs in London.

Mr Alliston received an 18-month sentence for causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving pursuant to the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.

In some quarters, particularly Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith who has campaigned for this change, it was considered unsatisfactory that the prosecution’s case was brought under an Act from 1861 that didn’t refer to causing death.

The main argument that was that there was a “gap” in the law in the absence of a more recent law to deal with cyclists. The Road Traffic Act 1988 deals with offences committed by motor vehicles but not cyclists.

The announcement on 15 May 2024 states: “The government has today (15 May 2024) agreed to introduce new laws so cyclists who kill or seriously injure because of dangerous cycling, or who kill through careless cycling, face the same penalties as drivers and motorcyclists who do so”.

According to Dept. for Transport’s (DFT’s) published provisional results, compared to 2022 there has been a 4% reduction in fatalities, a 3% reduction in casualties of all severities and overall little change in the number of people killed or seriously injured.

Looking more closely at the results, it is of note that:

• The number of cycling fatalities in 2022 was 91. In 2023 this figure came down slightly to 84. Motorcycling fatalities reduced from 350 to 306, car occupant fatalities reduced from 788 to 749 and pedestrian fatalities increased from 385 to 407.
• Looking at fatalities on our roads more broadly, there were 1,645 fatalities on our roads in 2023. The analysis of the 2022 statistics tells us that of the 1,711 fatalities on our roads, vulnerable road users accounted for half of them. I haven’t been able to find this analysis for the 2023 figures yet.
• Of the fatalities on our roads, 46% were car occupants, 25% were pedestrians, 19% were motorcyclists and 5% were cyclists. The only figure to rose was that of pedestrian fatalities which increased by 6% compared to 2022.

This led me to the DFT’s Reported road casualties Great Britain, annual report and the pedestrian factsheet 2022 which provides this data showing the road users most often involved in collisions with pedestrians:

Table 3: Pedestrian casualties in reported road collisions by severity showing other vehicles involved GB: 2018 to 2022 

This research also led me to the DFT’s reported road casualties Great Britain road user risk, 2022 data.

Chart 4 shows that, again, in terms of absolute numbers, cars are the vehicle type most often involved in fatal collisions when others are killed, followed by HGVs and Light Goods Vehicles (LGVs). Very few other road users are killed in collisions with pedal cyclists or pedestrians (2 and 7 respectively in 2022).

Chart 4: Other road users killed by vehicle or road user in collision (where known), Great Britain 2022

(source: Gov.UK)

These figures don’t reference whether the parties are to blame though. For example, of the two cyclists involved in death of other road users, the cyclists may not have been at fault. We should wait to read the detailed analysis of the 2023 figures in due course, but I do not expect to see any dramatic change in the number of fatal collisions between pedestrians and cyclists which has been consistently low for a number of years.

As Chris Boardman said recently, more people will be killed by lightning each year than by cyclists.

When you look at the vehicles most likely to cause death and injury on our roads, it’s clear that we should focus time and energy on the collisions caused by motor vehicles in order to make a greater impact.

Naturally there is a societal expectation, and the administration of justice requires that we have an appropriate framework of laws in place that evolve with changing times.

I wouldn’t necessarily argue against the introduction of this offence per se, on the basis we should all behave responsibly towards one another anyway. But I do take issue with how it’s been disproportionately prioritised given how little it will be put into practice. For example I’d still like to see the new Road Safety Strategy which has not been delivered yet.

The Government should instead be doing everything in its power to promote cycling. We should all know now how beneficial cycling is to public health, the economy and the environment. I am in favour of following the logic that saw the introduction of the hierarchy of road users in the Highway Code so that those with the potential to cause the greatest harm and required to bear a greater responsibility towards the safety of more vulnerable users.

Given what the statistics tell us in black and white, I would prefer to see the Government and Parliament spend their valuable time debating improvements that will have a more meaningful impact on road safety, ultimately, doing more to increase cycling participation and reduce the number of families devasted by road traffic collisions resulting in death and serious injury which are almost entirely caused by motor vehicles in Great Britain.