New Dangerous Cycling Law Not To Be Passed
In April 2011 a conservative MP for South Northamptonshire, Andrea Leadsom, proposed a new law to create an offence which would be ‘causing death by dangerous cycling’. The reason for this proposal, Leadsom argued was that there is no law in place that would see someone who killed another by cycling dangerously on a pavement sent to jail.
Instead people who commit an offense like this would face a maximum fixed penalty fine of £2500.
The proposal that was put forward was a private member’s bill which means that unless it had the backing of the government it was highly unlikely for it to get any further. Then seemingly out of nowhere Mike Penning, the government’s Road Safety Minister promised Leadsom that he would back her proposal. Then the Department of Transport stated that they would look into the merits of backing this new law.
Problems with the Proposal
On face value many people would feel that a law like this should be in place to protect pedestrians however many cycling groups felt very concerned by this proposal.
The key objection that the majority of people questioned had was that deaths caused by cyclists were very rare and introducing a law like this would move the focus of pedestrian safety away from the potential dangers of cars and other motor vehicles. Many people also felt that a law like this would be irrelevant.
Another issue that was raised by this proposal was the fact that Leadsom used the case of Rhiannon Bennett who was killed by a cyclist to highlight her idea. The reason for this was the circumstances that led to the death of Miss Bennett were open to certain interpretations due to the conflicting evidence that was presented at the trial of the cyclist that was involved.
Due to this it becomes clear that an MP trying to make a new law based on one case will not often succeed as it can be classed as bad policy. However all of this could now be irrelevant as the bill has not yet made it to the chamber for debate off of issues took precedence over it.
For now it looks as though the proposal have been doomed although the Department of Transport is now stating that they are looking into the legislation that currently exists to see if any changes can be made to improve on the laws that are currently in place.
