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news
Call for new car dooring offence as cyclists gather for Sam Boulton memorial ride in Leicester
The family of Sam Boulton, the cyclist who was killed when a taxi passenger opened its door into his path, have joined Cycling UK in calling for the creation of a new offence of causing serious injury or death by car-dooring. They were among hundreds who braved poor weather to take part in a memorial ride for the Leicester teacher yesterday, at which Harborough MP Neil O’Brien promised to raise the issue with ministers.
Boulton was killed after being knocked into the path of a passing van on his 26th birthday on July 27, 2016.
In March, taxi passenger Mandy Chapple was fined £80 after admitting the offence of opening a car door, or causing or permitting it to be opened, so as to cause injury.
The same month saw the van driver, Nigel Ingram, admit failure to stop and driving while over the legal limit for alcohol. He was handed a 26-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months and conditional on his attending a 12-week course for treatment for his alcohol addiction. He was also banned from driving for 28 months.
In June, private hire driver Farook Yusuf Bhikhu was fined £300 plus costs for the same offence as Chapple. He had chosen to park on double yellow lines outside Leicester Railway Station and permitted Chapple to disembark into the road rather than onto the pavement.
This month’s Leicester Critical Mass ride was branded Ride for Sam in tribute to Boulton and several hundred people turned out. Local MPs Neil O’Brien and Keith Vaz were among those in attendance.
Cycling UK’s Senior Road Safety and Legal Campaigner, Duncan Dollimore, said: "People of all ages gathered in Leicester city centre last night, singing in the rain as they rode around the city to the sound of Mr Bojangles and Penny Lane on the amplifier.
“With bikes on parade adorned with Sam's own artwork, an array of 'Sam Says' T-shirts with calls for the law on car-dooring to be changed, and a penchant for flat caps, this was a humbling tribute to much-loved young teacher with a passion for art, teaching, life, and painting bike frames retrieved from tips with his own designs.
“Neil O'Brien MP was one of hundreds who pootled through the puddles, promising to raise with ministers the concerns Cycling UK, Sam's family and many others have raised regarding car-dooring laws, and the need for a public awareness campaign on the dangers of dooring. Hopefully others will now add their voice to those calls."
Cycling UK argue that there is a huge gulf in penalties between a nominal fine for car-dooring, which is treated and perceived as a regulatory offence, and a manslaughter conviction, which in most cases will be unrealistic.
In a blog on the charity’s website, Dollimore points to the penalties in other cases where cyclists have been killed as a result of being doored, such as the £200 fine handed out to Kenan Aydogdu for the incident that led to the death of Sam Harding in 2011.
Aydogdu was found not guilty of manslaughter, even though the visibility from his Audi had been reduced to 17 per cent of what it should have been after he applied tinting film to the windows.
Cycling UK is also advocating the use of the Dutch Reach method of opening car doors.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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12 comments
We should remove motoring offences that harm human beings directly (whether physically or mentally) and charge them as other offences against the person and with the same tariff.
This can be the only way to change things unless you remove motorvehicles from the roads and only allow them on 'motor' ways..
Government are complicit and therefore culpable for the vast majority of deaths and injuries sustained and should be charged with corporate manslaughter. Oh you think what happened at Grenfell tower is any different to allowing the operators of killing machines do what the fuck they like with the end result a death toll more than Grenfell every single year ... and that's just people on bikes never mund other innocents that number upward of a thousand!
".......Harborough MP Neil O’Brien promised to raise the issue with ministers."
So that's sorted then. The ministers who have totally failed to do anything whatsoever for many years about the safety of cyclists will instantly spring into action to make cycling safer.
Having brought a local issue to the attention of my MP when the council and Highways England ignored all their own policies and made cycling more dangerous, I can report the utter futility of talking to your MP and him talking to ministers. They just couldn't care less.
A bit of a non story unfortunately. Given that you can kill a cyclist whilst speeding, being pissed, not looking, playing candy crush on your phone et al and receive a suspended sentence and £300 fine; what will change with a door ingredient offence? You can at least argue a degree of accident or minor stupidity if someone doors a rider, the previously mentioned offences go way beyond that!
Yup, painted cycle lanes are more-often-than-not, in the door-zone.
And, besides, with parking-on- both-sides normally (and wrongly in my opinion) allowed on narrow side-roads with often fast-moving two-way traffic, it's pretty much impossible to always stay out of the door-zone. I don't believe any cyclist can manage to do that.
I think you've answered your own question with the following:
The reality is, they are. Cyclists don't ride in the door zone because they want to, it's because the infrastructure puts them there, or the feel of pressure from other impatient road users. I'm an extremely confident rider, I've been city cycling for years. I still find myself in the door zone at times, because sometimes it's the least shit option.
All lives matter and people just need to be less stupid whether in a car, riding a bike, running, walking, etc.
There are always stupid people about. So that atttiude is pretty-much an excuse for doing nothing.
Quite a lot is done, if you do even more there are plenty of stupid people who will still try to prove the theory of natural selection again this doesn't mean I don't think things could be improved it just means I wouldn't expect that much.
#CyclingLivesMatter
Although not the satisfaction of a criminal penalty the weight of robust civil claims may activate a powerful ally in the campaign to deliver both robust penalties and a strong campaign for the 'Dutch Reach' from the insurers who will be paying out the biggest element of the civil compensation, which will in turn reflect on the drivers who fail to manage the danger cauused by their vehicles.
A colleague of mine was doored a few months ago, reasonably unpleasant injuries including a collapsed lung. Police claimed there was nothing they could do. For example, speak to any potential witnesses, of which it transpired, there was... a shop worker right where it happened who had seen the whole event!
Attitudes need to change. Cyclist Lives Matter.
Even making it a specific offence would, I imagine, only make a difference if it was enforced/used. The only benefit IMO is that it would give the courts the flexibility in charging/sentencing that they apparently don't have right now. But it would still be dependent on the CPS and police deciding to actually take it to court, and that would be after someone has been injured or killed.