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Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgHusband of pedestrian killed by cyclist claims ministers are scared of “cycling lobby”
The husband of pedestrian killed by a cyclist in London in 2016 has raised concerns that his efforts to campaign for changes to the law to introduce harsher penalties for people on bikes who kill or injure others are being thwarted because ministers are scared of what he terms the “cycling lobby.”
Speaking to Telegraph.co.uk, Matthew Briggs, whose wife Kim died after cyclist Charlie Alliston crashed into her on Old Street, also insisted that the change to the law he is calling for “is first and foremost a legal matter.”
Because of that, he maintained that it “should not actually concern” cycling campaigners – even though the reforms he is calling for what exclusively impact upon people who ride bikes.
Briggs launched his campaign after Alliston was sentenced at the Old Bailey in 2017 to 18 months’ detention in a young offenders’ institution after being found guilty of causing bodily harm by wanton and furious driving. The jury cleared him of the more serious charge of manslaughter, however.
The offence of which Alliston, then 20, was convicted is a crime under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment.
> London fixed wheel cyclist Charlie Alliston sentenced to 18 months in young offenders institution
Briggs is calling for cyclists to be subject to similar laws to motorists, with causing death by careless driving and causing death by dangerous driving carrying maximum jail terms, respectively, of five and 14 years.
While the Department for Transport (DfT) did hold a consultation in 2018 into reforming the law, nothing has progressed in the three years since then, with Briggs blaming issues such as Brexit and the coronavirus for taking up parliamentary time, but above all the influence of what he terms the “cycling lobby” on the government.
> Government opens dangerous and careless cycling law consultation
He said: “My concern is that the cycling lobby is too close to the government and ministers are immensely fearful of this cycling lobby.
“I was told by one minister whom I won’t name, ‘Maybe we need to wait for another death like Kim Briggs’. He added, ‘No offence’.
“But we had another death when Peter McCombie was killed in East London in 2020 when he was hit by a cyclist. But still nothing changes.”
In July, the cyclist involved in that case, Ermir Loka, was jailed for two years – the maximum available – after he was convicted of causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving.
> Cyclist who killed London pedestrian jailed for two years
“We have waited for the legal report, the consultation, the Scottish Government, for Brexit and Covid,” Briggs continued. “All these things have passed, so what exactly am I still waiting for?
“I sincerely hope it is not because the process has been hobbled by the cycling lobby because this should not actually concern them,” he added. “It is first and foremost a legal matter.”
A spokesman for the DfT told Telegraph.co.uk: “Any death on our roads is a tragedy, and though we have some of the safest roads in the world, the government is committed to making them even safer.
“We have launched a review exploring the case for specific dangerous cycling offences, and will soon publish our response.
“In addition, the Prime Minister’s ambitious Cycling and Walking Plan will deliver more continuous and direct cycling routes in towns and cities, physically separated from pedestrians and motor traffic.”
When the DfT launched its consultation in 2018, Cycling UK pointed out that the government had not yet (and three years later has still not) delivered a full review of road safety first promised in 2014, and highlighted that almost in almost all road traffic collisions that result in the death of a pedestrian, a motorist rather than a cyclist is involved.
The charity’s head of campaigns, Duncan Dollimore, said at the time: “In 2016, 448 pedestrians were killed on our roads, but only three of those cases involved bicycles. And in the last 10 years 99.4 per cent of all pedestrian deaths involved a motor vehicle.
“Whether someone is prosecuted for careless or dangerous driving is often something of a lottery, as are the resulting sentences, leaving thousands of victims and their relatives feeling massively let down by the justice system’s failure to reflect the seriousness of bad driving,” he continued.
“Adding one or two new offences specific to cyclists would be merely tinkering around the edges.
“If the government is serious about addressing behaviour that puts others at risk on our roads, they should grasp the opportunity to do the job properly, rather than attempt to patch up an area of legislation that’s simply not working,” Dollimore added.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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85 comments
Given that Mr Alliston served a custodial sentence under existing law which is more than many motorists would receive for knocking down a pedestrian with their car I don't see why why we need any new laws at all
KILLER DRIVER WALKS FREE. - every week, somewhere - that's what you need to work on
given that jail sentence, what more do you want from cyclists?
She was jaywalking, so not on a crossing, and not looking where whe was going. And there were reports she was or had just been distracted by her smart phone. Sounds like Mr Briggs needs to move on. No accident is 100% attributable to one person or circumstance. It is always more complicated than that. He should put his energy elsewhere, like on the distracted and substance impaired drivers causing 99% of the road deaths...
No such thing as jaywalking in the UK.
Phone claims are hearsay.
He was foolish to use such a bike in London and his actions after and social media comments went against him. I have no doubt he was hung out to dry and made an example of but he shouldn't have used that bike and should have made more effort to stop.
As others note, in a car he would have faced little or any action.
There is no such thing as jaywalking in the UK (thankfully) and it's up to Mr. Briggs where he spends his campaigning effort. I certainly have no objection to him campaigning about front brakes on bicycles (given that it is the law for most of them).
I do wonder - aside from this being a very rare and therefore notable occurrence - why this particular campaign has been given such prominence. (Compare here - for 2016 - deaths and injuries involving cycles and without).
Nope, she was in Britain. Jaywalking isn't a thing here. And even in the States it carries a fine, it's not a capital crime.
I note jaywalking is not a crime, thank you repliers. That was not my point. The victim (like many peds in London) likely crossed a road without looking and not fully on a crosswalk.
Maybe it should be a low level misdemeanour punishable with a fine... maybe we should not have major thororoughfares cloogged up with dangerous motor vehicle traffic making it had for other road users to cross roads. Its all maybe's...
Speculation - how does that help anything?
Crosswalk - this is the UK - You can cross anywhere you like in the UK.
Insulate Britain?
Yes please! Can you do next Thursday?
Maybe this chap could help? Although I heard since switching to a bike to move stuff he was no longer lagging as much.
Load a nonsense. How's he supposed to carry a boiler or plumber tools... oh
I personally think the introduction of jaywalking laws in the UK - as in, "don't cross except on a clearly marked 'crosswalk' (which we also don't have in the UK)" would be a terrible idea.
Unfortunately, the matter of Mrs Briggs looking or not looking wasn't the issue. There's case law (since the Alliston/Briggs case) where someone who had definitely not been looking was awarded damages because it was deemed that the oncoming cyclist should have taken better (or some) evasive action.
The default position in the UK, except on motorways, is that you do your very best not to drive/run/cycle into someone else, even if they're not looking and even if you think that they're crossing in a stupid place.
Jaywalking laws were only introduced in the US to get all those stupid pedestrians out of the way of the clearly far more important motor cars. 'Pedestrian safety' was just the beard for the whole exercise.
The case you mentioned was a civil one because the lady in question had a small scar which meant she lost some earnings or something. The civil judge decided the fault was 50-50 but because the cyclist didn't have representation and so didn't counter-sue before the case, he lost out as he wasn't claiming (rightful) damages to himself.
No, safety has to be the duty of those with teh ability to cause harm. A driver who will hit an adult and hurt them, is equally likely to hit a kid and kill them.
Fining adults for stepping into the road won't prevent drivers from killing kids, rather encourage a "my right off way" mentality that if anything makes it more likely.
Very much agree. I believe there's a good case for a law that, as I understand it, pertains in some jurisdictions in Canada, whereby if a pedestrian holds their hand out to indicate they wish to cross anywhere on a residential/low speed road all traffic (including cyclists) is legally obliged to stop if safe to do so and let them across.
Excellent policy
The guy sounds entirely reasonable.
Now, let's see the Road.cc comments - should be fun!
Entirely reasonable would be calling for a comprehensive review of penalties for all road users not just for cyclists.
I assume you edited this post for it to appear around 1015
There were around 50 posts already so what is your point?
So which bits of the comments don't you agree with?
That if Charlie was driving and she walked out in front of him, he would have got away with not even a slap of the wrist but that it is "one of those things"?
That he wasn't brought to justice because the current laws couldn't do that? Bearing in mind that drivers actually done for dangerous driving don't have 18 months and sometimes get away with suspended sentences.
I'm confused. Does he want cyclists properly punished or treated like motorists...
Says it all in one sentence...
If there is a secret cycling lobby which has put the fear of hell into government, why is British cycling infrastructure so rubbish? And why do all those pop-up cycle lanes seem to get ripped out rather than made permanent?
Perhaps, for some balance, he should read this
The Charlie Alliston case: the real story | Road Danger Reduction Forum (rdrf.org.uk)
https://rdrf.org.uk/2017/08/21/the-charlie-alliston-case-the-real-story/
That's a really good article and very balanced.
Great recommendation, thanks
The comments below the line on that post are quite interesting, too. RDRF actually took the time to reply constructively to people out to troll them.
In the last 10 years, within a mile of where I live in a small Hertfordshire town, 4 pedestrians have died after collision involving motor vehicles including a 5 year old girl killed by a drunk and a man killed by the driver of a fire engine. As far as I am aware no injury caused by cyclist of any sort has been reported in the local press. Whilst I have every sympathy with Mr Briggs for the loss of his wife in extraordinarily unfortunate circumstances, the fact that Charlie Alliston was held accountable and sent to prison does prove that the justice system can deal with such circumstances and even a cursory review of the weekly toll of injury and death on local roads reported in the local papers would indicate where road safety legislation should be focussed.
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