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Cyclists at traffic lights, London © Simon MacMichaelHusband of pedestrian killed by cyclist claims government "utterly cowed by the cycling lobby", makes renewed call for death by dangerous cycling law
Matthew Briggs, whose wife Kim was hit and killed by a cyclist in London in 2016 and has been campaigning for a law on dangerous cycling to be brought in line with those for motorists, has once again made a renewed call for a 'death by dangerous cycling law', suggesting that the only reason such legislation has not already been passed is due to the government being "utterly cowed by the cycling lobby".
The comments came during a segment on Talk TV this morning, Briggs retelling the story of Kim being killed in a collision with Charlie Alliston who was riding a bicycle with no front brake, the cyclist jailed in 2017 for 18 months under the 1861 offence of causing bodily harm through wanton or furious driving.
Matthew Briggs' wife Kim was killed by a cyclist that had no front brakes, he only received an 18 month sentence.
Now, Matthew is calling for dangerous cyclists to be prosecuted the same as motorists.
"I can only conclude this Government is utterly cowed by the cycling lobby." pic.twitter.com/xw5GuDmGGr
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) October 31, 2023
"Cycling does not carry anything like the same penalty," he said, comparing to dangerous driving laws. "There are no laws about causing serious injury or death by illegal or dangerous or careless cycling. I've been campaigning since 2017, every single government minister has been supportive, a legal review has been done which said this law is needed, I believe this law is written, it has the most extraordinary cross-party support, it has enormous support, support across the media, and yet somehow, for some reason, this is not being done.
"Last year twice Grant Shapps said this law would be passed. Mark Spencer, who was then the Leader of the House, backed this up by saying legislative time is going to be made to pass this law, but still nothing has happened. I can only conclude, that despite the protestations of the Prime Minister, this government is utterly cowed by the cycling lobby.
"There are various cycling lobby groups who for some reason do not think that this is the priority. I was told many years ago when I started this that we need more infrastructure, we need more investment in cycling. Well, that's great, I cycle in London all the time... that's been done now and then some.
"So, my only conclusion is that the government has been cowed by various elements of the cycling lobby. Enough is enough. Since Kim was tragically killed there have been four similar incidents where people have had to go through the same complex legal process, it took 18 months for my wife's case to come to trial because it was so complicated by this law and injuries are up 15 per cent.
"More and more people cycling, that's fantastic, but there's a concomitant increase in the number of people being injured and there is no law to deal with this."
[Kim Briggs — Metropolitan Police]
Mr Briggs' comments come almost exactly a month since cycling and walking charities and campaign groups argued that, far from being cowed by the cycling lobby, Rishi Sunak and his government's 'Plan for Motorists', a party conference-announced headline transport policy to end the so-called "war on motorists", would "rob people of choice" and force people away from cycling and walking.
Last month too, Justice Minister Edward Argar told Parliament that the government is continuing to consider legislation to tackle "dangerous cycling", as current laws are "old" and "difficult to successfully prosecute offences".
"The safety of our roads is a key objective for the government. Protecting all road users is a priority," he said. "Like all road users, cyclists have a duty to behave in a safe and responsible manner. While laws are in place for cyclists, the current laws are old and it can be difficult to successfully prosecute offences.
"That's why DfT colleagues are considering bringing forward legislation to introduce new offences concerning dangerous cycling to tackle those rare instances where victims have been killed or seriously injured by irresponsible cycling behaviour."
However, it has been suggested that such legislation may not be introduced before the next general election, due by January 2025, due to a lack of parliamentary time.
It was reported in June that the Department for Transport had told campaigners it will struggle to be passed before the next election, a delay Mr Briggs was aware of when he told the press he was left "deeply disappointed" by a meeting with Roads Minister Richard Holden in the early summer.
At the time, Mr Briggs said the government had "become cowed by the militant fringes of the cycling lobby", comments to the effect of those heard again this morning.
"Or were Mr Shapps' announcements last year simply an act of political opportunism?" he asked at the time. "At the heart of this are grieving families calling for a very straightforward legal change which the government's own advisers recommended nearly seven years ago."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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45 comments
This reminds me of how the mother of Ella Kissi-Debrah, who suffered from severe asthma and died due to traffic pollution, seemed to have joined the anti-LTN groups to campaign against LTNS.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ella-adookissidebrah-rep...
https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/18616846.air-quality-voice-rosamund-k...
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-air-pollution-ella-adoo-ki...
I've got a lot of sympathy for her, but she's basically disputing the reports (based on academic research) because she thinks the traffic is worse. Unfortunately, she hasn't got any measurements or methodology, so she's not likely to be taken seriously.
If I were her, I'd have at the very least set up a few air pollution monitoring stations around her house to at least present some data.
I've every sympathy for Mr Briggs, and Charlie Alliston (the cyclist involved in his wife's death) is a grade A idiot. But Mr Briggs' actions, rhetoric, and partnerships with some very unhelpful people, make him a distinctly poor advocate for pedestrian safety, let alone road safety more generally.
I completely agree.
What is revealing, of course, is how is campaign is supported by the many many other bereaved relatives of people who lost their lives because of cyclists since 2016. Oh.
Is Matthew Briggs having a larf? The Govt cowed by the cycling lobby???!! Don't be so f-ing ridiculous.
We've had this before. Don't worry, however unmanned by his grief he's only calling for cyclists to be prosecuted the same as motorists.
So that's "often not at all, and if it does happen with a great deal of respect for the victim - the poor traumatised driver who also may be facing a cruel and unusual punishment such as deprivation of driving 'rights'* for just carrying on a normal activity that everyone does every day".
* Not really, or not much.
So any cyclist who kills can just use the usual killer driver excuses:
I'm sure the list goes on for the millions of killer cyclists every year.
You forgot the "I can't remember the incident" as fondly loved by drivers in Police Scotland areas.
Imagine if every driver that had killed a cyclist got at least 18 months in prison - I bet our roads would be a lot safer. However, that would surely be for the least egregious cases, where the driver has no intention to have a collision, isn't speeding and the pedestrian is crossing against the lights, isn't wearing hi-viz or a helmet and steps back into the path of the driver giving them no chance to avoid.
I really think that Matthew Briggs should start campaigning for pedestrian helmets as there is a very good chance that it could have saved his wife's life, but I suspect that there's people pushing this particular agenda and are merely using him as a convenient mouthpiece.
If only the family of killed cyclists got this amount of publicity and exposure to push for safer driving.
This got me too. It's a terrible case, and I have every sympathy for his loss, the idea that govt is cowed by the cycling lobby is staggering.
Is there some competition amongst the media to be the most anti-cycling? I thought the BBC was king, but maybe Talk tv is making a bid for the crown.
As for Mr Briggs, who "frequently cycles in London" maybe he should look at the bigger picture and be demanding the review of all road laws, so that the vastly bigger problem of dangerous drivers getting nothing more than a slap on the wrist is addressed.
Any law that is brought in about cyclists killing and injuring pedestrians would also have to include pedestrians who kill and injure cyclists. I am slightly surprised that this pro-driver government hasn't found the time to bring in something else anti-cycling.
Talk TV will be head and shoulders above the BBC for anti cycling, along with Talk Radio , Times Radio as the common denominator is Murdoch . It's generally in there with the loones on GB News 🙄
Chris Grayling promised a review of driving offences and penalties in 2014. If Mr Briggs expects this government to fulfil it's pledges then I think he has massively ignored the incompetance shown throughout the last decade and a half of Tory governments.
This has been raised with him many, many, many times on Twitter and all he does is block people for daring to deviate from, or even disagree with in some cases, his agenda.
Whats funny is that if you ever watch a video of a cyclist nearly hitting a pedestrian that wanders into a cycle lane or the road people are very very quick to point out that pedestrians are the vulnerable road user and the cyclist should either slow down, not use the cycle lane if pedestrians are in it or any other number of things for the cyclist to do.
When a driver nearly kills a cyclist we hear about how cyclists shouldn't be on the roads. Use the bike lanes. Cyclists jumping lights. None of the vulnerable road users rhetoric.
Thats ignoring the fact that the danger cyclists pose towards pedestrians is utterly insignificant vs drivers risk to cyclists. Its almost like people just hate cyclists.
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