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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0w8g18x9no>
QUOTE:
Cyclists (barbarians) who kill pedestrians by acting dangerously on the
road could face life imprisonment under a proposed change to the law.
Currently, cycling offenders can be imprisoned for no more than two
years under an 1861 law originally intended for drivers of horse-drawn carriages.
A government amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill - which is
currently going through Parliament - would see cycling offences brought
in line with driving offences, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.
The changes would also mean serious injury caused by dangerous cycling -
or death by careless or inconsiderate cycling - could incur punishments
of five years in jail, fines, or both.
A serious injury caused by careless or inconsiderate cycling would
result in a two-year sentence, a fine or both under the proposed changes.
The government estimates that of 1,600 deaths on UK roads last year,
four were caused by cyclists.
A DfT spokesperson said updating the more than 160-year-old legislation
would "ensure that the tiny minority who recklessly disregard others
face the full force of the law".
They added: "Dangerous cycling is completely unacceptable, and the
safety of our roads is a key priority for this government."
The amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill - which is currently at the committee stage - will be debated by Parliament in "due course", the spokesperson said.
Under the previous government, Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith
campaigned to amend another bill - the Criminal Justice Bill - to hold
cyclists accountable for reckless behaviour.
He cited campaigning by Matthew Briggs, whose wife, Kim, died from head injuries after a collision with a cyclist in 2016.
Charlie Alliston - who was riding a fixed-gear bike with no front brakes
- was cleared of manslaughter and found guilty of causing bodily harm by "wanton or furious driving".
Mr Briggs told the BBC that he felt his years of campaigning was on the
"edge of a breakthrough", but that he would remain "cautiously
optimistic" until the amendment became law.
"I feel delight not just for me, but the families of people who have
died since Kim died, who have all kept the up pressure, politely,
consistently, calmly... to extract something good out of something
tragic," he said on Friday.
He added that it was "incomprehensible" cycling was "literally lawless"
under "old-fashioned" measures not designed for modern road usage.
A government source close to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told
the BBC that changing the law "at the first opportunity" was "definitely personal" to her as she was Mr Briggs' MP when his wife was killed.
Mr Briggs said Alexander had shown "enormous personal kindness" over the
years, and "courage and commitment" in going up against a "strong"
cycling lobby to push for the change.
ENDQUOTE
If the current government is that keen to curb the barbarians on their chav-bikes, why didn't they support Iain Duncan Smith's amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill a few years ago?
As for the rest of it... I'll believe when it has actually happened. But
I see no good reason for holding my breath. Labour has been firmly on
the side of the chav-bike barbarians for some years now and this might
just be an effort to impress voters at the upconing local elections, to
be dropped later.
The other offences and crimes committed by barbarians on chav-bikes also
need to be addressed, with a robust policy on custodial sentences and confiscation / destruction of chav-bikes used for barbaric offences such
as ignoring red traffic lights, ignoring one-way working, riding
chav-bikes on footways and in pedestrian-only areas and on thebarbaric
use if chav-bikes not complying with the law (lights, tyres, brakes, etc).
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