News outlets based in the UK say that the Transport Department in the UK is currently debating a new rule that would make it harder for people on bicycles to get away with killing pedestrians.
The UK’s transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has introduced new laws that will close a loophole in the law that meant people who did this could only go to prison for two years.
It was a Victorian-era law that applied to people who drove horse carriages. In more recent times, though, it was also used to describe cases where cyclists killed people because they weren’t paying attention.
Shapps said, “The law will show cyclists the serious damage they can cause when they ride fast and don’t pay attention.” He also said, “The law will”
In the United Kingdom, a person who causes someone’s death by driving carelessly can get up to 14 years in prison. People who kill someone while driving because they weren’t paying attention could get up to five years in prison.
In 2017, the UK government started changing the rules after a woman named Kim Briggs was killed by Charlie Alliston, who was riding a fixed-gear bike without front brakes and hit and killed her.
After the accident, the government thought about looking into whether or not bicycles should be included in the definition of the crime of “causing death by unsafe driving.”
Alliston got a sentence of one year and eighteen months in a place for young people who have done bad things. Kim’s husband at the time, Matthew Briggs, pushed hard for a change in the law in the UK and asked the Transport Department to look into the matter.
In 2015, two people died tragically after getting hit by a bicycle, and another 96 were hurt very badly.
Shapps said that a “selfish minority of cyclists” think they can ignore red lights at traffic stops when he was explaining the law. This is what he said while calling the cyclists “selfish.”
Shapps also wrote an editorial for the Daily Mail newspaper that said, “This disregard for road safety needs to stop.” Too much time has passed since the families of the victims last saw this simple action.
As a way to fight climate change and meet goals to reduce carbon footprints, cycling is being promoted in megacities all over the world, including the UK.
The United Kingdom’s ministers are trying to find a “balance.” They want to encourage people to ride bikes, but they also want to make sure that pedestrians have a way to voice their concerns and protect themselves from cyclists who ride their bikes without caring about the safety of other road users or pedestrians.
If the proposal is accepted, the new law will be added to the Transport Bill, and the United Kingdom’s parliament will vote on it in the fall.
The Department of Transport said it was looking into places where it might be easier to bring “dangerous bikers” to court. It was also said that it is looking into direct and continuous routes in cities and towns that are different from the routes that people walk and drive on.
