Consultation opens for proposed cycling offences

The UK government has opened a public consultation on proposals to create new offences of causing death or serious injury when cycling.

The Department for Transport claimed the proposed legislation would “achieve consistency between cyclists and drivers and parity of sentencing options where the outcome is death or serious injury.”

These moves follow a review by Laura Thomas, partner at the law firm Birketts, which concluded that there was a case for legislative change.

They have also been prompted in part by reaction to a case in 2017 where a cyclist was jailed after the death of a pedestrian in London. Charlie Alliston was sentenced to 18 months for causing bodily harm by ’wanton or furious driving’, which carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment.

At present, in England and Wales the offence of causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving or other misconduct under section 35 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 can be committed only if the driver or cyclist has ’a degree of subjective recklessness so far as the foreseeability of causing injury is concerned’, the consultation document states.

In Scotland, a driver or cyclist could face the offence of culpable and reckless conduct, punishable by a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The document says this common law offence requires a high level of recklessness from the accused: mere negligence is not sufficient.

A cyclist may be charged with dangerous or careless cycling under the Road Traffic Act 1988, which has maximum penalties ranging from fines of £1,000 to £2,500.

However, the maximum penalty under the 1988 act for causing death by dangerous driving of a mechanically propelled vehicle is 14 years imprisonment.

The consultation is asking for views on extending new cycling offences to the road and other public places. Similarly, it asks if these new offences should come with minimum disqualification periods.

It is recognised that there cannot be total parity between motoring and cycling offences. 'We do not intend to introduce a testing, licensing or insurance regime for cyclists; the costs and complexity of introducing such a system would significantly outweigh the benefits. Nor do we propose to introduce penalty points for cyclists. A system of penalty points for cycling offences would require a record to be held or the creation of a new cycling licence regime. This could inadvertently discourage many people from taking up cycling, and unfairly burden the vast majority of law-abiding cyclists.’

You can find out about the consultation here.

The closing date for responses is 5 November 2018.