Two pedestrians are killed or maimed every week in collisions with cyclists, new figures have revealed, as campaigners urge a crackdown on dangerous cycling.
A total of 25 pedestrians have been killed in bike accidents over the past seven years, while another 700 were seriously injured, Department of Transport data shows. This amounts to around two people a week being killed or badly injured.
However, the department does not mention who was to blame in each accident.
The latest figures come as the husband of Kim Briggs, 44, who was fatally knocked down by cyclist Charlie Alliston, 20, calls for new cycling laws to protect pedestrians
Last year alone, three pedestrians were killed with bikes and another 112 seriously injured, the Express reported.
The latest figures come as the husband of Kim Briggs, 44, who was fatally knocked down by cyclist Charlie Alliston, 20, calls for new cycling laws to protect pedestrians.
Alliston was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution following the crash.
Alliston was riding a fixed wheel bike with no front brake, which is not legal on the roads, when he mowed down Mrs Briggs who was crossing a road in east London.
Struck down: Alliston was riding a fixed wheel bike with no front brake, which is not legal on the roads, when he mowed down Kim Briggs who was crossing a road in east London
He was cleared of her manslaughter in an earlier hearing, leaving prosecutors to rely on the Victorian-era offence of causing injury by ‘wanton or furious driving’, a law designed for horses and carriages which carries a maximum jail term of two years.
By comparison, causing death by dangerous driving carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in jail.
Downing Street sources said the case exposed a ‘gap in the law’ and Transport Minister Jesse Norman has since announced an urgent review of cycling laws.
The review will also look at whether the lesser offences of causing death or serious injury by careless driving should be extended to cover cyclists.
Ministers have asked for independent legal advice on the issue and will announce a decision by the end of the year. A second phase of the review will then look at wider issues such as penalties for cyclists who ride on the pavement. It will also look at ways to make Britain’s roads safer for responsible cyclists.
The move follows a campaign by Mrs Briggs’s widower Matthew to tighten the law.
In a statement outside court last month, he said the case demonstrated the ‘gap in the law when it comes to dealing with death or serious injury by dangerous cycling.’
He added: ‘To have to rely on either manslaughter at one end, or a Victorian law that doesn’t even mention causing death at the other end, tells us there is a gap.
‘The fact that what happened to Kim is rare is not a reason [for there] to be no remedy.’
The review announcement follows a campaign by Mrs Briggs’s widower Matthew to tighten the law. In a statement outside court last month, he said the case demonstrated the ‘gap in the law when it comes to dealing with death or serious injury by dangerous cycling’
Commenting on the latest figures, Roger Geffen MBE, Cycling UK Policy Director told MailOnline it was important to look at the figures in the context of all road casualty figures, have increased across the board.
‘Overall, road deaths had been declining steadily for 45 years, until five years ago, just after the Government abandoned national road safety targets,’ he told MailOnline.
‘Worse still, the latest year’s figures show they may now have started rising, with pedestrians being particularly badly affected.
‘Cyclists are involved in less than one per cent of pedestrian injuries, and even fewer deaths. If the Government’s hastily-announced review of cycling offences is to make any sense, it must be combined with a long-awaited review of wider road traffic offences and penalties, promised in 2014.
‘Despite endless pleas for action from Cycling UK, road crash victims and others, this has stalled and should now be restarted urgently.
‘The Government also needs to reverse recent cuts to roads policing, and to reinstate national road safety targets. That’s surely what’s needed to get the road casualty figures U-turning back down again.’
A Government spokesman told MailOnline: ‘The UK has some of the safest roads in the world but we are always looking to improve safety.
‘We already have strict laws that ensure that drivers who put people’s lives at risk are punished. Last year we consulted on increasing sentences for drivers who kill that will see the maximum sentence increased from 14 years to life and we will be announcing our response shortly.
‘Given recent cases, it is only right for us to look at whether dangerous cyclists should face the same consequences and that is why we are carrying out a review to improve all elements of cycle safety, including looking at the case for a new offence, equivalent to causing death or serious injury by careless or dangerous driving, that will help protect both cyclists and pedestrians.’