Cyclists who kill pedestrians through dangerous cycling could face life imprisonment in England and Wales, according to new amendments to the crime and policing bill.
The Department for Transport announced on Thursday that amendments to the crime and policing bill would align penalties for dangerous cycling with those for driving offences. At present, reckless cyclists face a maximum two-year prison sentence under Victorian-era legislation dating back to the 1860s.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is seeking to close this loophole by reintroducing legal reforms that were abandoned when the general election was called.
The proposed legislation has received backing from campaigners, including Matt Briggs, whose wife Kim died after being hit by a cyclist in 2016.
“After losing Kim in 2016, I began campaigning the following year to have these laws enacted,” Briggs told the Telegraph. “The use of the ‘wanton and furious’ charge for so many cases has been inadequate and archaic.”
