Overview

• The UK government has introduced amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to align cycling offences with motoring laws, including life imprisonment for causing death by dangerous cycling.
• Current laws, based on the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, limit penalties for dangerous cycling to a maximum of two years in prison.
• The proposed changes would also impose up to five years for causing serious injury by dangerous cycling and up to five and two years for death or serious injury caused by careless or inconsiderate cycling, respectively.
• Campaigners, including Matt Briggs, whose wife was killed by a cyclist in 2016, have welcomed the reforms as a long-overdue update to outdated legislation.
• Cycling advocates, such as Chris Boardman, warn that harsher penalties could discourage cycling and undermine active travel initiatives promoted for environmental and health benefits.