Cyclists could be required to stick to speed limits and add registration plates under a proposal by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Under the Highway Code and Road Traffic Act, speeding limits only apply to motorised vehicles. Councils can impose speed restrictions on cyclists, but they are rarely used.
Now Grant Shapps has revealed he is proposing a review to toughen up laws for cyclists on the UK's roads. But he faces a major stumbling block, as any action could mean registration plates and insurance are required for cyclists at a time when the Government aims to "make cycling and walking the natural choices for shorter journeys".
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Mr Shapps told the Daily Mail: “Somewhere where cyclists are actually not breaking the law is when they speed, and that cannot be right, so I absolutely propose extending speed limit restrictions to cyclists.
“Particularly where you’ve got 20mph limits on increasing numbers of roads, cyclists can easily exceed those, so I want to make speed limits apply to cyclists.
“That obviously does then lead you into the question of: ‘Well, how are you going to recognise the cyclist? Do you need registration plates and insurance? And that sort of thing.’
“So I’m proposing there should be a review of insurance and how you actually track cyclists who do break the laws.”
The Department for Transport refused to comment when the PA News Agency approached it after Mr Shapps' interview was published. Officials acknowledged to the Mail that Mr Shapps' proposed measures would require cyclists to have markers like number plates or other identification markings on their bicycles for enforcement purposes.
The Department for Transport's cycling and walking investment strategy aims to "make walking and cycling natural choices for shorter journeys, or as part of a longer journey by 2040". Adding expense for cyclists is could put people off from taking it up as a mode of transport.
“I don’t want to stop people from getting on their bike,” the Transport Secretary told the Mail, adding: “It’s a fantastic way to travel. We’ve seen a big explosion of cycling during Covid and since, I think it has lots of health benefits.
“But I see no reason why cyclists should break the road laws, why they should speed, why they should bust red lights and be able to get away with it.
“I think we do have to not turn a blind eye to that and I’m proposing setting up a review to do exactly that.”
It comes after Mr Shapps pledged to create a “death by dangerous cycling” law to “impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care”.
The move will close a legal loophole which means that cyclists who kill pedestrians can only be jailed for two years. It comes four years after the Government ran a consultation on proposals for new offences of causing death or serious injury while cycling.
Mr Shapps wrote in the Mail+ earlier this month that a “selfish minority” of cyclists believe they are “immune” to red lights.
“We need the cycling equivalent of death by dangerous driving to close a gap in the law and impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care,” he said.
Under Mr Shapps’ proposal, the new law would be added to the Transport Bill due to be put before Parliament in the autumn. Mr Shapps himself may no longer be Transport Secretary then, as the incoming new leader of the Conservative Party will likely reshuffle the cabinet.
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