Cyclists may need registration number plates and have to observe speed limits in a new shake-up of road laws, it is being reported. It could mean that cyclists could be subject to penalty points and fines for speeding or running red lights.
As part of a planned review, it is also being reported that mandatory insurance is being considered, which would mean any pedestrians seriously injured by reckless riders would have access to compensation.
At the moment, British cyclists share no legal obligation to adhere to the same speed limits as motorists. Motor vehicle speed limits were introduced in 1903 and set at 20mph. After this limit was routinely breached, the speed limit in towns was changed to 30mph in 1934. Since then there have been no amendments enacted to make cyclists also adhere to the same regulations.
Read more: The rule on cyclists going at 20mph as part of Wales' new road laws
That means cyclists who breach the speed limit may not be prosecuted for a speeding offence but they can, however, be prosecuted for “cycling furiously” or “wanton and furious cycling.”
New laws being looked at by UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps may include seeing the creation of a new offence of death by dangerous cycling. Earlier this year, cyclist Stewart McGinn, 29, was jailed for causing a fatal injury to Elizabeth Jayne Stone, 79, in a collision in Monmouth. He pleaded guilty to causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving and was jailed for 12 months.
At the moment, cyclists who kill people can be jailed for a maximum of two years, where motorists can be jailed for life. The review of road laws would create greater parity amid growing tension following changes to the Highway Code.
The changes, announced by the Government in January, mean cyclists have priority over motorists and are even encouraged to ride in the middle of the road on some streets.
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. I don’t want to stop people from getting on their bike, it’s a fantastic way to travel, and we’ve seen a big explosion of cycling during Covid and since. But I see no reason why cyclists should break the road laws and be able to get away with it."
He has said that if he is no longer transport secretary when the next Prime Minister is elected at the start of September, his successor will be pressed to go ahead with the review.
A report last year by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety found one in every 100 crashes in which a pedestrian was killed would be the fault of a cyclist, compared with 65 in which a car driver was responsible.
The report detailed 470 incidents in 2019 in which a pedestrian had been killed by a road user. Five collisions were the fault of cyclists, compared with 305 caused by car drivers and 51 by HGV drivers. And seven road deaths in the year were attributed to cyclists, compared with 721 people killed by car drivers.
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