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Iain Duncan Smith wants cyclists to know "they're not above the law", makes latest call for new laws to punish dangerous cycling

Former Conservative leader claims legislation will not deter more people from cycling and insists "small minority" should recognise "that there are responsibilities"...

Iain Duncan Smith, the politician who spearheaded the campaign to pass new dangerous cycling laws such as causing death by dangerous cycling, has again appealed for new legislation — the Conservative MP suggesting he has spoken with Labour's front bench since the election and "they're thinking about what they can do with this".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 this morning, Duncan Smith repeated his desire for an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, arguing for legislation so "cyclists understand that they're not above the law" and that "a small minority" are made to "recognise that there are responsibilities" that they can be prosecuted for.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith (Parliamentary portrait)

An amendment introducing such changes had looked almost certain to pass earlier in the summer, however the general election being called suddenly by Rishi Sunak meant there was not sufficient time for the legislation to pass. During the campaign, Labour said it would support new laws "to protect people from dangerous cycling", although little has been heard on the matter since the party formed a government. 

> House of Lords to debate cycling "safety issues"

Now, Duncan Smith has repeated his calls for the amendments to be revisited, although his comments on Radio 4 appeared to lack a complete understanding of the Highway Code and relevant legislation.

"We put forward an amendment which had cross-party support before the last election but sadly, of course, we had an early election and the amendment fell," he said. "The idea is to try and bring cyclists, both electric cycles and also pedal cycles into the Highway Code so that the laws and the responsibilities that exist in the Highway Code exist to cyclists, which at the moment don't really, and we've had a number of deaths."

Cyclists are already part of the Highway Code and advised to adhere to it, although the Code in itself is not the law. Of course, many of its points are backed up by relevant laws, which is more the wording it appears Duncan Smith was attempting to use.

Cyclists in London 1 - copyright Simon MacMichael

"We had, I think, between 2018 and 2020 [2018-2022, not 2020], something like just under 2,000 pedestrian casualties of which nine were fatal and nearly 700 actually were serious injuries. In fact, there was one when I was bringing it in, a woman in Regent's Park who got knocked down by a cyclist that was over the speed limit and that was a pedal cycle, that wasn't even an electric cycle and we've seen many of these electric cycles going past us at incredible speeds."

> Does there really need to be a law for causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling?

The case Duncan Smith referred to was the much-publicised death of Hilda Griffiths back in 2022. Despite little media or political coverage at the time, a coroner's inquest in May of this year hearing that the cyclist involved would not be prosecuted sparked headlines across the written and broadcast press.

Brian Fitzgerald was riding in a group at a speed of between 25mph and 29mph at the time of the fatal crash. The speed limit in the park is 20mph, but the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it does not apply to people riding bicycles (as is the case throughout the country), and that the case had been closed because there was "insufficient evidence for a real prospect of conviction".

Outer Circle near Hanover Terrace (via Google Street View)

While incidents such as that one attract much political and media interest, the Department for Transport statistics still show that pedestrians are far more likely to be killed in a collision involving the driver of a car than involving someone riding a bike. Between 2018 and 2022, nine pedestrian fatalities and 657 cases of pedestrians suffering serious injuries were reported in road collisions involving a pedal cycle.

By contrast, in that same time period, 1,165 pedestrians were killed in collisions involving the driver of a car, while there were 20,557 reported serious injuries.

DfT pedestrian casualty statistics

That added context to the pedestrian casualty figures cited by Duncan Smith was not mentioned during the Radio 4 segment, the former Conservative leader continuing: "I'm a motorcyclist. I had to pass huge tests and restrictions, all sorts of things to understand what speed was and to understand also how dangerous it is to exceed the speed limit and none of these cyclists who are now on pretty powerful bikes (referring to e-bike riders) have to do any of that, pass any tests or carry any protective equipment, so it's getting them within the Highway Code so that dangerous cycling or cycling that causes death or injury are prosecutable offences and for cyclists to understand that they're not above the law."

> "I had no idea how fast I was going": Former Conservative leader slammed for hypocrisy on "dangerous cycling" law after driving to Germany with broken speedometer

At this point the presenter put the point to Duncan Smith that there are fears such legislation could have an effect of deterring people from cycling, something that would see missed positive gains in health and reducing motor traffic.

"Well, there are a group of people that constantly say that 'if you do this, people won't cycle' but my answer to that is — I don't think most people that cycle cycle with the view that they don't care about the law or care about other people's ability to go about their daily lives, particularly pedestrians," Duncan Smith replied. "I am yet to meet a cyclist who says to me 'I don't really care about anybody else, I'm just going to knock them down, doesn't really bother me'. 

Cyclists stopped at red light in London (Simon MacMichael)

"So that isn't the case, I don't think you put people off cycling because they want to go out and cause mayhem, I think what you do is you allow that small minority, and it is at the end of the day, to recognise that there are responsibilities and the way to do that is to allow the police to be able to do what they have to do and to suspend people's ability to cycle and to prosecute them if they commit these offences.

"There are cases of this, I've just given you some figures on it, Matt Briggs who's the one that got me involved in this, his wife was killed by a cyclist riding an illegal bicycle, they couldn't prosecute. In the end they had to come up with some 1861 law on dangerous coach driving [Charlie Alliston was sentenced to 18 months for causing bodily harm through wanton and furious driving] which they managed to tweak to get the prosecution done, but of course it had a very limited amount of punishment available to someone who killed somebody."

Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.

Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.

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52 comments

Avatar
Danbury | 1 month ago
9 likes

"we've seen many of these electric cycles going past us at incredible speeds."

99% of those are not "cycles", they're illegal electrically powered mopeds or motorbikes. Man's an eejit.

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IanGlasgow | 1 month ago
11 likes

I heard that interview this morning. "Let me give you some statistics" said IDS, and then went on to recount an 8 year old anecdote about how it wasn't possible to prosecute Charlie Alliston (remember him? He went to prison even though he couldn't be prosecuted) and no statistics.

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kingleo | 1 month ago
7 likes

I've been riding my bike for 66 years and over that period I've not seen or heard one anti-motorist article or radio /TV program complaining about how dangerous they are.

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eburtthebike | 1 month ago
7 likes

Just another typical BBC hate piece about cycling.  Completely biased and unbalanced with inaccurate information and nobody from a cycling organisation interviewed to refute the nonsense.

I'd complain, but the sole purpose of the BBC's complaints process is to exonerate itself.

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mattw | 1 month ago
10 likes

My (maybe forlorn) hope is that the gouts of BS from shit-stirring fuckwits of the IDS stripe is that we are due a last burst of culture war then we will have reached a turning point.

Time will tell, but at least the voters shat the last Conservative Government down the toilet of history, and IDS and his fellow knuckle-draggers are mere opposition backbench shouters.

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chrisonabike replied to mattw | 1 month ago
0 likes

Think it's forlorn; there is always "culture war" in some shape or form - perhaps the overt "meta" version is somewhat a novelty?

As far as general attitudes to changes to cycling (hmm) and changing our streets and roads my best hope is we've actually started (very patchily) a period of stustainable positive change.  I certainly don't think we're at "the end of the beginning".

Note that folks were (literally) fighting in NL after they started turning the ship around for a few decades - riots in the streets, traders tearing up cycle paths in The Hague etc.  And that was when they still had "mass cycling" and plenty of "cycle infra"!

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MattieKempy | 1 month ago
3 likes

Cyclists want Iain and Duncan Smith to know that they're not above a kick in the bollocks. Iain and Duncan Smith's bollocks, that is.

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OldRidgeback | 1 month ago
13 likes

I'm curious why IDS isn't quite so vocal on cracking down on his Tory chums who broke laws on partying during Covid but weren't charged for all the events they attended? In Westminster, the joke is that IDS stands for 'is definitely stupid'.

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Rome73 replied to OldRidgeback | 1 month ago
7 likes

The favourable PPE contracts are more outrageous. 

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OldRidgeback replied to Rome73 | 1 month ago
4 likes

Rome73 wrote:

The favourable PPE contracts are more outrageous. 

That's true and it's a shame these haven't been investigated properly so far. Matt Hancock awarded a contract to his sister's firm and another to his pub landlord, who didn't even have experience of supplying PPE. Oh and didn't Matt Hancock have a financial stake in his sister's firm too? Michelle Mone was by far not the only one filling her pockets by looting the antion at our expense.

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Jetmans Dad | 1 month ago
13 likes

I listened to the interview with IDS on R4 this morning, as well as the interview before his with the police officer and both were guilty of describing illegal electric motorbikes/mopeds as ebikes. 

What hope is there for the general public to understand what a legal ebike is, and how that Deliveroo (other food delivery companies are available) rider speeding along at 30mph in the cycle lane without pedalling are definitely not riding one when those in authority don't know. 

And, to my eternal annoyance, the BBC journalists also make no attempt to address it. 

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Homebaker replied to Jetmans Dad | 1 month ago
10 likes

I wrote to the today program with exactly that point this morning. They're not an illegal bicycle, They're illegal electric mopeds.

Allowing them to be referred to as cycles is stoking hatred towards cyclists when we're just as at much danger from the bloody things as pedestrians are

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chrisonabike replied to Jetmans Dad | 1 month ago
3 likes

In their article here the Beeb have made an effort to note distinctions:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8vggkgzr2o

(Also noting usual feeble and "blame the employees definitely not employees parners" from a food delivery company).

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ubercurmudgeon | 1 month ago
16 likes

If it wasn't for Labour infighting, Iain Duncan Smith would've lost his seat back in July, when their two candidates (one pro-Palestine selected by the local Labour party, the other pro-Israel chosen by the national organisation) each got a little over 25%, to his 36%. So thanks for that, Labour, now we've got to put up with his crap for another 5 years. Even he would've been better off, as he could've done the lucrative US far-right media circuit, like Liz Truss, making up bullshit about "no go zones" in London, and dropping dark hints about "deep state" conspiracies. Instead the poor sod is stuck here, utterly powerless, pushing the only issue he can get onto the BBC to talk about, which is cyclist bashing.

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Wandering Wheels replied to ubercurmudgeon | 1 month ago
1 like

To be fair, even if IDS had been booted out of Parliament, he'd likely still be making these comments and calling for changes in legislation, probably in the form of a regular opinion piece for the Daily Mail or Telegraph, not to mention appearances on Question Time, Radio 4, GB News, etc.

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OnYerBike | 1 month ago
23 likes

It's inherently a contradiction to call for new laws in order to show people they're not above the law.

If people are obeying the law as it currently stands, then that's not "above the law".

And if someone does act as if they are above the law, then new laws wouldn't change that - they would just continue to ignore them.

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bensynnock | 1 month ago
24 likes

Maybe he should let drivers know they're not above the law.

Yesterday I pulled up at a red light in my car. It had turned amber when I was about 10m away and was fully red by the time I got there. I was stopped at the light and another car passed me on my right on the wrong side of the road, on a normal road with one lane in each direction, went through the red light and turned right. I see crap like this every single day. Where's the enforcement? Where's the law?

On top of that we've got illegal motorcycles using the cycle lanes, legal motorcycles using the advanced stop box, and almost every single car out there seemingly driven by somebody who is in tremendous hurry and no regard for any of the rules. It's a joke.

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eburtthebike replied to bensynnock | 1 month ago
5 likes

No problem, just prosecute the cyclist: it has to be their fault.

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brooksby | 1 month ago
19 likes

IDS wrote:

In fact, there was one when I was bringing it in, a woman in Regent's Park who got knocked down by a cyclist that was over the speed limit and that was a pedal cycle, that wasn't even an electric cycle and we've seen many of these electric cycles going past us at incredible speeds.

Dear IDS -  those "electric cycles going past us at incredible speeds" ARE already illegal, in many cases.

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spen | 1 month ago
9 likes

It would be interesting to see what offences he actually wants introducing.  Would this simply be an offence of dangerous cycling or would there also be an offence of careless cycling?  Would there bre an option to reject jury members if they couldn't ptove that they were regular cyclists , obvious where I'm going with that one.  What sanctions could be imposed, if the judge decides not to impse a custodial sentence that would only leave a fine, no option for a ban as cycling isn't done under a licence, and what safeguards would there be to stop judges imposing custodial sentences on cyclists in circmstances in which a driver would get a fine and a ban?  Who would be responsible for saying what is careless or dangerous, goiung by the usual suspect media websites all cycists are a menace to society, the checks woud need to be very robust and not open to manipulation to suit the prejudice of "the silent majority"

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Secret_squirrel replied to spen | 1 month ago
1 like

He wanted both afaik.

Everything else you say is taken care of between the way the legislation is written and the sentencing guidelines.

They would likely be subjective tests backed up by "should & must" rules in the HC just like the similar motoring offences.

Whilst what you say about the media is a concern - the process should be reasonably robust against media influence.

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brooksby replied to spen | 1 month ago
12 likes

spen wrote:

Would there be an option to reject jury members if they couldn't ptove that they were regular cyclists

"I'm a regular cyclist"

"I see, and how often have you ridden a bike in the last twelve months?"

"I rode it on holiday in Center Parcs."

"I see, and how many times in the last twelve months have you ridden a bicycle amid traffic, on a road?"

"Err - never, it's far too dangerous!"

"M'lud, we would like to exclude this juror from this case."

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belugabob | 1 month ago
12 likes

Even if the new laws that he's touting were sensible and justifiable, their introduction would be pretty pointless (and therefore economically a waste of money) as long as we remain at the very low levels of law enforcement that seems to prevail.
Now, if only we could identify the reason for such poor enforcement levels ... Any ideas, IDS?

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brooksby | 1 month ago
7 likes

Personally, I think we need an amendment to the CJB to remind Members of Parliament that they are not above the law… 

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mattw replied to brooksby | 1 month ago
0 likes

There's a CJB?

Do you have a link?

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brooksby replied to mattw | 1 month ago
0 likes

Well, IDS referred to a CJB so I presumed that it existed... 

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mitsky | 1 month ago
11 likes

Thanks for providing context with all the stats involving other forms of transport.

Given that IDS is singularly failing to do his job and wasting everyone's time, should he be required to walk/cycle everywhere to understand the difference in the level of danger presented by motorist v cyclists?
As opposed to being transported everywhere in what is almost certainly a small tank?

Or maybe all the stats should be presented in the form of GBP£ figures as the associated costs from KSIs via the different modes of transport would be eye-opening for those who don't have a clue?
After all, most politicians seem to worship money above all else.

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Ladywriter | 1 month ago
8 likes

Huge motorcycle test ? hardly !! if it was along time ago it was ride round the block and ride around a car park without falling over,usual mis information from yesterdays men  

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Another_MAMIL replied to Ladywriter | 1 month ago
6 likes

Today's motorcycle test is—correctly, in my opinion—not easy to pass, involving several hurdles to clear. It's a world away from the old motorcycle test, thankfully.

Undoubtedly, today's motorcycle test is far, far harder than the current car test, too.

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mike the bike replied to Ladywriter | 1 month ago
5 likes

Ladywriter wrote:

Huge motorcycle test ? hardly !! if it was along time ago it was ride round the block and ride around a car park without falling over,usual mis information from yesterdays men  

Your post too is a perfect example of misinformation.  Of course everyone knows someone who rode around the block without falling off and was gifted a licence but, strangely enough, nobody has any dates, times or addresses.  Funny that.

And, as Mamil says below, the current test is a five-part ordeal that examines several aspects of road behaviour that the car test ignores.

Dream on sir .....

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