Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones calls for an update to the rules of the road as vulnerable road users now make up three quarters of the people killed or seriously injured in London.
Cyclists at the Hyde Park Corner roundabout in London, photograph courtesy of Gerry Lynch.
An Evening Standard investigation has found that 4 drivers were jailed as a result of the deaths of 40 cyclists between 2010 and 2012. There were a further seven cases where a minor or suspended sentence was imposed. On four occasions the driver was cleared by a jury.
Jenny Jones recently published a new report on lawless roads, which highlighted the fact that:
1. Vulnerable road users now make up three quarters of the people killed or seriously injured in London;
2. Hit and runs account for 68 deaths and injuries in London every week;
3. Around half of the drivers with more than 12 points on their licence are still legally allowed to drive;
4. Of the 137,000 drivers prosecuted for motoring offences in 2011, only 11 were banned for life
Jenny Jones said: “It seems as if the criminal justice system goes soft and applies completely different rules to death and injury once you get behind the wheel of a vehicle. We desperately need to update the rules of the road in order to reflect the fact that three out of four road casualties in London are now vulnerable road users, either a pedestrian, a cyclist or a motor-cyclist. I welcome the fact that the Met Police are starting to do more enforcement, but their job would be a lot easier if the courts used their powers to take bad drivers off our roads for longer and we had civilian enforcement of some low level offences. We need to slow traffic down so that mistakes are not fatal and that means making speed enforcement a priority again.”