Cyclist who killed OAP, 81, avoids court ‘because speed limits don’t apply to bikes’
THE son of a pensioner who was killed when a speeding cyclist crashed into her has criticised a legal loophole which means the rider cannot be prosecuted.
Gerard Griffiths says the law should be changed to force cyclists to adhere to speed limits after his mother Hilda was hit by Brian Fitzgerald in London in June 2022.
Mrs Griffiths, 81, was walking her patterdale terrier Oscar in Regent’s Park when she was struck by the cyclist, suffering head injuries. Only days before, she had told her son: ‘Those bloody cyclists are getting worse, you know.’
Mr Griffiths, 52, told the Mail: ‘The law has to change to make everyone equal’, adding that it was ‘fundamentally wrong’ that cyclists do not have to adhere to speed limits.
Police and prosecutors felt there was no charge which applied to Mrs Griffiths’ case and were unable proceed against Mr Fitzgerald – a director at finance firm Credit Suisse. Speed limits do not apply to cyclists. The limit in Regent’s Park is 20mph and Mr Fitzgerald was cycling at 29mph on the day of the crash.
Mrs Griffiths died after 59 days in hospital, meaning her death was not registered as a ‘road death’, because the law requires the person to have died within 30 days of the crash.
Mr Griffiths said: ‘The galling thing is her death certificate does not register on the statistics for road deaths.
‘The law has to change to make everyone equal. You have got a two-tier system on the roads. Anyone driving a motor vehicle has to adhere to the speed limits and cyclists are exempt.
‘That is fundamentally wrong because it has been proven that cyclists cycling at speed can kill. That is something going forward we would like to change. It is easier said than done.’
Mr Fitzgerald is part of the Muswell Hill Peloton cycling club in north London. He told Inner West London Coroner’s Court that he had ‘zero reaction time’ and extended his ‘sympathies’ to the family, according to the Sunday Telegraph. He was in a ‘fast group’ of cyclists doing timed laps round the park on the day Mrs Griffiths was struck.
Mrs Griffiths had worked as a nursery teacher and lived close to her son, who works as a caretaker.
Speaking about the past two years, Mr Griffiths said: ‘It was a shock to the system. You have the strength of your friends and loved ones around you, and you pull through it – you have to.
‘In her retirement she got great pleasure in going to the park and meeting other dog walkers and people, having a chat.’
Jean Harkin, the assistant coroner, recorded a verdict of ‘accidental cycling collision death’.
‘The law has to change’