Drivers who kill cyclists face longer sentences

Drivers who kill cyclists could face a jail sentence of up to five years after a call from the director of public prosecutions for harsher sentences to be given to motorists who cause fatalities.

Ken Macdonald is set to advise the Crown Prosecution Service to fully exploit laws coming into effect next year that will introduce an offence of "causing death by careless driving", which will carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.

He will also call on prosecutors to charge drivers who kill cyclists with dangerous driving, instead of careless driving, as is now the case. Dangerous driving carries a prison sentence, whereas careless driving incurs a fine.

"Society's view of drivers who behave carelessly or dangerously has toughened up and, in my view, prosecutors need to toughen up too and so do sentences," Mr Macdonald said.

"If you are driving at 40mph in a 30mph limit and you go within a few inches of a cyclist, that is dangerous in my opinion and we should prosecute accordingly," he added.

There has been a 70 per cent rise in cycling in the capital since 2000. There were 21 cyclists killed in London last year, compared to eight the previous year. Nationally, the number of cyclists dying on the roads has risen in the past two years, with 134 deaths in 2004 and 148 last year.