Chris Boardman movingly spoke in public for the first time about the impact of losing his mother in a road collision seven years ago, saying “no family should go through what mine did”, as he called for greater protection for the most vulnerable on
our roads.
At the launch of a new Road Justice report, which makes recommendations about improving road safety for vulnerable road users, former Olympian, campaigner and now England’s cycling and walking commissioner, Chris Boardman opened up about the “
horrific consequences” of that day for his family: the blow of grief his father has never recovered from, and a loss that Boardman has found himself unable to process.
Boardman said he was speaking not in his professional role but as someone who has “felt it and lived…the horrific consequences of road danger”.
Carol Boardman was cycling near Chester in 2016 when she fell off her bicycle and was fatally struck by pick-up driver Liam Rosney, who had been texting on his mobile phone. Rosney admitted careless driving and was sentenced to 30 weeks in prison and an
18-month driving ban in 2019.
Boardman, who was commentating on the Tour de France on the day of the incident, described receiving a phone call from his father, who was “just about getting the words out” that his mum was in hospital.
Boardman described the “weird feeling” of making his way across Europe, “disconnected with everything that’s going on around you”. When he arrived at the Countess of Chester hospital, in the dark, he eventually found his family, and the A&E
ward where he discovered they were keeping his mother alive until he got there.
On the way home from the hospital, Boardman said, his voice cracking with emotion, “my father just wailed, from grief, and he has never recovered from that. And I’ve kept it in a box for seven years, and that’s why I’m here because no-one else,
no family should have to go through that.”
The Road Justice report, coordinated by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Walking and Cycling (APPWCG), makes ten recommendations, including treating road crash victims as victims of crime, with all the investigatory and sentencing powers that
affords. It recommends compulsory re-testing of drivers after any period of disqualification, ending the speed leniency that allows drivers to exceed the limit by 10%, and making the “exceptional hardship” claim genuinely exceptional. Currently the
claim that losing one’s licence would cause the driver hardship, because they rely on their vehicle for work or caring duties, say, is successfully argued by 23% of drivers with 12 points or more.
Boardman described his anger about the way we treat road crime and the quibbling around measures intended to make the roads safer. Media coverage of the report has in part focused on the theoretical possibility a driver exceeding the speed limit by 1mph
could receive points.
“People who commit road crimes, either through choice or incompetence, are not the ones that we should be protecting,” he said. “I get incredibly angry when I see this reduced to it being about one mile an hour. Repeat offenders have already been
accommodated with a point system, so they shouldn't be shielded from consequences.”
He suggested that this narrative was ultimately costing us “hundreds of millions” of pounds, building protected cycle routes to shield cyclists from law breaking drivers, and denying people the right to cheap, “easy health” in being able to cycle
and walk regularly in safety – something Dutch residents enjoy daily.
He said: “If we don't do all that we can to ensure that the vulnerable are safe, and feel safe, we’re unconsciously snuffing out the opportunity for what should be easy health for millions of people; a right that's routinely enjoyed by millions of
people, young and old, just 200 miles from where we're sitting now.
“We are spending hundreds of millions on infrastructure to try and give people a sense of security that they should feel on any road, in large part because of fear of those that are breaking the law whilst in charge of heavy machinery.”
Boardman ended by welcoming the report’s recommendations, which, if implemented, he said would “only affect those that break the law, especially repeat offenders”. The report was led by the University of Westminster’s Dr Tom Cohen and supported
by British Cycling and Leigh Day solicitors. You can read the report here (link is external).
Three Key Recommendations of the Road Justice report:
Compulsory retesting for any period of Disqualification
Ending speed leniency, the 10% either way rule
Exceptional hardship - making it genuinely exceptional. 23% of those who amass 12 points or more currently keep their licence under the exceptional hardship clause
https://road.cc/content/news/chris-boardman-makes-emotional-plea-over-road-justice-report-303803
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