Close to Home, Notts cyclist killed, driver convicted

[Steady]

This one is a little close to home for me, her family comes from Derby and so do I, but the incident happened in Nottingham and she became a victim of a left turning lorry and lost her life instantly, it's just been through the court system and the facts that he was convincted on are that he wasn't indicating, and he didn't check his mirrors before turning so he's been found guilty of careless driving.

The mother of the cyclist must be an extremely brave woman as she didn't want to see lorry driver go to prison, despite the fact the driver denied the careless driving charge.

The result for the driver is as well guessed pittance of 150 hours of community service, £1,500 costs and disqualified from driving for two years.

It's not that which has lead me to post this today, it was the wholly inappropiate comments left on the article entitled "Tributes to unique cyclists" with the Derby Telegraph. Who are also usually happy to usually whip up an anti-cyclist frenzy in every other month for site views so really don't care for what's appropiate or not.

http://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/tri...ry-29751928-detail/story.html#comment-5933975

The sheer attitude of people in my own home town towards a cyclist who lost her life because of a driver convicted of not driving to the required standard still blaming the cyclist who even if she did something that I wouldn't do personally whilst I'm cycling, she was entirely blameless and did no wrong.

It just seems like people see "cyclist", they don't see daughter, sister, brother, son, mother or father etc. They see a cyclist who caused a driver to lose their job, they see the cyclist that inconveniences them. How this attitude can ever be solved I do not know.

What worries me the most is the same people commenting is the same people I do have to share the road with, whether i'm walking, cycling or driving and it's a truly terrifying thought.

 

[hopless500]

I used to work on Pennyfoot Street. I don't think I'd have ever liked cycyling around there; it was bad enough driving at times.
Very sad.

 

[Drago]

Christ, if I killed someone on the road, even if it weren't my fault, I'd never want to drive again.

 

[Steady]

I used to work on Pennyfoot Street. I don't think I'd have ever liked cycyling around there; it was bad enough driving at times.
Very sad.

I must admit I did street view the area and I thought it looked an extremely nasty area for cyclists. I'm not a fan of driving through Nottingham at all.

 

[numbnuts]

I have to agree with her sending him to a overcrowded prison will do him no good, but removing his licence for life will/may have an effect, or he becomes one of the thousands who are driving without one.......

 

[steve50]

It just seems like people see "cyclist", they don't see daughter, sister, brother, son, mother or father etc. They see a cyclist that inconveniences them

That is it in a nutshell, I have been saying this for a long time, we are not seen as "human beings" or parents, husbands and wives, we are merely an inconvenience to the irate motorists who see us as nothing more than "bloody cyclists" it's almost as though they do not want to or cannot see the person on the bike.

 

[numbnuts]

[QUOTE 4488175, member: 9609"]But it may make others waken their ideas up, one of the principle aims of a sentence is "deterrence". I am very disappointed in the leniency.?[/QUOTE]
It has been proven time and time again prison is not a deterrent and that reason is why the prisons are full,

 

[13 rider]

[QUOTE 4488175, member: 9609"]But it may make others waken their ideas up, one of the principle aims of a sentence is "deterrence". I am very disappointed in the leniency.

Does anyone know if the lorry was a rigid or articulated ?[/QUOTE]
Believe it was a rigid beer delivery for town centre pubs

 

[Pale Rider]

[QUOTE 4488379, member: 9609"]the thought of ten years in prison would be a massive deterrent for killing someone - I don't believe the do-gooders namby pamby sentencing for one second, we need to start locking people up for longer in tougher prisons[/QUOTE]

In general I agree, but one size doesn't always fit all.

The driver in this case appears to be an otherwise decent, hard-working man.

It took the jury five hours to convict him, even then only by a 10-2 majority.

This suggests they found the case difficult to call.

One could criticise the panel, but as far as anyone can gather jurors do treat their task with appropriate seriousness.

 

[oldstrath]

In general I agree, but one size doesn't always fit all.

The driver in this case appears to be an otherwise decent, hard-working man.

It took the jury five hours to convict him, even then only by a 10-2 majority.

This suggests they found the case difficult to call.

One could criticise the panel, but as far as anyone can gather jurors do treat their task with appropriate seriousness.

Or perhaps he is what this case actually suggests - a thoughtless buffoon, who has been lucky enough to get away with his shoot driving up till now?

Frankly, the 'decent hard working' line applied to someone who has, by incompetence, stupidity or arrogance killed another person strikes me as simply offensive. Locking him away forever would at least achieve the goal of ensuring he never drives again, which is surely the minimum we should expect from a sensible system?

 

[jarlrmai]

The whole "decent hardworking" defence is such bullshit.

It can just mean been lucky up until now.

 

[Pale Rider]

The whole "decent hardworking" defence is such bullshit.

It can just mean been lucky up until now.

It's not a defence, it's mitigation.

The veracity of it may be supported by the mother of the victim's statement about not wanting to see him go to prison.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Perhaps the commenters on these sorts of reports would change their tune if they saw a truck shunting a car round a left turn because he forgot it was there then carried on staring at the busty girl in the car on his right. It happened to a colleague of mine. Or would they demand the banning of small cars?

 

[jarlrmai]

If a truck pulls up anywhere near me at a junction, get off my bike get on the pavement and wait till it's gone, too many horror stories.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

[QUOTE 4488379, member: 9609"]the thought of ten years in prison would be a massive deterrent for killing someone - I don't believe the do-gooders namby pamby sentencing for one second, we need to start locking people up for longer in tougher prisons[/QUOTE]
Do you honestly believe that a driver is going to think "Oh I better check my nearside mirror one more time I don't want to go to prison for 10 years?" Get real, if they move without checking it doesn't matter what the sentence is, they will continue to do it