Suspended Sentence For Taxi Driver "Blinded By The Sun".

[ebikeerwidnes]

They are completely different offences, with completely different sentencing guidelines.

And one is a deliberate action, while the other is carelessness.

SO the difference is intention I presume

 

[matticus]

It did - 1 year driving ban.

"A taxi driver has avoided jail and was instead given a six-month sentence suspended for 12 months and a one-year driving ban for hitting and killing a cyclist in Bradford,"

Ooops - no idea how I missed that!

 

[Alex321]

SO the difference is intention I presume

That will certainly account for a lot of it.

Then there is also the fact that different pieces of legislation don't necessarily take any account of sentences set for other offences.

And there may also have been other aggravating factors in the theft case - the one who got 2.5 years may have had previous offences, for instance.

 

[classic33]

I have wondered if it ever triggers epilepsy in drivers/passengers.

No.
It has been said to cause headaches, and disrupt your vision however.

 

[lazybloke]

I am not commenting on this particular case as I obviouly did not hear what was said to have happened. I would say that on some roads, if you stopped totally due to being blinded at times, you and everyone else would be motionless until dusk. I think it is much less the case in built up areas where buildings block out light, or in hillier areas where the terrain helps.

Over the last few years I have driven across aspects of the Cotswolds, the bits with long views and fairly flat terrain and at this time of year and in the spring the sun when not covered by clouds it is awful to drive head on into, or up to 90 degrees to the sun. Totally blinding at some moments on open roads, unpredictable and often no alternative sun-free route.

I'm rattling towards my mid-50s and have to admit my eyesight isn't nearly as good as it was even 5 years ago.
But I don't have problems with sunlight unless it's directly ahead and low to the horizon, and particularly with a reflection off a wet road surface.
But the dazzle can be reduced significantly if drivers can be bothered to keep their windscreeens scrupulously clean (inside and out) rather than having accumulations of road grime and that smeary film from offgassing of the interior materials. That makes a huge difference, as does using the sunshade, keeping a cheap pair of sunglasses in the car, having better observational skill,s and moderating speed.

With perhaps exceptions of mechanical failure, all collisions are avoidable, sometimes with fatal outcomes.

 

[matticus]

That makes a huge difference, as does using the sunshade, keeping a cheap pair of sunglasses in the car, having better observational skill,s and moderating speed.

Yes.
A much better solution than moaning that we'd "all be motionless until dusk"

 

[classic33]

Meanwhile just this minute read a news article about 3 youngsters getting done for stealing phones and driving offences. One of them got three and a half years. Why is property valued more than life?

Harder to put a price on a life than something bought, and the value can be checked.
Also, personal opinion, you'll be seen to have worked for property thereby earning it. Life comes free to us all.

 

[lazybloke]

A much more frequent problem for me is headlamp dazzle at night. I've yet to find any "night driving specs" that make any difference whatsoever.
I suspect part of the problem is a trend for smaller headlamps, meaning more of an intense point light source.

I've no idea what the "type approval" requirements are for car headlamps, but a minimum reflector size would help address the painful night dazzle problem.

I passed a driving medical yesterday with flying colours, including the eyesight tests where I could read the smallest text on the chart. I wonder how I would have done if the test considered low light and high dazzle situations?

 

[mjr]

Cyclist headed south (on his way to work) hit by car headed north. Driver of the car "blinded by the sun".

I remember a case near me where an elderly driver said he didn't see a car approaching from almost due north in January due to the low sun. He got off too (wasn't even prosecuted), but surrendered his licence anyway after being spotted driving without a seatbelt two days later: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47189332

As a minor silver lining to that dark cloud, the crashed vehicles uprooted a large area of nettles from the cycleway they landed on and it's taken until this year for them to grow back and become a problem again.

 

[Vantage]

You don't need a license or anything else to drive in Bradford, it's the uninsured capital of the UK

I used to travel through Bradford daily for years.

I now take a wide arc all the way upto Wetherby to stay clear of Bradford and Leeds city.

According to the DVLA, Manchester currently has the most uninsured drivers. Followed by Oldham and then Bolton.
As for the most wreckless, no idea.
Blinded by the sun though. We've all seen that crap come up before. It needs sorting out. It's like sticking Stevie Wonder in a Ferrari and claiming he wasn't at fault when ploughing into a school playground.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Continuing to drive into the sun, when it is blinding you, is deliberate action.

 

[Alex321]

Continuing to drive into the sun, when it is blinding you, is deliberate action.

But hitting another road user as a result isn't.

 

[matticus]

But hitting another road user as a result isn't.

... and what's weird - and apparently hard for most internet posters to understand - is that you can BOTH be right!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[classic33]

I remember a case near me where an elderly driver said he didn't see a car approaching from almost due north in January due to the low sun. He got off too (wasn't even prosecuted), but surrendered his licence anyway after being spotted driving without a seatbelt two days later: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47189332

As a minor silver lining to that dark cloud, the crashed vehicles uprooted a large area of nettles from the cycleway they landed on and it's taken until this year for them to grow back and become a problem again.

The case in question, in Bradford, was in mid-June not January.
So I fail to see why you bring an incident in January into it.

 

[mjr]

So I fail to see why you bring an incident in January into it.

You must have been blinded by low sun in the north, then(!)