Woman jailed for 4 Years for knocking down a cyclist while texting and driving.

[NeoGen]

The car driver was an accident waiting to happen,

 

I think a cyclist riding around without appropriate protection running red lights is just as much an accident waiting to happen. It's just unfortunate they met each other.

 

I personally feel that you shouldn't be allowed to ride a bycycle on the road unless you have passed some kind of road safety test, maybe like the CBT for moped riders, and protective clothing be made mandatory (after all prevention is better than cure), when I was at school you were not allowed to ride your bike to school unless you had passed a cycling proficiency test, I think it's mad that anyone can just hop on a bike and ride around on the roads without any kind of training.

 

When I used to commute (by motorbike) from Dronfield to Hillsborough, I used to see the same cyclist on a daily basis coming down the hill from the University tram stop, they would pick up some speed going down that hill and with out fail regardless of the colour of the lights at the bottom go flying right through, it used to scare me to watch as I thought one day, I'll probably have to peel them off the side of a car.

[gelyk]

PS, if you want to make a quote please don't edit words out thus making the statement out of context and suiting your own purpose.

 

get over it

[Pseudonym]

What's the problem? Oh I remember, we all hate cyclists.

Now that's a blatently erroneous and unhelpful generalisation IMO.

 

I doubt that we all hate cyclists, I don't for one! What I do dislike strongly is the kind of cyclist, or any other road-user for that matter, who is of the opinion that the rules of the road don't apply to them, primarily because this makes them a danger to me, cyclists included!

 

In this case, the cyclist evidently considered a red light as an instruction to stop that he was exempt from, all too common an ocurrence amongst some cyclists in my experience.

 

No-one is protesting the innocence of the motorist involved in this 'accident', yet similarly no-one in authority, or speaking to the media, is saying what a fool the cyclist was for failing to stop at a red light.

 

Because the motorist was both speeding and texting, they were unable to compensate for the cyclists' error, this is NOT the same thing as causing death by dangerous driving. had the cyclist not run the light, he wouldn't have been in collision with the car.

 

This penalty for speeding and using a mobile phone is far too severe and seems to me to be a sop to ill-informed public opinion, this P.O.V. is reinforced by the fact that no condemnation whatsoever is made of the actions of the cyclist.

 

Yet again, the motorist carries the entire blame for the outcome!

[Tony]

I've never suggested that the cyclist caried no fault, but that doesn't negate the crime commited by the driver. The court agrees with me.

 

 

 

Let's make it closer to home and take the cyclist out of the equation...

 

Sheffield woman jailed for causing death while driving and using mobile phone.

 

 

I don't think that cyclists have killed any motorists this year.

[gelyk]

I think a cyclist riding around without appropriate protection running red lights is just as much an accident waiting to happen. It's just unfortunate they met each other.

 

I personally feel that you shouldn't be allowed to ride a bycycle on the road unless you have passed some kind of road safety test, maybe like the CBT for moped riders, and protective clothing be made mandatory (after all prevention is better than cure), when I was at school you were not allowed to ride your bike to school unless you had passed a cycling proficiency test, I think it's mad that anyone can just hop on a bike and ride around on the roads without any kind of training.

 

I'm all for having cyclists pass road safety tests but it's not going to stop cyclists from running red lights. We all know it's illegal to do so but that doesn't stop some people....I personally don't run red lights cause it is illegal and also it's down right dangerous sometimes, as is the case in this story.

 

Motorists have a test, which they have to pass, but it doesn't stop people from speeding or using their mobile phones....as is the case with this story too.

 

One could say that it's mad that anyone can just go out and walk around the streets and cross our busy roads. I've lost count of the number of pedestrians I've seen who don't bother looking before they cross the road. Therefore should people be made to pass some sort of test before they are allowed to cross a road?

[Zaytsev]

Now that's a blatently erroneous and unhelpful generalisation IMO.

 

I doubt that we all hate cyclists, I don't for one! What I do dislike strongly is the kind of cyclist, or any other road-user for that matter, who is of the opinion that the rules of the road don't apply to them, primarily because this makes them a danger to me, cyclists included!

 

In this case, the cyclist evidently considered a red light as an instruction to stop that he was exempt from, all too common an ocurrence amongst some cyclists in my experience.

 

No-one is protesting the innocence of the motorist involved in this 'accident', yet similarly no-one in authority, or speaking to the media, is saying what a fool the cyclist was for failing to stop at a red light.

 

Because the motorist was both speeding and texting, they were unable to compensate for the cyclists' error, this is NOT the same thing as causing death by dangerous driving. had the cyclist not run the light, he wouldn't have been in collision with the car.

 

This penalty for speeding and using a mobile phone is far too severe and seems to me to be a sop to ill-informed public opinion, this P.O.V. is reinforced by the fact that no condemnation whatsoever is made of the actions of the cyclist.

 

Yet again, the motorist carries the entire blame for the outcome!

 

While I agree with most of your post I have to disagree with your stance on the penalties for using a mobile phone.

 

I ride a motorbike and can tell you the biggest single cause of close shaves I have had in traffic have been with people who have a phone stuck to their ear.

[wolfstalin]

Let's make it closer to home and take the cyclist out of the equation...

 

Sheffield woman jailed for causing death while driving and using mobile phone.

 

Now that's a cut and dried case, but she only got 2 years, so what's the average for manslaughter, surely better than 2 years, and it makes the 4 years for someone who had mitigating circumstances pretty severe.

[Zaytsev]

Now that's a cut and dried case, but she only got 2 years, so what's the average for manslaughter, surely better than 2 years, and it makes the 4 years for someone who had mitigating circumstances pretty severe.

 

I agree, a little consistancy in sentencing is called for. I hazard a guess that as the cyclist was a teenager and the pedestrian elderly maybe, as distateful as I find it, he is considered to have more life in front of him.

 

It also makes a mockery of the sentence given to the bike thief who killed the woman on City Road while travelling at 100mph. He got 5 years.

[wolfstalin]

I agree, a little consistancy in sentencing is called for. I hazard a guess that as the cyclist was a teenager and the pedestrian elderly maybe, as distateful as I find it, he is considered to have more life in front of him.

 

It also makes a mockery of the sentence given to the bike thief who killed the woman on City Road while travelling at 100mph. He got 5 years.

 

I've just looked up the guidelines and the Stolen Biker should have got a minimum of 8 and max of 14, the case here with the red light mitigation should have been 18 months, and Tony's example should have been 5 years minimum.

[Zaytsev]

I've just looked up the guidelines and the Stolen Biker should have got a minimum of 8 and max of 14, the case here with the red light mitigation should have been 18 months, and Tony's example should have been 5 years minimum.

 

It's just another example of the idiocy of those in power.

 

Installing loads more speed cameras to supposedly cut deaths and serious injury but not fill in the potholes that are a bigger danger to bikers in particular.