pslewis

Cyclist entirely at fault? Did you really write that?

GC8WRX

I only pay double that thanks to moleywrx, fully comp! and im only 27 (jealous?)

Ill get my flame suit on here........ but if ive read the situation correctly, the cyclist jumped a red light and got hit, with no helmet on? if so its his own fault and he deserved it!

If the person driving was had no phone it would be the cyclists fault, but cos she was texting someone its all her fault and she should be sent down? WTF?

Bodgit

if the person had been concentrating on the road then they may have been able to stop.

This could have been a small child running out rather than a cyclist. would that child have 'deserved what they got'?

GC8WRX

But it wasnt so why contemplate the ifs?

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

The cyclist *WAS* entirely at fault - HE JUMPED A RED LIGHT. That cost him his life. His illegal action was the only reason he is dead. We're talking a split second thing, she may/may not have seen him in time, her reactions may/may not have been fast enough to avoid him, her brakes may/may not have been good enough to stop her vehicle. The bottom line is though HE JUMPED THE RED LIGHT.

She's stupid and shouldn't have been texting, and should get penalised for that, but to hold her responsible for an accident the Cyclist CAUSED is lunacy.

GC8WRX

Exactly!

pslewis

Jealous that you are paying twice as much as me for Insurance?? Errrrrrrm, give me a minute to think that one out .....
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Oddly enough .... NO!!

pslewis

Was the driver responsible for the death of the cyclist?

Yes ....... the judge clearly thought that the act of not looking where she was going meant she could not avoid the cyclist when she should have been able to ....... the cyclist died because she didn't see him, whatever action he took.

15 years minimum I say.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

The cyclist died because he was a f**king idiot who jumped a red light.

IF she had of hit the cyclist because SHE jumped the red light while she was texting, then fine, throw the book at her. But this is NOT what happened.

Bluie

BBC NEWS | England | Hampshire | Text driver jailed for bike death

The 25-year-old from Hythe, Hampshire, was driving at 45mph in a 30mph zone.

I think the above statement does put it in some context, whether texting or not would she have missed the chap jumping the red light

rob878

Really?? i'm amazed as legally they have done nothing illegal, i'm surprised they didn't tell you too wind you neck in and concentrate on your own driving rather than policing the world. It may have been a
dangerous road, but then again if you had hit them it would have been you who would have been done for driving with out due care and attention. Granted they would have had the broken bones etc. Incidentally do you also b*llock tractor drivers for driving slowly around dangerous bends and not diving for cover when Mr Toad hoves into view. Poop Poop.


Ps the cyclist deserved the result for poor road skills and the driver deserved the penalty for using her mobile whilst at the wheel, not the jail term. IMHO.

_RIP_

imo having young children in your car is the most dangerous distraction imaginable. The number of times I've been almost wiped out by some half wit mother attending to her bipedal vermin is beyond counting. How these serial breeders can concentrate on busy roads while tending to attention deficit syndromes spogs amazes me. Well it doesn't, because they cant. Ban all children from vehicles I say, and now!

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Fuzz

An umbrella in the front spokes is usually all it takes to stop em dead if they try crossing a red

cster

I don't really have a problem with cyclists riding through red lights - but into the path of an oncoming car - why that's just plum crazy!
I guess in an ideal world, this sentence has been given in order to send a message to people who like to text/phone whilst driving and it will be reduced on appeal.
Perhaps they can have a posthumous court hearing for the cyclist and give them a fine and a jolly long driving ban.

Paul3446

So should someone who does 45mph in a 30 zone, get the same sentence as someone who does kills a young child while doing 45 in a 30 zone?

No of course not.

You have to accept while driving, that if you break the law and kill someone as a consequence, you are in big trouble, and rightly so.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

Of course not.

It just annoys me that while the woman was obviously doing something stupid and may/may not have been speeding, it gets my back up that the blame seems to be lumped on her, when the initial fault of the accident was someone jumping a red light. I'm not suggesting that she didn't do anything wrong - or shouldn't be punished, but, and its a big but, the cyclist wouldn't be dead if they hadn't rode through a red light. What the woman did was contributory to the accident - NOT the cause of it. A ban and a fine would have been more than sufficient, a custodial sentence for an accident she *did not* cause, strikes me as yet another stab at the motorist as the root of all evil, pain and suffering in the world.

Maybe the Judges summing up criticised the cyclist, but I doubt it did; having driven in Norwich, Lincoln and (the worst) Cambridge quite a lot, I constantly see cyclists flaunt road regulations as if they don't apply to them. While cyclists are allowed to do this, at great risk to themselves, it seems they will not be held accountable; and I have a concern that car drivers are going to be held increasingly responsible for other road users gross stupidity even if they haven't done anything wrong. While the police sit by and only worry themselves about illegal numberplate spacing, and any other petty offence they can extort another £30 or £60 out of a motorist for.

I know for a fact that if a cyclist jumped a light and rode into my car, they'd also get a swift kick in the head for denting my car.

Actually - From this day forth, when I see a cyclist jumping a red light, I'm going to lean on my horn.. and hold it down.

Leslie

I did say in my post on another thread about this that I think that the cyclist was at blame of course, but nevertheless that texting on a mobile phone while driving is really senseless. Far worse than talking on it surely. Using a mobile in any manner while driving is selfishly dangerous and I think she deserved the sentence that she got. The cyclist has more than paid for his similarly very stupid actions.

Les

RJMS

iTrader: (2)

A strange one this but sort of related

BBC NEWS | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | Taxi driver in death ride guilty

What got me is that the passenger apparently jumped out of the cab but the driver was initially going to be charged with causing death by dangerous driving - not sure how that one worked

GC8WRX

Is riding two abreast not illegal? I think the highway code says it is! And coppers shouldnt break the law!

And you try being stuck behind two cyclists side by side for 5 miles on a dangerous road, when if they were riding single file it would be safe to get past! Happens almost every week to me!

GC8WRX

I would say twice the premium for half the age is a good trade off!, when you've ben fertiliser for years, ill be the one driving around in an impreza with a 300 quid premium!

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

The silly cow was flouting a law, and then some, the law is against "using your mobile phone whilst driving", i.e. talking on it, which to be fair doesnt involve having to look at it to check what you have typed, may as well be on a laptop whilst trying to drive.

The Cyclist is not blameless, he ran a red light like a lot of the daft ***** do, he ran out of luck and hopefully it will server as a warning that the laws of the road apply to those who don't pay road tax as much as those who don't.

The blame here is about 80% to the daft bint in the car and about 20% to the arrogant cyclist, most of the blame I say is with the person in the vehicle with more potential to cause harm, the cyclist was risking himself whereas she was risking anybody around her, ok a cyclist can cause damage to a pedestrian or cause a car to swerve but the potential is still much lower than a 1 tonne plus car traveling at 15 mph over the posted limit, espcieally one driven by someone with so little attention to the job in hand.

The ammount of people I see on mobiles when driving still is astounding.

nooobyscoooby

This thing I find extraordinary about this case is that all the media reports I have seen have quotes from The Plod who says this is a prime example of the what can happen whilst texting and driving - fair enough - but there's absolutely no mention whatsoever anywhere of the stupidity of the cyclist who actually stopped and then delberately road through a red light into the path of a speeding car coming through on green. The dead cyclist has a responsibility in all of this and I would say his was actually greater than that of the girl driver. She deserved a penalty for speeding and texting but the actual death was not her fault.

rob878

What you think and what is written are 2 entirely different things, please read the following as it will may help your deluded assumption:

7. Group riding pattern is normally in pairs. This is sociable and keeps the group together. Single file is courteous and safer on some roads.
The Highway Code specifically allows cyclists to ride two abreast. It is usually the leader’s decision when to move to single file because of traffic or when passing walkers or horses. Offroad you should ride in way that makes allowance for walkers. Most groups have a standard method of moving from double to single file which everyone uses to make the manoeuvre smooth and safe. Ask how it is done in your group.

Courtesy of the CTC.

As you will see there is no legal requirement to cycle single file, it is simply a courtesy.

So rather than making your own laws up feckin read the damn highway code it stops making you look like a idiot in public. As for coppers not breaking the law, pull the other one it's their second favourite hobby after filling in reams of needless paperwork.

What do you do when stuck behind a tractor for 5 miles on a dangerous road, sit and feckin wait, you and me aren't important as we think. You have no more right to over take than anyone else. If it's dangerous sit and wait no matter how annoying it may seem.

As a small aside who has right of way on her majesties highways a) a car b) a pedestrian, the answer is caller... the pedestrian. How do i know this some retard ran me over as i walked facing the traffic on a country lane (as perscribed in the highway code), i put his windscreen out with my head and vaulted the hedge as i got flung over his car, His **** poor excuse was, "you shouldn't have been walking on a road" bearing in mind this was the middle of the country side with no other routes available, my briefs rather more eloquent response was " you should have been driving with due care and attention now pay up c*nto" actually it wasn't that but court speak is so boring and far less Hollywood.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

So what your saying is that - as long as its not illegal, its okay to act like an utter c**t. Right. Nice that. For the record, Tractors are required by law to pull over and let other traffic past when possible, so thats no excuse.

Any cyclist who rides two abreast, when other road users are trying to get past, are f**king idiots who deserve to get run down.

And thats from a cyclist.

For the record, the CTC are a bunch of idiots as well IMHO.

You jump a red light, you should expect to get run down and killed.

I'm fed up of people making excuses for this f**king dead idiot who's gross stupidity has led to someone, who while not entirely faultless, did NOT cause the accident to spend the next four years of her life in jail.

He jumped a red light. For that stupidity, he deserved what he got. I'll probably get an infraction for that opinion but I honestly don't care, if it acts as a warning to a large number of other stupid cyclists who for some reason believe they are exempt from the rules of the road good, but I doubt they're intelligent to take it on board and will continue to ride like retards. They are an utter embarrassment to those of us who use the roads in a courteous and LEGAL way.

Sorry - but I'm as sick as a motorist, as well as a cyclist, for people making excuses for stupid, dumbarse behaviour.

As for your country road story, having lived in the countryside for my entire life, I've got enough experience and plain common sense not to walk down the road but on the bank, the reason you walk facing the traffic is so that you can jump out of the bloody way.

Jacko - the cyclist flouted the law just as much as the driver did, just because lots of cyclists are idiots doesn't excuse the behavior that ultimately resulted in him being killed.

As for the people who negged my essentially factual post, you need to have a good think. Regardless of what the woman was doing, would the cyclist have been killed or injured if he hadn't of jumped the red light. No. So, therefore, it's HIS fault. Black and white that, or it should be if our legal system wasn't so f**ked up.

fraser87uk

I think its ridiculous.

Yeah she ran him down and he died cause she wasnt paying full attention, BUT the first infraction of the law was the cyclist who jumped the red lights. If that had not happened then she wouldnt have hit him. Simple as.

People who drink drive and cause injuries/death get less jail time.

Diesel

Cyclists often treat traffic lights as junctions - look left, look right, if its clear then some dont necessarily sit there till you get a green (although you are required to). It is probable that the deceased made a similar call, so how she 'got' him I dont know?

No being a fan of jailing ordinary decent citizens for genuine mistakes, I do think it was the right verdict though as texting is a far greater distraction then even setting your sat nav whilst driving. Also 2000lb cars capable of high speed are lethal, 40Lb slow push bikes arent so its a clear responsibility - even if the other party are pushing their luck...

D

pwhittle

that's London for you though, it'd hardly just the cyclist who have no regard for others.
I've been riding on the road for 20 years, always wear a lid, and have never jumped a light (even when it's perfectly safe to), so I'm not sure why i deserve your hatred?

pwhittle

the court case - which I assume you didn't attend, was tasked with working that out based on the evidence, and concluded that her actions were at least partly at fault. She knew she was braking the law and being dangerous, and, like so many people, thought she was more imprtant than everyone else.
It's this arogance which causes most bad driving and accidents IMO.
Yes the cycist is aprtly to blame, but they could hard'y presecute him could they?!

trails

iTrader: (41)

reading between the lines and being a cyclist who rides to the station everyday this is the kind of thing you experience everyday. Amber\red lights are pretty much fair game where visibility is good and its often much safer to get out in front of the traffic where you are clearly visible. IMO the only reason the woman was prosecuted it that when she was texting she wasn't paying adequate attention and just pulled away without looking hitting and killing the cyclist. Prasius, do you just nail the throttle when a light turns green or do you check the way is clear\wait for the slow moving traffic to move first?

a terrible situation for both but the cyclist is dead so he loses ultimately.