Hungover driver kills cyclist, walks free.

[ComedyPilot]

Its a difficult one.

Not drunk enough to fáil a breath test but obviously too impaired to drive. Im sure most of us have been in the position where we are too tired to be driving and in hindsight, shouldnt have. But it is difficult to make laws for every single eventuality.

Certainly, an avoidable accident where all parties are going to suffer for years to come.

A timely reminder, coming up to Christmas.

Watch the car park at ANY of the THOUSANDS of UK police stations in the early morning after a long night shift, and I bet most if not all of the officers driving home do so with an element of tiredness/impairment.

I know - I used to.....

 

[Drago]

. What is sending him to prison with career criminals going to accomplish?

For starters the public will be safe from him while he is behind bars.

 

[steveindenmark]

Watch the car park at ANY of the THOUSANDS of UK police stations in the early morning after a long night shift, and I bet most if not all of the officers driving home do so with an element of tiredness/impairment.

I know - I used to.....

Yes me too. But there is no need to single out the police. Any night shiftworker will know that feeling.

There is a big difference between being tired and hungover though.

 

[ComedyPilot]

Yes me too. But there is no need to single out the police. Any night shiftworker will know that feeling.

There is a big difference between being tired and hungover though.

My point wasn't to single out the police per se, but I dislike the double standards that frown on impaired driving whilst doing zilch to help rank and file bobbies from committing the self same mistakes.

 

[briantrumpet]

Perhaps we need to shift the culture of what is an acceptable state in which to drive a car. Since driving a car (unlike riding a bike) requires little physical exertion, there are few states (apart from drunkenness) that most people won't contemplate driving a potentially lethal lump of metal. We might not feel like riding the bike, but we'll jump in the car....

At one time it was generally socially acceptable to drive whilst partially drunk: these days it is not. If we, as drivers, were more prepared to say "I'm not fit to drive" (and courts were prepared to penalise poor decisions to drive which lead to a 'momentary lapse of concentration' in the same way they deal with drink driving, maybe we can shift what's socially acceptable in those contexts too.

 

[Cycleops]

No she couldn't ...

Anybody can appeal a sentence handed down by a court in the UK, and not just those associated with the case.

 

[Pale Rider]

No she couldn't ...

While that is strictly true, anyone can write to the attorney general to ask him to review a sentence.

Such a request carries more weight if the CPS does it, but I've known MPs take that route.

Something rings a bell about a sentence being increased after Cameron interfered.

 

[Crankarm]

So if he didn't do it 'by accident', how did he do it - deliberately?

The system has decided there are no accidents on the road, only collisions, so there must always be someone to blame.

Trouble is juries, judges and magistrates think like the rest of us, there are accidents, and while one party might be to blame, their degree of culpability varies.

An awful lot is being made of this bloke being hung over, but he passed the breathalyser so he was fit to drive from a blood/alcohol standpoint.

Errr … he was suffering from the affects of alcohol. Drinking and driving do not go together. If he was such a good guy as all his character witnesses suggested then he SHOULD have realised this and not driven his car. He obviously has a dark side and has duped everyone. His punishment should be far more severe.