Is this all a cyclists life is worth

[dutchguylivingintheuk]

I think the op raises an interesting question, Would the sentence be any higher if the victim was on a (illigal) (e)scooter, wheelchair, car, or was walking? And would they have made a difference if the victim was also high as a kite? and if so why?
The law seems to be made so complicated that a judge can always find an excuse for a lenient sentence. It also always seems to put the offender first, the offender says albeit this being the 28th time in 16 months(random example) this time he's really gonna learn from it and the judge dishes out an ''discount for good intentions a guess?
It's time that it is turned around that they look at the victim first, then decide if any ''discount'' should be applied.

 

[kayakerles]

I rather agree with Michael Hutchinson's take on this on twitter here

The whole "they're taking their life in their hands" narrative is part of why the police and criminal just system don't take it seriously. Cycling is seen as a reckless thing to do, and if bad things happen to you, you shouldn't complain.​

DT, Ming, makes you wonder how this mindset embedded in those within the legal system can ever get turned around. I'm quite sure this is never going to happen in my lifetime. But that being said, even with those in power being nonchalant about our lives, I’m still going to ride (as safely as I can) every chance I get. Even my wife knows that if I get flattened she can say, “at least he died doing something he loved to do.” At 65 now, I’ve enjoyed the better years of my life already anyway.

Seems odd, doesn’t it, that surviving bike rides is probably one of the biggest challenges of our lives today? 🚙 🚴‍♂️ 🚕 🚛 🚗

 

[Poacher]

It does seem to be a truism that people involved in illegal activities are less likely to waste their time on such tedious trivialities as having a Road Fund Licence, MOT, insurance or even a driving licence when even with the prevalence of ANPR they have a pretty good chance of not being detected. So spending more money on road policing is likely to be opening the door to detection of much more than strictly traffic related offences.

Whether increased training on awareness of modern issues is seriously affecting the ability of police forces to put boots on the ground or not, and continuous updating is a necessity for any profession, the important point is (and maybe I risk being redirected to NACA) that there are just not the resources available due to cost cuts over the last decade or maybe longer which needs to be remedied.

WTAF is a Road Fund Licence? Are you posting from the 1930s?

 

[simongt]

Someone once said that getting any sort of licence is a privelige, not an automatic right.
There's too many folk who think, especially with a driving licence, that it is their right to be able to drive.

 

[Milzy]

And it's not only cyclists, this woman deliberately drove the wrong way down a motorway slip road and killed a teacher in another car. Got just over four years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-merseyside-58841536
Sentencing guidelines need to be reviewed.

What a piece of crap. A lad near me wanted to end his life so hit a bridge at about 100mph. You don’t just aim at another car & take them out too. Unbelievable.

 

[mjr]

Someone once said that getting any sort of licence is a privelige, not an automatic right.
There's too many folk who think, especially with a driving licence, that it is their right to be able to drive.

Yes, whereas the original intention was that someone should be able to drive before getting the licence that permits it unsupervised!

There are far too many drivers stunningly ignorant of recent changes to the law. And by "recent" I mean "in the last 50 years". I've written in another post today about the majority of drivers being ignorant of the 5-year-old-now cycle-zebras. I suspect that most are also ignorant that flashing bike lights were legalised 16 years ago (I think). A minority still believe cyclists should dismount to use Toucan crossings (introduced about 30 years ago) and enough of those will lean out of the window and shout at people that it's still noticeable!

 

[kayakerles]

…As it is, people don't even feel safe crossing the road with any certainty that traffic will stop for a red light.

Ain’t that the truth, ILS!

 

[kayakerles]

I agree completely DT, on both counts. But I’m not about to give up something I’ve loved and done all of my life. I'll continue to head out with my born in NYC SpiderMan senses tingling until my final day comes.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

One of the reasons I have several lights at each end of my bike - plus reflectors and reflective tape and a hi-vis jacket and bright helmet

is not solely in the hope of being spotted (although not by the woman this afternoon!!!) but also so that in court the please of "I didn;t see him" can be made to sound stupid and show how little due care and attention they actually were applying
In the hope that no one gets away with a 20p fine and 0.5 points for knocking me off - because they have ADHD+dyslexia+stress+$anythingelsetheirlawyercancomeupwith and has 15 kids that need them


(note - the above conditions do exists and are serious - I'm not saying they are not - just that sometimes lawyers seem to come up with a cocktail of them for every offense!)

 

[a.twiddler]

WTAF is a Road Fund Licence? Are you posting from the 1930s?

Also known as Vehicle Excise Duty it is what replaced Road Tax in, oh let me see 1936? So if it was 1930 it would be called Road Tax. What year are you posting from?

 

[a.twiddler]

In an ideal world everyone would drive as if the person with whom they were likely to collide was the sole support of 19 kids under the age of 16 and they would immediately assume responsibility for the support of these kids if their sole provider became unable to work due to the collision.
The ultimate deterrent. Unfortunately it isn't an ideal world.

 

[Poacher]

Also known as Vehicle Excise Duty it is what replaced Road Tax in, oh let me see 1936? So if it was 1930 it would be called Road Tax. What year are you posting from?

Wikipedia is your friend! Between 1920 and 1936 the vehicle licence (tax disc) was officially known as the "Road Fund Licence".
Road Fund - Wikipedia

 

[BoldonLad]

absolutely, this is why you can stand at any road junction as spot countless people texting and driving. Witness cars not moving in slow moving queues etc as the drivers are on their phones. The must be an instruction in the police somewhere to not waste there time policing this as no-one ever gets done for it unless there is an accident. so people continue t do it as there is no fear of being caught.

No need for an instruction, they cannot Police it if they are not there to see it. I drove from Devizes to Newcastle-upon-Tyne on Saturday last, on a mixture of "A". roads and Motorways. I did not see one marked Police Car. There may of course been unmarked cars.

 

[I like Skol]

There may of course been unmarked cars.

When was the last time you saw an unmarked car on the hard shoulder making a pull?
As a driver in the 90s and early 00s I used to live in fear of being copped by an unmarked motorway cop!

 

[a.twiddler]

Wikipedia is your friend! Between 1920 and 1936 the vehicle licence (tax disc) was officially known as the "Road Fund Licence".
Road Fund - Wikipedia

That'll teach me to rush into print without double checking. Yes, the original Road Fund was a tax which unusually was to be paid by motorists and was to be spent exclusively on roads rather than going into a central treasury fund. This became part of general taxation, rather than being ring fenced, from 1937. It has had several names since, yet Road Fund Licence is still a current term in general use particularly within motoring organisations for example. So I believe my use of the term in my original post is valid. Vehicle Excise Duty is probably the most up to date term, though Road Tax and Car Tax are widely understood.

A legacy of the original Road Fund Licence is that those who paid it became very possessive about the road system, claiming that motorists had a special status and "owned" the roads that their taxation had paid for, to the detriment of non powered road users. This mythology still pervades the motoring community despite the fact that since 1937 this has not been factually true, though some credence has been given to it since 2015 when VED has been channeled into motorway and trunk road costs. However, everybody pays for the local road network through Council Tax whether they own a vehicle or not, so motorists are actually being subsidised by the rest of us.

Something to bear in mind the next time some young petrolhead (who probably lives with his mum, so doesn't pay council tax) screams "I pay road tax" as an excuse for close passing.