Is this the driver of the car's fault?
- Thread starter Accy cyclist
- Start date
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If you are involved you have to stop, but I don't think you do as a witness
OP
OP
Accy cyclist
Legendary Member
I wonder if that van driver did stop further down the road, out of shot, though I doubt it as most would stop there and then. After seeing someone catapulted, then tumbling through the air like that who would just drive on like it wasn't that serious! I think most would stop and see if they could offer any assistance. The van has windows and what looks like a taxi firm's plate on the visible side. Maybe he/she was just glad the cyclist didn't block the road, causing him or her to miss a pick up.
Last edited:
steveindenmark
Legendary Member
There is no obligation to give any statement as a witness and no legal obligation to assist if you are not directly involved.
IanSmithCSE
Guru
Good morning,
Quite a few years back I was as surprised to read that a juror got a custodial sentence because on his own time he visitied the scene of a RTA that he was on the jury considering.
The legal system is slow and it was pointed out to the juror that what he saw on that day was completely different to the conditions when the accident occured so he was drawing completely invalid conclusions.
I am quite a high mileage rider and the driver was clearly in the wrong but on the story as presented I really can't see why that accident deserved a prision sentence.
I managed to drive 50k miles a year plus a 50 hour working week for a decade without hitting anyone. Then one day I pulled out in front of a cyclist after I had come to a complete stop at a roundabout on a 6 mile roundtrip to the supermarket, the saving grace was that he was going so slowly that I could claim that I saw him and knew that I had time to pull out and it is not even obvious to me that he thought I had pulled out in front of him.
He was wearing a lime green high vis jacket and I have always been curious as to why I didn't see him and as far as I can tell it was simply that he was percevied as a stationary object, he was moving so slowly that nothing was changing in my field of vision and the lime green jacket was very low contrast against the background which was hedges and trees.
Bye
Ian
Quite a few years back I was as surprised to read that a juror got a custodial sentence because on his own time he visitied the scene of a RTA that he was on the jury considering.
The legal system is slow and it was pointed out to the juror that what he saw on that day was completely different to the conditions when the accident occured so he was drawing completely invalid conclusions.
I am quite a high mileage rider and the driver was clearly in the wrong but on the story as presented I really can't see why that accident deserved a prision sentence.
I managed to drive 50k miles a year plus a 50 hour working week for a decade without hitting anyone. Then one day I pulled out in front of a cyclist after I had come to a complete stop at a roundabout on a 6 mile roundtrip to the supermarket, the saving grace was that he was going so slowly that I could claim that I saw him and knew that I had time to pull out and it is not even obvious to me that he thought I had pulled out in front of him.
He was wearing a lime green high vis jacket and I have always been curious as to why I didn't see him and as far as I can tell it was simply that he was percevied as a stationary object, he was moving so slowly that nothing was changing in my field of vision and the lime green jacket was very low contrast against the background which was hedges and trees.
Bye
Ian
Jody
Stubborn git
Driving without due care
Sentencing guidelines suggest a starting point of 1 year in prison for cat b and harm 1 with a range of 6-18 months.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.u...-inconsiderate-driving-for-consultation-only/
Would you be happy for them to get a slap on the wrist if you were the rider, having suffered bad injury whilst doing nothing wrong because someone didn't stop and look?
Slick
Guru
I think its more in comparison to previously discussed incidents in other threads.
BoldonLad
Not part of the Elite
You are that rare thing, in my experience, a person who admits to an instance of less than perfect driving.
Jody
Stubborn git
Reckon they would have likely not got custody if they stopped at the junction or if there was no footage.
Yes, it's a mistake and 12 months seems harsh but the drivers negligence lead to serious injury.
The public call was harsher sentencing for driving offences and that was introduced in the summer.
matticus
Guru
Weird - that almost exactly describes my one-and-only SMIDSY! (bloody hurt too
) *Now I'm much more paranoid at those sort of junctions ... but roads can be busy, and situations complicated; it's still possible that some loon (like @Accy cyclist 's new friend, thankfully in prison for several months now) will take me out through their impatience and negligence - and I hope they get the book thrown at them.
*Driver apologised profusely ... but still got nicked. Good.
Even emergency vehicles on a blues & two's run will slow on approach to such a junction, giving way to on coming traffic, unless that traffic on both sides & the opposite junction stops to allow them to proceed, nobody would just cross the giveway without a care in the world, iirc when I was learning the instructor took me to an unmarked crossroads regularly, in order to instill the correct way of dealing with one those too
All uphill
Still rolling along
Agreed.
Perhaps acknowledging that one is fallible is the first step to driving safely; for me it was the step that stopped me using the car as my default method of transport.
This is at the root of much of the problems on our roads.
