If lateral movement makes you visible, would a horizontal LED strip with a pattern flashing from side to side do the trick?
My accident...
- Thread starter Davidsw8
- Start date
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If lateral movement makes you visible, would a horizontal LED strip with a pattern flashing from side to side do the trick?
ComedyPilot
Secret Lemonade Drinker
- Location
- The Kingdom of Yorkshire
Any movement that moves from left to right or up and down instead of (seemingly) remaining static will trigger our killer instinct vision
Just a quick update on this. Got home to find a letter from the Police regarding this case.
The driver has been offered the option of a National Drivers Awareness Course, if he declines to go on it (or doesn't show up) then they'll proceed with a prosecution.
I think this is the perfect result, if he toes the line then he won't get any points or a fine, but he'll get the message quite plainly that he needs to be more aware in future. If he doesn't, then that's his look out and he deserves what he gets.
So, I'm happy
and it shows that it's worth reporting these things.
The driver has been offered the option of a National Drivers Awareness Course, if he declines to go on it (or doesn't show up) then they'll proceed with a prosecution.
I think this is the perfect result, if he toes the line then he won't get any points or a fine, but he'll get the message quite plainly that he needs to be more aware in future. If he doesn't, then that's his look out and he deserves what he gets.
So, I'm happy
and it shows that it's worth reporting these things.
glenn forger
Guest
thanks for doing this david.
Wasn't expecting to have to update this again but just had a call from the police and this chap is adamant that he did no wrong and he's declined to go on the course. So, now the police have to proceed with a prosecution which will most likely involve me having to go to court as a witness/victim.
The woman from the police said that she can clearly see one of my lights flashing in the dvd footage and she's keen not to let this go as it'll give him the wrong message.
Not happy about this at all, why can't this idiot just admit he's wrong? Does going on this course affect his insurance? I think points on his licence and a fine will do a lot more damage in that respect.
Anyway, I have a few days to think about it but if I don't want to appear as a witness then they have no case and it's dropped.
The woman from the police said that she can clearly see one of my lights flashing in the dvd footage and she's keen not to let this go as it'll give him the wrong message.
Not happy about this at all, why can't this idiot just admit he's wrong? Does going on this course affect his insurance? I think points on his licence and a fine will do a lot more damage in that respect.
Anyway, I have a few days to think about it but if I don't want to appear as a witness then they have no case and it's dropped.
I can see why you are uneasy about appearing as a witness, but IMO you really ought to let it go to court. The driver doesn't think he did anything wrong, so will do the same thing again in similar circumstances. Points and a fine might just get through, and if not will at least punish him a bit. If you let it drop, he will have got away with it.
Obviously up to you, but I know what I would do (easy for me to say, I know)
aces_up1504
Well-Known Member
Its pretty obvious the guy is at fault.
Personally i think he is playing chicken with Police, he was declined the Driver Awareness course which costs around £100 i think.
He is probably hoping that the Police will deceide to drop the case. But for a £100 and no penalty points etc and no requirement to inform insurance its a pretty big gamble.
Can not see why you would not go to court, its not like you testifying against a gangster
Personally i think he is playing chicken with Police, he was declined the Driver Awareness course which costs around £100 i think.
He is probably hoping that the Police will deceide to drop the case. But for a £100 and no penalty points etc and no requirement to inform insurance its a pretty big gamble.
Can not see why you would not go to court, its not like you testifying against a gangster
chqshaitan
Guru
- Location
- Warringon
some insurance companies are getting wise to people doing SAC(speed awareness courses) instead of taking points, and ask that question when applying for their insurance.
Sometimes people have to learn the hard way that they are wrong, looks like this is one of those unfortunate times.
I know its easy for us to say go to court as we are not the person who will have to go, but all I can say is if he gets off with it, or the case is dropped, he could end up killing someone
.
At least this way, he will be much more careful in the future (or should i say, should be).
You are in the home stretch now bud, stick with it. thumbs up to you, for going the extra mile
Sometimes people have to learn the hard way that they are wrong, looks like this is one of those unfortunate times.
I know its easy for us to say go to court as we are not the person who will have to go, but all I can say is if he gets off with it, or the case is dropped, he could end up killing someone
.At least this way, he will be much more careful in the future (or should i say, should be).
You are in the home stretch now bud, stick with it. thumbs up to you, for going the extra mile
I know its easy for us to say go to court as we are not the person who will have to go, but all I can say is if he gets off with it, or the case is dropped, he could end up killing someone
No pressure then!!
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
I was a witness in October at Court for an RTA in the previous March. The driver said he hadn't done any wrong (u-turned across 'no-turn' hatchings, and in the process took a cyclist off - I was cycling behind and had a clear view. Anyway, £130 ish fine and 3 points and a few hours in court. Still see the driver - very distinctive gentleman and drives a black cab - bloody idiot. Civil case is still outstanding !
Thanks fellas, my hesitance is just based on the fact that I don't particularly like standing up in front of people talking at the best of times, let alone in a court, in front of a judge and someone who's going to be thinking I'm a complete *expletive* for dragging him in to this situation.
The surprising thing to me is that this seems like a very minor accident, he seemed VERY reasonable at the time, I'm not claiming for any repairs or personal injury (and I believe I probably could if I was that way inclined) and he could just take the awareness course and let that be the end of it.
The woman from the police told me that he doesn't know the incident is on camera yet and I'm thinking that maybe they should have shown him that before he made his decision to decline the course?
Anyway, my gut is telling me to man up, carry on with this till it's done and so I most likely will do that.
At the end of the day, despite having a reflective jacket and 2 sets of lights on, he collided with me.
I don't believe this guy is any kind of menace to society but he is definitely deluded if he thinks he's not culpable and how else is he now going to get that message other than from a court? Probably not even then really.
The surprising thing to me is that this seems like a very minor accident, he seemed VERY reasonable at the time, I'm not claiming for any repairs or personal injury (and I believe I probably could if I was that way inclined) and he could just take the awareness course and let that be the end of it.
The woman from the police told me that he doesn't know the incident is on camera yet and I'm thinking that maybe they should have shown him that before he made his decision to decline the course?
Anyway, my gut is telling me to man up, carry on with this till it's done and so I most likely will do that.
At the end of the day, despite having a reflective jacket and 2 sets of lights on, he collided with me.
I don't believe this guy is any kind of menace to society but he is definitely deluded if he thinks he's not culpable and how else is he now going to get that message other than from a court? Probably not even then really.
chqshaitan
Guru
- Location
- Warringon
thumbs up bud. Hand on heart, i am not sure what i would do in your situation, but kudos to you for seeing it to the next stage.
He may just be bluffing and waiting to see what the police are going to do next.
He may just be bluffing and waiting to see what the police are going to do next.
Arjimlad
Tights of Cydonia
- Location
- South Glos
I hope you go to court really, this chap needs to be made more aware of the consequences of his actions. I go to court for work purposes and sometimes there are people who are so arrogant that they will only take legal advice from a Judge - and take the consequences.
CopperCyclist
Veteran
The driver awareness course 'could' have affected his insurance, but it depends on the company. Some request you to declare it. My wife recently had a speed awareness course, and it made a difference of £4.85 to our yearly quote. Three points would have made a difference of £30.
I know this is easy to say, but magistrates court really isn't that intimidating. You won't be yelled at, called a liar and challenged. You'll simply be asked to recount specific facts by both sets of solicitors, and then the defence will try to find a loophole to get the driver off.
What happens over 90% of the time is that the defendant tries their luck and hope that witnesses won't turn up to court, at which stage it is dropped and they get away scot free. When the witnesses do turn up, they then put a guilty plea in, getting the benefit of an 'early plea' discount. The witness doesn't have to give evidence but has wasted a day turning up.
The magistrates may give you an monetary compensation if he is found guilty.
As a rule of thumb, if the CPS is willing to run something at magistrates court, it's almost certainly going to succeed if all witnesses and evidence are available.
I've probably attended Magistrates Court about 30 to 50 times in my career at a rough guess. I've actually given evidence in one about 4 or 5 times.
Crown Court is a little different - as the cases are more serious in Crown, they tend to try a prosecution anyway even if it's not a 100% cert, so in comparison I've attended Crown Court about 5 times, and given evidence 3 times.
This may be a deliberate attempt here to tug on your guilty strings... just ignore me if you want and remember its YOUR choice, and you were the victim, but... we hear so often on this site of instances where people have an accident and then get a poor
or service from the police. We hear this because these are the stories that get told. You've got a keen officer doing the right thing - give her the back up she needs to get things through to court. He was the one who chose to take it there, not you - remember that!
I know this is easy to say, but magistrates court really isn't that intimidating. You won't be yelled at, called a liar and challenged. You'll simply be asked to recount specific facts by both sets of solicitors, and then the defence will try to find a loophole to get the driver off.
What happens over 90% of the time is that the defendant tries their luck and hope that witnesses won't turn up to court, at which stage it is dropped and they get away scot free. When the witnesses do turn up, they then put a guilty plea in, getting the benefit of an 'early plea' discount. The witness doesn't have to give evidence but has wasted a day turning up.
The magistrates may give you an monetary compensation if he is found guilty.
As a rule of thumb, if the CPS is willing to run something at magistrates court, it's almost certainly going to succeed if all witnesses and evidence are available.
I've probably attended Magistrates Court about 30 to 50 times in my career at a rough guess. I've actually given evidence in one about 4 or 5 times.
Crown Court is a little different - as the cases are more serious in Crown, they tend to try a prosecution anyway even if it's not a 100% cert, so in comparison I've attended Crown Court about 5 times, and given evidence 3 times.
This may be a deliberate attempt here to tug on your guilty strings... just ignore me if you want and remember its YOUR choice, and you were the victim, but... we hear so often on this site of instances where people have an accident and then get a poor
or service from the police. We hear this because these are the stories that get told. You've got a keen officer doing the right thing - give her the back up she needs to get things through to court. He was the one who chose to take it there, not you - remember that!
