Once again life is cheap if you ride a bike

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

MrHappyCyclist

Riding the Devil's HIghway
Location
Bolton, England
Disgraceful! (Yet again.)
 

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
Well now that all that legal business is out of the way both parties can get back to their normal everyday lives.....

Oh no wait, they can't can they?

Bloody disgraceful.

Like the OP said, a cyclists life really does appear to be worth sod all.
 

Edge705

Well-Known Member
This has been covered in another thread on here you just need to look at the driver to know straight away his drivng ability will be impaired - a custodial sentence woud have sent out the right message but would it have achieved anything as the guy has got to live with the fact he's destroyed lives and actually killed someone I for one would struggle to cope with such a sentence like that hanging over me for the rest of my life. Yet another sad story which highlights the danger cyclists face on a daily basis
 

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
Oh well as long as he's really sorry then.

Sorry, I don't want to turn this thread into an argument and I realise that other peoples views may vary from mine but Jesus, community service?

I'm in the RAF and often see guys around the camp with "Comminity Payback" bibs on. Mostly they just stand around in small groups and chat.

This is the sort of punishment I'd expect a juvenile to get for shop lifting!
 

Fran143

Über Member
Location
Ayrshire
It is a crime in itself that the legal system class this as a sentence.....justice system needs a right good shake up!!
 

Fran143

Über Member
Location
Ayrshire
Oh well as long as he's really sorry then.

Sorry, I don't want to turn this thread into an argument and I realise that other peoples views may vary from mine but Jesus, community service?

I'm in the RAF and often see guys around the camp with "Comminity Payback" bibs on. Mostly they just stand around in small groups and chat.

This is the sort of punishment I'd expect a juvenile to get for shop lifting!
They generally avoid any sort of effort when carrying out community service here as it (A) Infringes their human rights...do they deserve any in cases like this? (B) The work they carry out may cause potential harm ie a hypodermic syringe when clearing streets. So unfair really.
 
A terribly sad and unnervingly not uncommon tale. But I think it might not help to concentrate in the title on the fact that the victim was on a bike. I am sure the sentencing was not altered or adapted because of the mode of transport used by the victim.

He was a victim of the careless driving of another road user. Are we suggesting that the penalty or sentence would have been higher had the victim been a pedestrian, an equestrian or a motorcyclist.... even another driver?

I'm sure it wasn't the intention of the OP when he started this thread, but in the minds of some readers the title used might foment or tacitly encourage the notion that somehow the judicial system lowers the sentence when the victim is a cyclist.

If the suggestion is not that the sentence was low because the victim was a cyclist, then the headline might usefully lose the superfluous last five words.

Life is indeed cheap, on a bike or not.
 

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
It makes no difference whether it was a cyclist, a pedestrian or another driver.

Causing death by careless driving is just that!

Please don't let this thread decend into one of those where a bunch of morons nit-pick the grammer, spelling and punctuation and also don't assume that everyone reading it is incapable of understanding the OP's point.
 
It makes no difference whether it was a cyclist, a pedestrian or another driver.

Causing death by careless driving is just that!

Please don't let this thread decend into one of those where a bunch of morons nit-pick the grammer, spelling and punctuation and also don't assume that everyone reading it is incapable of understanding the OP's point.

Absolutely, that was precisely my point. It is a dreadful, dreadful tale.

I do not want to precipitate a descent into pedantic nit-picking. I was just questioning the need to add the words 'if you ride a bike' to the title.

I hoped I was doing so in a considered way. If my tone comes across as hectoring, provocative or insensitive, I apologise.

I hope I didn't make any assumptions about the ability of others to understand the OP's point.

There is (to my mind) no link between the sentence and the fact that the victim was a cyclist. Some readers might see an implication that there was a link.

My apologies again for any perceived insensitivity or provocation in my earlier response.
 

Gary E

Veteran
Location
Hampshire
I'm probably a bit over-sensitive to this story at the moment. It's been on my mind quite a lot since it happened.

As I said, I'm in the RAF and so there have been quite a few mentions of the incident as you may imagine.

I too would like to apologise; it seems in putting my point accross I was doing the one thing I was trying to avoid, namely inflaming this thread and devaluing the whole thing.

I would just like to post the sentiments I should have in the first place.

Group Captain Tom Barrett OBE ADC MA RAF - Rest in peace Sir.
 

GrumpyGregry

Here for rides.
It's a cycling forum after all. Things tend to be looked at and commented on from the perspective of people who ride bikes, even though all are also pedestrians, many are drivers, some ride motorbikes and more than a few are equestrians.
 

mr_hippo

Living Legend & Old Fart
A friend of mine, who was living in South Africa at the time, hit and killed a child who ran out of nowhere straight in front of his car. Forget rhe senrence that the court passed on him but his main sentence is that he has to live with that fact everyday of his life; he chooses not to drive now and will not even cycle.
All of us who drive have the potential to end someone's life, if it happened to you how would you deal with it? What use would a custodial sentence serve?
l was in a similar postion 11 months ago (not driving related); My wife had a massive myocardial infarction and 17 arrests over the next 36 hours - after her penultimate attack, l told the doctor that if it happened again to let her go; she died in my arms about 5 hours later. Now l have to live with the fact that l may have been too hasty.
Excuse typing - l slipped in the yard earlier tonight and broke my wrist - no cycling for about 6 weeks!
 
Top Bottom