Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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7 comments
Truth is the the laws, penalties, policing and the operation of the courts do not effectively protect vulnerable road users. Not surprisingly in cases like this and for example close passes, all cyclist get angry. We do need better infrastructure but in parallel we need to produce a justice system which ensures that drivers who make a mistake which results in a serious injury to a vulnerable road user will be taken off the road - no excuses. The trouble is whilst we are all squabbling about cases like this we are not applying consistent pressure on politicans to fix the problem.
Wow never seen anyone called up on being a 'bad troll' before!
So then, SuperPython59, plese tell me how the Police are useless in this case because i would love to know where you get your pathetic ideas from. The driver was arrested and is currently on bail whilst enquiries are conducted, what more do you want ?
In your little bubble world you might not know this but the Police can only arrest someone for an offence that fits the circumstances.
Stumps, you know that time and time again the system fails. Whether it is the police screwing up the evidence, not bothering to put in the effort, the CPS walking away or pressing for derisory charges, the courts handing down meaningless sentences. There may be odd people along the way who care, but the system as a whole doesn't.
If you want to kill someone, use a car, no one will give a f***.
And will probably end up charged with careless driving, with the implication that pretty much anyone could do this, it's just the sort of thing that happens. That seems to me the most upsetting aspect of all this - the implication that 'well, we all make mistakes, shit happens occassionally'. Which is, of course, true, but in other settings we try much harder to avoid the consequences of that shit.
For example, we are (at least in Scotland) blessed with a police service and government that are astonishingly paranoid about knives. Apart from suffering a specific religious delusion it is hard to find any universally acceptable reason to carry one, however useful a tool it might be. Now this may be sensible as a way to avoid injuries, whether deliberate or accidental, but contrast it with the casual approach taken to car usage. It would be nice to see the same levels of care and restraint applied to driving.
The motorist probably got out to check there was no damage to the car...
I trust the "driving without due care and attention" is purely a holding charge. Even without details of the incident the driver's actions appear criminal. One wonders what a breathalyser at the scene might have disclosed.
The victim had survived through nine decades, a World War, played their part in their community and who knows what else? Just to meet their end on Belvedere Road in circumstances which will possibly never be established.
I just feel sick.