London van driver who knocked cyclist off bike wasn't prosecuted despite helmet cam footage

And yet still she was on the course

In my opinion all points and a fine do for speeding is teach the driver to look more carefully for speed cameras and slow down for them. It does not teach them that they need to reduce their speed consistantly as this is an educational piece that the driver awareness courses cover.
We don't want drivers who just avoid getting caught or only amend one area of their bad driving, we need bad drivers turned into good drivers.
For those that have done a course and re-offend the penalty should be doubled (extra points, fine and redo the course).

I was knocked off my bike because of poor driving, and the police insisted that I agree for the driver to be sent on an awareness course because there is always the risk of a biased jury exonerating the driver.

Crap driving and penalty points should have been due there, plus a hefty fine

Not really much to add on top of the disgust that everyone else rightly feels except that I live near that roundabout and try to entirely avoid using Lambeth Bridge because its a death trap.

The exits all have pinch points that leave no room for cyclists to go, and it is notorious for red light jumping vehicles as well. The exit this woman was using is this one which heads out on to the Albert Embankment towards Vauxhall.

It used to be really bad with taxis and PHV's parking outside the Martime Union building after events, despite the double red lines.

Heading the other way, it pinches dangerously when you head from AE on to the bridge, again with red light jumpers that then squeeze cyclists.

I was involved in a car accident last year. Bright warm sunny afternoon, awaiting at the back of a queue of traffic on a road that is well-known for having queues of traffic.

Without any warning, we got hit from behind.

Immediate reaction was that the guy behind us had hit us, but, in fact, it turned out that that he'd been stopped behind us, brakes on, and had been hit from behind by a plumber in his van.

Called an ambulance, because I had my family in the car, daughters aged 2 weeks and 2 years, and I wanted them checked over. Because of that, the police were also informed and a local patrol car turned up.

And the police could not have been more disinterested and did absolutely NOTHING about the driver that caused the accident, despite my questions as to why, given that he'd caused a 3-car pile-up because he'd driven into the back of a parked car in broad daylight with sufficient force to shunt it into another car, he wasn't being charged with, at least, driving without due care and attention, especially as he'd earlier admitted he'd been distracted by waving to his boss that had driven past the other way.

In this case because he lied about the situation (and I am assuming that the vehicle also did not stop to leave details) I believe that a greater punishment should have beenhanded out. If however he had stopped and not tried to lie about the situation I think that a driver awareness course could have been suitable. I do really believe in re-education and rehabilitation, if it doesn't stick then that is when the law needs to come down like a ton of bricks.
The course I attended did not have the best facilitators, but I could have been overly critical because I have been trained in this area. Even so, I certainly still have some take-aways from my speeding course 6 years ago that have changed my driving significantly like:

• Ignoring motivation from the sat-nav to try and beat the X minutes to your destination and instead try and beat my previous fuel efficiency to the destination.
• Following behind the car in front using the two second rule.
• Not taking it for granted that if it is a dual carriageway that it is the national speed limit.

and others but I'll not bore you further...

This isn't lack of attention and bad driving, it's blatant disregard for life and limb, it's nothing short of dangerous driving, it's very clearly driving below the standards expected etc.

I have to say that I was caught speeding once and was offered a drivers education course and took it. I believe I am a better driver because of it and I have quoted many things from it, to others, that I found really interesting/useful.
If the same happens here it isn't necessarily a bad thing. We see far too often on here reports of incidents caused by banned drivers continuing to drive. So maybe changing (at least some of) those bad drivers into good drivers and starting those ripples in the pond to more considerate driving will work?

I wonder if the police would prosecute someone who attacked a police officer and caused a black eye, bruising and bleeding?  And how many years in prison they'd get?

As the CUK rep says, it was a matter of complete luck that the cyclist didn't suffer much more serious injuries, and anyway,  the level of injuries of the victim is irrelevant.  What matters is getting incompetent drivers off our roads, and demonstrating to other drivers that if you fail to drive responsibly, you too will lose your licence.  All this failure will achieve is to encourage drivers to take risks with cyclists' lives, in the full knowledge that it won't matter as long as they don't actually kill them.

I always thought that the first responsibility of the police was the safety of the public.  Not any more I don't.  It's making sure that drivers are allowed to keep driving unless they've killed someone.

Well, I made the following comment re the (fake) video of the woman ripping the wing mirror off the white van men's vehicle:

"The police do FUCK ALL to motards. The only way for them to get any kind of payback for this kind of shitty behaviour is to hand it out yourself.

I am astonished that more people on bikes don't end up sorting matters themselves."

This (non-fake) story proves the point. Cyclists may as well get tooled up and try and take these fuckers out ourselves. The police certainly aren't going to do anything about it.

Meanwhile 3 points on your licence for driving past a camera over the limit on an empty road. Run someone over below the speed limit and you're ok. 

not sure I'd agree that having your incompetence publically displayed is getting off scot-free, nice of the standard to pixelate the number and name on the side - I hope this doesn't mean the institution involved fail to also hear of this incident

I can't believe that this one goes unpunished, the driver uses 3 different lanes in the seconds before swiping into the rider, frighteningly selfish driving needs to be dealt with properly BEFORE a serious injury occurs rather than dealing with it BECAUSE such an injury (or fatality) happens

He nearly side-swiped the black cab then ploughs into the cyclist, really does seem like open-season

Seriously ???

Fail to see how you cant prosecute the van driver who clearly cuts up the taxi and then runs into Singh....WTF !!!

Exactly the same thing happened to me after I'd been t-boned by a driver who admitted driving without due care and attention on the spot.

When I pressed the case with the Met after reciving the letter informing me that the driver would just receive a warning, I was told that the decision was down to a civilian worker who had subsequently been removed for disciplinary reasons relating to poor interpretation of the guidelines.   

"The driver claimed that Singh had been trying to overtake him and she said she felt the police would have believed him that the collision was her fault if it weren’t for the video footage."

So even after lying to the police and being found out, no action to protect the public from a scumbag who cannot drive.  Yet the Met intend to adopt the close pass initiative.  Close pass = action; drive into someone and injure them NO action.

The driving in the video is shocking and surely worth prosecution.

I wonder if the complaint against the Met could be escalated too?

I thought the police were supposed to uphold the law, not interpret it.

Quote:

 because she escaped serious injury, no charges were brought against the driver

So if I knife someone this evening on the High Street, no charges will be brought so long as I don't cause serious injury?

FFS