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news
road.cc newsCyclist hits out at driver awareness course but no charges for motorist who knocked him down… on bike path
A Dorset cyclist who needed to be treated in hospital after suffering cuts and bruises when he was knocked off his bike by a car while riding on an off-road shared use path has expressed his frustration after learning that the only action taken against the motorist involved was to offer her a place on a driver awareness course.
Mike Anwyll, aged 51, whose bike was written off in the incident, told the Bournemouth Echo that he couldn't understand Dorset Police's decision.
He told the newspaper: “It felt like a bomb had gone off under the bike – I didn’t realise what had happened at first.
“My issue is not really with the driver. It’s with the police over the lack of consistency in these things.
“For instance, my father-in-law was fined and got penalty points for doing 36mph at 4am on his way to the airport.
“On the other hand, I get knocked over by someone who loses control, mounts the pavement and crosses a grass verge on to the designated cycle path. This doesn’t make sense.”
A look at Gravel Hill in Poole on Google Street View shows that a shared use path runs alongside the road in several stretches, separated form the main carriageway by a grass verge that is at least one metre wide and in some places much wider.
The cyclist complained to Dorset Police and received a reply in which a representative of the force stated: “I have concluded that the driver was sufficiently blameworthy to justify further police action.
“In view of the poor driving judgement shown, I intend to make an offer of attendance on a driver awareness course.
“While there is sufficient evidence to justify a prosecution, there is no provision in law for a magistrate to order such retraining and the imposition of a fine and penalty points will not do anything to correct poor driving habits.”
However, Mr Anwyll, who commutes by bike to his work each day as an electrician and now has 21 days to reply to the police’s letter, said: “I find that a really strange admission to make, that fines and points don’t have any effect as far as driving habits are concerned.”
He added that the motorist had said that the incident had been caused by an issue with her vehicle’s steering, although if a mechanical problem is to blame, that doesn’t seem to tally with the police’s decision to offer her a place on a driver awareness course.
A spokesman for Dorset Police told the Bournemouth Echo that they were unable to comment on individual cases but added: “Every case is different and all the evidence will have been looked at.”
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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42 comments
"the imposition of a fine and penalty points will not do anything to correct poor driving habits"
Of course it will! They will either learn to be better drivers, or be banned (eventually)
No, I disagree - I'm with Dorset Police on this. Points and fines do nothing. Fines are a pittance in the grand scheme of driving (indeed they're often dismissed as a "tax on the driver") and points have no effect until you accrue 9 within a certain period. Even when you get 12 you can often keep driving.
That said, I don't think simply settling for an awareness course is the right path, either.
What's needed is a punishment with teeth, such as a short ban or brief confiscation of the vehicle. Plus the awareness course, and the additional insurance premium.
So make them do an awareness course and impose points and a fine.
Well, yes. I was disputing the idea that points and a fine were effective, not suggesting that settling for a course was either sufficient or in any way punitive.
The practical problem would seem to be that the police have the option of either ordering the driver to attend a course, or charging them and letting the magistrates deal with it. Given that we've recently seen magiatrates apply a £35 fine and points where a cyclist was killed, that's not necessarily a great option.
The police have to work with the tools at their disposal and this seems to illustrate the fact that the system is fundamentally flawed in this area.
The interesting point IMO is that the police see the currently available punitive measures as impotent, and personally I agree with that.
'Gravel Hill is in Poole, not Bournemouth.'
There are far more important issues here, but nowhere does it say that Gravel Hill is in Bournemouth.
A driver awareness course is better than a paltry fine and 3 points which would prove nothing.
The course will improve their driving and make them more aware so that hopefully this wont happen again, however there will be people who completely disagree and will want the drivers head on a stake.
[[[[ "Driver's head on a stake"? No, but I wonder was the driver's mouth on an excess-alchohol breathalyser? And was this not "driving without due care and attention"? One could almost imagine an anti-cyclist bias here.....truly mind-boggling.
P.R.
Wonder if the police would be so keen to send the cyclist on a bikability course if he's ran off the path onto the road and into the car?
Wonder if the driver would have been keen on that result also?
This was a serious lapse of the driver's control though and I would have expected a prosecution. Pretty sure the court could order a retest, but given how lenient they are, this may be as much as the driver would get
Gravel Hill is in Poole, not Bournemouth.
Thanks, Sponican, the Bournemouth Echo's story didn't mention it was in Poole so we're grateful for some local knowledge, story updated.
I completely empathise with this. I was knocked off my bike while using a cycle lane a couple of weeks ago when a driver decided to pull out without using his mirrors. I required an ambulance etc for cuts and bruising, my bike and clothing were damaged and I was highly visible, with a big LED on my handlebars. My bike is my only form of personal transport, and I had to take 2 weeks off riding.
What does the driver get? Nothing.
It's carelessness, and could have been so much worse.
I got a letter saying 'no further action needed to be taken'. Why not? It's so frustrating.
Where there's blame, There's a claim...
Plenty of ambulance chasing lawyers out there.
I was knocked off in 2010 it took 6 months to complete but I recouped my losses + some more.
Get on the phone!!!
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