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news
Acton Green Common (via GoogleStreetView).PNGJudge says cyclists – and dog owners – “have a sense of absolute entitlement”
A judge has said that cyclists and dog owners both “have a sense of absolute entitlement” as he allowed an appeal in a case brought after a bike rider won £50,000 compensation after a Cocker Spaniel ran into his path, causing him to crash and sustain a brain injury.
Publishing executive David Crane, aged 71, was thrown over the handlebars of his bike when he hit the dog belonging to investment banker Carina Read, 49, on Acton Green Common in West London in March 2016.
> Cyclist left with brain injuries when dog ran into his path wins court case
Ms Read has now been given leave to appeal against the judgment, by Judge Alan Saggerson, reports Mail Online.
The judge said: “We all know that cyclists whether on path, road or common, have a sense of absolute entitlement to do whatever they want to do and we all know that dog owners also have a similar sense of entitlement to do exactly what they want to do irrespective of anybody else.
“It's quite a conundrum.”
Mr Sanderson had sued Ms Crane for negligence, as well as being in breach of the 1971 Animals Act for failure to control her dog.
In October last year, Judge Patrick Andrews refuted Ms Read’s defence that since her dog was not “dangerous,” it was not subject to the provisions of the act, and said that she should have restrained it.
The act provides, among other things, that where an animal that does not belong to a dangerous species causes damage or injury, its keeper may be held liable for injury or damage.
“After considering all the facts and evidence, I find that on the balance of probabilities, in failing to call back Felix, which she clearly had time to do, Ms Reid exposed Mr Crane to risk of injury,” the judge said.
Mr Crane, who was riding to work when the crash happened, had said in evidence: “The first time I was aware of the dog was when it was right in front of me.”
He sustained what his lawyer told the court was a “not insignificant brain injury,” which has affected his concentration, hearing and memory, as well as his senses of taste and smell.
Ms Read’s barrister, Nigel Lewers, had insisted that his client believed the path was clear when she threw the ball for Felix, and that it had bounced off his head.
“At that point, she became aware of Mr Crane cycling at speed with his head down,” although the plaintiff insisted that he was riding at no more than 5mph.
“She tried to warn him, but Felix chased the ball across the path and was struck by the front wheel of the bicycle,” Mr Lewers continued.
“She was doing what she and no doubt many others had done in the same or similar areas of the common – throwing a ball for her dog down an open strip of grass and not in the direction of the path.”
But Judge Andrews said that Ms Read should have restrained her dog, adding, that Mr Crane “had no time to take any evasive action when Felix ran across his path.”
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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98 comments
Totally irrelevant but one of my favourite Noel Coward quotes: his goddaughter asked him what that doggy was doing to the other doggy, and he said, "Oh, the doggy in front has just gone blind, poor thing, so his friend is pushing him to St.Dunstan's [home for the blind]".
In her words, the cyclist travelling at speed with his head down hit her dog. Yet I'm pretty sure she never offered vets evidence about the damage her dog had from being struck at considerable speed. However, in his evidence (from original articles) he actually came off when he turned his wheel and braked suddenly to avoid the dog. So how about trying at 5-6mph turning your front wheel almost sideways when braking at the same time and see what happens. I do think he might have been doing more then 5mph, however I'm also aware that when I'm doing 7-8mph in a shared space, I feel slow but I "zoom" past peds so they would feel I'm zooming. Without Strava or bike computer, they probably could both be "right" in their speeds estimates.
Edit: I will also point out that their original defence was that he shouldn't have been riding there because of bylaws stating no bikes. Unfortunately for them, that didn't apply to Acton Green Common but a nearby similar sounding park. So if she did nothing wrong and it was all the cyclists fault, why try a desperate and apparently totally wrong defence.
I fell off my bike hopping up a kerb and broke both arms. I was doing less than 5mph. If I'd hit my head it might have been worse.
I tOo aM cYclUSt. Bike go brrrrrrrm!
That's what we're all picturing right?
There We Are Then.
At first, I also thought that judge was a judgemental c8nt. But isn't he just saying "we're all c8nts, just as bad as each other?"
Nah, just dog owners and cyclists....
Prejudiced judge. It should be an oxymoron, but apparently not. Clearly the Bar was set too low for some.
Hmmm....
first of all, I am dreadfully sorry to hear about Mr Crane's injuries and i hope for his fullest recovery.
secondly the thing about him being thrown over the handlebars then saying he was only going 'no more than 5mph' doesnt quite make sense.
To be thrown over the handlebars as claimed he would have been going at quite a speed otherwise the laws of physics and gravity wouldnt of carried his body over the handle bars when his bicycle came to an abrupt stop when hitting the dog.
Worst case scenario is he would have toppeled over to one side and maybe hit the floor if he couldnt stick his foot down in time to steady himself but definitely not over the handlebars.
Ive been over the handlebars once before and almost one other time. So know about the amount of speed/energy that one person has to be carrying to be flung like that.
my walking pace is between 3-5mph, I probably jog at 5-8mph. When i stop abruntly in the middle of a jog or walk. my body doesnt get thrown into front somersault or barrel roll because the amount of energy and speed that I generated isnt enough to keep carrying me forward.
Even abruptly, there is the ever so smallest chance that i might topple over ever so because my feet are too close together. but 5mph doesnt turn me into a complete ragdoll.
So I think someone is telling porkies.
70 year old, not likely to be agile, likely to be a slow reactor, hearing not as it was.
Brakes too hard, loses control and goes forward over the bike as it falls under him. Seems pretty plausible to me.
Have you never tripped over a raised paving slab when running?
Tripping over a raised paving slab isnt like hitting a wall
no, but is it like hitting a medium sized dog with your front wheel?
Not really, last I checked dogs weren't drilled into an immovable position in an object that weight c. 5.9 x 10^24 kg so that when you hit a dog, the dog moves/ absorbs some momentum too rather than throwing you an abrupt halt.
He tripped over a dog, why are you writing about a wall?
As I put in the original thread my MiL has sustained breaks at a speed of 0-1 mph.
This is what easily happens with older folk.
It is. Just at right angles....
Not necessarily. Bike stops on contact with dog, rider doesn't. Even at 5 miles an hour if their centre of mass is now over the bars, there's only one way for them to go. Physics satisfied, no need for a review of relativity.
Were they travelling at exactly 5mph? dunno, who knows? How would that be demonstrated to any degree of certainty? does it actually matter? If what they mean is "I was going facking slowly" and they were going less than 10 I really don't think splitting hairs on estimates or figures of speech is particularly relevant.
I see an inelastic collision here, momentum is conserved.
Assuming bike and dog each weigh about the same at 10kg a piece, and the dog is stationary at impact, the speed of the bike-dog combo will be half the original speed of the bike. So the assertion that the bike stops dead is incorrect.
So far we have ignored the rider, as if he were perched on a zero-grip saddle and he had no purchase on the handlebars, and sailed on at his original speed frictionlessly parting company with the bike braking beneath him.
This seem unlikely. In practice there is friction from the saddle, and he has a grip of the handlebars, so his momentum is part of the equation. Therefore the retardation of the bike upon impact with the hapless dog is reduced yet further.
Possibly. Cycloid's response further reminded me of a situation I found myself in heading up Dunkery Beacon on my MTB. I was in teh lowest gear poodling up the hill - would have been around walking pace. Stone fixed under front wheel, and I really can't give the physics to this, but my weight shifted forwards, rear wheel gracefully lifted off the ground (I remember I kept pedalling for some reason...). I went right over teh bars, ended up on my back with bike on top - thankfully no lasting pain though.
Try to explain that using Newton's laws....
The ballistics that happen in a collision are extremely complex.
I recently came off after hitting a small potohole
I hit the road at a bad angle and separated my collar bone from my shoulder blade.
After three months I am still in pain and have limited movement.
I estimate I was doing about 8mph, I think the pothole turned my bars through 90 degrees sending me over the bars.
Collisions are Totally Unpredictable
The problem is you haven't looked at what happens when you stop from speed when jogging; you extend one foot in front of you to stop; if you didn't do that, you would fall forward. Bit difficult to do on a bike.
Are you part of that corrupt nation that the PM keeps claiming doesn't exist?
Purely anecdotal of course, but in my many years of cyling, the crashes that have resulted in the worst injuries (with one exception involving a tree!) have actually been 'slow' ones! Less sliding, more impact!
Jesus christ, that level of prejudice displayed , considering the outcome of this case in particular.
What a
But since he appears to be prejudiced against both parties, don't they cancel out each other?
I thought 'Cancel Culture' was meant to be a Bad Thing, though.
Nah, bigot squared.
Your blasphemy is pretty insulting. Not sure why you felt the need to throw that into your statement
It's a very common expression of surprise here in the UK, so I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to insult.
(More importantly, I now can't read "taniwha" without thinking of the Wellington Paranormal episode and I'm now wondering if that was at all blasphemous to the Māori.)
Whatever. Just don't call him a cretin; some people get very wound up about that.
True. I can only aspire to achieve the quiet dignity of those given intermediate yet finite bans on popular social media platforms for the use of ableist pejoratives, but if I reach for the moon, who knows, I might just grasp a star.
Hm. Life goals....
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