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news
Motorist cuts corner straight into cyclist (credit - Swindon Advertiser)Mechanic escapes driving ban after cutting corner straight into cyclist
A mechanic has avoided a driving ban after cutting a corner and hitting a cyclist “head on”, in what his lawyer has described as a “minor and momentary error of judgement”.
Clive Anstey, who owns a garage in Chippenham, Wiltshire, was driving to work on the morning of 28 February 2021 when he cut a corner while making a right turn. As we can see in the below video, the 49-year-old crossed into the other lane while turning and drove straight into a cyclist, who had positioned himself on the right-hand side of his lane at the junction, waiting to turn.
Anstey’s advocate claimed that the mechanic “just very narrowly clipped the corner of the T-junction” and didn’t see the cyclist – who was wearing hi-vis clothing and had lights attached to his bike – “because of the low sun”.
According to the Swindon Advertiser, the cyclist, who suffered rib and leg injuries in the collision, was taken to a hospital in Bath for treatment and was left “distressed” and “very shaken” following the incident.
Speaking at Swindon Magistrates’ Court last week, prosecutor Asha Seenauth argued that the incident should be placed in the 'greater harm' sentencing category, which meant Anstey would have faced five points on his licence. As the mechanic had already received seven points for two previous speeding offences, this would have resulted in a disqualification from driving.
> Near Miss of the Day 668: Cyclist almost taken out by corner-cutting driver
Defending the motorist, Oliver Small claimed that Anstey had made “a minor and momentary error of judgement”.
He continued: “The defendant intended to turn right onto Cricketts Lane, and just cut the corner, and didn’t see the victim because of the low sun.”
Small noted that “Mr Anstey accepts that he made an error in judgement for a second or two,” and claimed that he “showed immediate concern for the cyclist and offered to call an ambulance”, which was declined.
The defending counsel argued that the mechanic’s garage would lose contracts if he lost his licence, as he was the only staff member with the correct licence to drive some of the larger vehicles, such as private ambulances, currently under contract.
After pleading guilty to driving without due care and attention, Anstey’s case was placed in the ‘lower harm’ category. He received four points, which allows him to continue driving.
He was instead fined £186 by the court and ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation, as well as almost £300 in costs.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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78 comments
"Anstey’s advocate claimed that the mechanic “just very narrowly clipped the corner of the T-junction”
And Boris is honest.
Can an advocate who clearly lies be held to account?
It isn't a clear lie, however. It's carefully worded to be judgmental, not a statement of objective fact. Opinion is hard to deal with
So how was that claim evaluated, by what evidence was it proven, or are learned counsel not subject to critical thinking?
I know that a magistrate is not a trained advocate but they should be a sceptic and doubt the nonsense put in front of them...
Magistrates? A quick dip into "the secret barrister" (plus notes from an acquaintance) suggests the truth is somewhere between "tireless and canny local volunteer doing their best with the tangles of the law and a lot of cases" and "have-a-go hero with an agenda or five".
They have a legal advisor who they can consult to direct them in matters of law.
My ex-wife was a Birmingham magistrate, and she used to despair that some of the prosecutions were so inadequate that they had to declare innocent obviously guilty people where it was clear what the circumstances were but the prosecution didn't manage to put the evidence into the case.
In this case, if the prosecution did not challenge the momentary lapse and sun in their eyes, the magistrates have a certain obligation to accept it, though in this case I assume that they viewed the video evidence which should have been sufficient. There is plenty of anti-cycling bias and one could imagine the magistrates agreeing that it was the cyclist who put themselves on the right hand side of their lane that made the accident serious - it seems that often we are expected to go the extra mile to defend ourselves from incompetence in a way that motorists are not.
Alas yes. I see the lawyers were out protesting - normally that'd not be a cause for worry. However this is public service work they're complaining about. I'm aware that - just like junior doctors - the newbies are expected to put in monster shifts, taking work which is sometimes all over the place and at little notice. The practical hourly rate for that can be well below minimum wage. Good luck if you got the legal aid lawyer who was handed the voluminous paperwork of your case in the evening and expected to turn up on your behalf the next day. A contact of mine said when he started it was common just to ask any police who'd been involved and were about in court the score and start from there. Not the high standards of British justice you might be expecting.
Predictably in the UK you're about as likely to have people involved in these cases knowledgeable in the important details of sailing or horse-ing as riding on the road.
Cutting the corner you say ?
https://youtu.be/hzA--x0sqk4?t=30
Driver was just filming for clicks (and shits and giggles)
Sun was defo in the lorry driver's eyes.
I've just posted the one from further along which was barely a cut.
There's a link between the pathetic outcomes in these court cases and the numerous utterly appalling examples of driving I saw on my ride today. One of them nearly killed me - waiting at traffic lights at a junction a Mercedes driver ignored the red light and went straight through at about 40-50mph, missing me by inches and a driver turning right on the green light by not a lot more.
Cannot believe the "blinded by the sun" defence is even allowed . The guy is in his late 40s , he's driven more than enough years to realise that big thing in the sky can occasionally blind drivers .
100%. It's about as valid as claiming that it was unlucky to skid on ice when the temperature was -10. Admitting you drove into a junction (in this case dangerously and illegally anyway) when the environment meant you couldn't see if there were any other road users there is admitting that you are incapable of driving appropriately for the conditions, ergo you are not fit to hold a licence to drive.
It should actually be used as proof of guilt - admitting not driving to the conditions.
Indeed, stating that is essentially proving guilt. A lot of people make statements they think will be a mitigation but they really aggravate the situation.
We had a club member killed at a junction in which the driver successfully used the blinded by the sun argument. It is pretty devastating for the family to discover that the courts consider not being able to see where you are going an acceptable excuse for killing someone.
WTF the guy is obviously incapable of driving. He probably has to eat all his meals with a spoon so he doesn't poke his eyes out!
Are the courts always this lenient in the UK, or does this only happen with cyclists? Would the sentence have been the same if he'd cut the corner and mowed down somebody's grandma crossing the street?
No reference for that but if the question is "are the courts always this lenient with driving offenses" then the answer is "yes" - we've had examples on a recent thread of people driving over children, forwards, on the pavement in one case I think, and no punishment.
Yes. Because drivers might lose their jobs and suffer hardship so we can't have their licences taken from them. And people don't like sending them to prison...not sure why
Judges are told not to, in essence. Decades of underfunding means that we don't have space.
Yes, it's normal for the courts in the UK to give very lenient sentences for offences committed in a car
https://twitter.com/ormondroyd/status/910244326567006211?utm_source=pock...
I wonder what would have been the outcome of the rider didn't have a camera.
With 11 points on his licence his insurance permium must be through the roof!
"Minor" ? He was literally on the wrong side of the road. Licence should be revoked and car crushed, and Oliver Smalldick should have same punishment for even trying to defend that.
Wasn't "minor" for the human being on the bike was it.
Exactly. Needs banging up for driving like a twat.
He should be crushed? Seems a little disproportionate.
Seems pretty proportionate to the claim of "just very narrowly clipped the corner of the T-junction" , and using the fact that the drivers work would suffer... yeh he should be crushed also
Since when was hitting a vulnerable user head on minor?
Drivers cut the corner all the time. I missed a collision yesterday by 2 seconds as the driver refused to reduce speed to take the corner and motored through pretty much on the wrong side.
The idea that you should slow is lost on far too many drivers.
If his vision was impeded, then even more reason for ensuring that they took the correct course around the corner.
If this was me, I would be complaining to the judiciary about the competence of the magistrates assessing this case. I would also be writing to my MP asking for a proper review of driving law and sentencing standards - another one for the momentary lapse file, it seems, where motorists driving a machine capable of death and serious injury are given a free pass when they are demonstrably incompetent.
These small fines are insulting. £186 wouldn't even cover the cost of the resulting NHS treatment. As for £300 in court costs. How on earth do you get that many professionals, to do that much much work with associated building and other fixed costs for £300. Not only are these people putting my life at risk, when it actually does go wrong my taxes appear to be needed to pay for it. Before you know they'll be asking me to pay road tax for cycling.
He pled guilty, so that's actually more than the standard costs.
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