“If he’d stayed in his lane, I would have seen him”: Pavement parking taxi driver banned for injuring cyclist after pulling out without indicating – but barrister blames cyclist’s poor “lane discipline” for crash

A taxi driver who was banned from the roads for 12 months after pulling out without indicating and hitting a cyclist, leaving him with a “horrific” arm fracture, blamed the injured rider for the collision, arguing in court that if “he’d negotiated the roundabout properly I would have seen him”.

Stephen Bennett, a 50-year-old taxi driver in Aberdeen, was parked on the pavement at the top of the city’s pedestrianised Upperkirkgate, after dropping off passengers, when he pulled out in front of cyclist Alan McKay.

McKay, who had turned onto the street from Gallowgate, had no time to react when Bennett merged onto the road without indicating, sending him flying over his handlebars, the Aberdeen Press and Journal reports. The cyclist suffered a “horrific open fracture” to his arm in the collision.

At Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Bennett denied a charge of causing serious injury by careless driving, and instead told the court that McKay had failed to negotiate the roundabout linking Gallowgate with Upperkirkgate “properly” and that he would have spotted the cyclist if he “had stayed in his lane”.

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When asked by his defence counsel Gregor Kelly what procedures he’d undertaken before driving off the pavement, the 50-year-old said: “After my passengers left, I’m waiting to get another job. I’m given another job and check over my right shoulder and there was nothing there.

“I checked my rear-view mirror and wing mirror and forward to make sure there was nothing coming and slowly manoeuvred out doing less than one or two miles an hour, and I hear the thud of the cyclist.

“I didn’t indicate because there was no one else there whatsoever. The cyclist has come just after I checked over my shoulder.”

Bennett claimed that McKay had “cut the corner” and navigated the roundabout in the wrong lane, and if he had approached in the left lane “I would see him”.

The approach to the roundabout from Gallowgate, with Upperkirkgate to the right (Google Streetview)

“He obviously appeared after I have looked over my shoulder,” he continued. “I felt really bad about it. I got out of my vehicle straight away. I was trying to help him, I asked if there was anything I could do.

“I wanted to take his bike home for him or pick his wife up and take her to the hospital. I would have done anything to help him.”

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While watching CCTV footage of the incident in court, Kelly asked Bennett: “What commentary would you give regarding Mr McKay’s lane positioning?”

“If he’d negotiated the roundabout properly he’d have been behind me and I would have seen him,” the taxi driver replied.

Questioning Bennett, Fiscal depute Claire Stewart said: “I’m going to suggest had you carried out the necessary checks this collision would not have happened.”

“I did carry out the necessary checks,” Bennett said. “It wouldn’t have happened if he’d come round the roundabout the proper way.”

While also providing evidence to the court during the trial, cyclist McKay said that Bennett had failed to indicate before the collision and added that he “disagreed” with defence counsel Kelly’s assertion that he had not navigated the corner properly or kept his “lane discipline”, and that he had “contributed personally” to the crash.

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Finding Bennett guilty of causing serious injury by careless driving, Sheriff Kevin Duffy told the court: “This is a very unfortunate situation both for Mr Bennett and indeed Mr McKay,”

“The question for the court to decide his whether the quality of Mr Bennett’s driving fell below the standard of a careful and competent driver.

“Looking at it from the CCTV, I have reached the conclusion that while Mr Bennett may well believe he carried out all the checks required, my conclusion is that he didn’t do so immediately prior to pulling out because if he had done so he would have been aware of the presence of the cyclist. Furthermore, he didn’t indicate.”

Following the guilty verdict, Kelly argued that the mandatory driving disqualification would have a huge impact on his client as it would leave him unable to work, and asked the sheriff to keep the ban to a minimum.

Sheriff Duffy disqualified Bennett from driving for 12 months – the minimum length of ban legally required for the offence – and fined him £790.