On anniversary of his mother’s death, Chris Boardman says justice system is failing cyclists and their families

The police force has been desamated in recent times crime is going out of control  unless it's clear cut and major. then all minor offences and anything taking up time..... no chance

The police force has been desamated in recent times crime is going out of control  unless it's clear cut and major. then all minor offences and anything taking up time..... no chance

 A motorist is judged by generally,  12 other motorists who generally think "there but for the grace of God go I" & fail to convict. N

The Bedfordhsire police response to the incident captured on video is completely unacceptable.

It is understandable if resources are lacking that they would not consider prosecution  in cases where there is no supporting evidence of bad driving and it is merely a case of one person's word against another.

But in cases where there is clear video evidence of a driving offence and the vehicle's registration number and driver can be traced then the person making the complaint has a right to expect it would be further investigated.. To not do so amounts to a dereliction of duty.

A blanket refusal to investigate in all cases, regardless of the evidence available,  is frankly appalling.

My mother was killed by a drunk, speeding motorcyclist, who got off with a fine, and his solicitor said that the collision was unavoidable and his client wasn't to blame, but at least he was prosecuted, unlike Mrs Boardman's case.  The laughably named "justice system" is anything but justice, and dangerous illegal driving is accepted socially and legally.

A great deal of the responsibility for this sad state of affairs is due to the media, with people like Clarkson having his obnoxious views promoted to sell newspapers, with tv programmes apparently dedicated to promoting dangerous driving.  There don't appear to be any MSM programmes promoting cycling, despite its apparent popularity: why not?

The police don't have the resources to enforce road laws, and even when they do, the CPS and courts fail us.  I'm not a violent person, but I'm beginning to wonder.  The government announced over £6bn funding for HS2, a project with no economic case, but we can't afford proper policing, and anyway, the police are demoralised from seven years of austerity.

The old, "we don't the tme, money excuse as usual".

well maybe if the police were just gathering evidence only, then maybe they would have time to collect more evidence. The problem is, the CPS, they want the police to do everything for them these days. It's supposed to be the CPS who take the evidence and decide what further action is needed!

As much as I love riding it's just not worth the risk anymore. If the justice system drags its feet in a case involving a well respected figure such as Chris then what chance does anyone have. Not until MP's families are killed cycling will anything be done. 

Well, if you fancy getting really worked up then you could do worse than this:

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/engineering-student-who-killed-man-...

A driving licence to kill.

Quote:

The response from the police is ridiculous. They wish you safe riding yet have chosen not to enforce the law in this case - how exactly does this make things safer?

It reads a little to me like.. "I agree with you but there's sweet-FA I can do about it. Please kick up a fuss elsewhere, it might make a difference".

I was not told the driver had been contacted. Why are Beds. Police telling Chris Boardman otherwise? Here's the email conversation.

Oh, hi. I'm Tom Littlehales!

It was careless of the van driver, he was hindered by low sun in his face. Obviously the van driver should of slowed down if his/her view was reduced by setting sun. Luckily the rider was spotted just in time.