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Emma Way tweetUpdated: Norwich Police seek driver who tweeted about collision with cyclist
Norwich Police are today seeking a motorist who tweeted yesterday about knocking a cyclist off their bike. The driver, Emma Way, said of the collision, "Definitely knocked a cyclist off earlier - I have right of way he doesn't even pay road tax" and signed off with the hashtag #bloodycyclists.
The tweet was quickly picked up by various twitter users, some of whom took a screen grab of the offending tweet (including jymdyer whose image we've used at the top). The Police were alerted via the social network, and two hours later Norfolk Police suggested that Ms Way contact them regarding the incident. "we have had tweets ref an RTC with a bike", they explained. "We suggest you report it at a police station ASAP if not done already & then dm us". Since the tweet Ms Way has been identified via her twitter account (which she subsequently deleted) and her facebook profile. Other online posts from Ms Way suggested that she took pictures with her mobile phone while driving and tailgating other vehicles, and she also posted a picture of her car's speedometer showing a speed of 95mph.
The level of ignorance of the law, and the assumption of the right to forcibly remove a cyclist from the road, is pretty shocking. Anyone who follows the Cycle Hatred twitter account will be familiar with this kind of might-is-right mindset, and it's also fairly common for these comments to originate from new drivers, and particularly young women. Whether that's symptomatic of their greater dislike of cyclists of simply down to the demographics of twitter users it's difficult to say.
Obviously there's much for the Police to discuss with Ms Way, should the tweet refer to a genuine incident - which we are reliably informed it does (see update below). For a start you're generally breaking the law by leaving the scene of a road traffic collision without stopping to check if the other party has suffered injury or damage to property. Obviously there's also the right-of-way issue: no road user has any right under law to force another from the road, and to do so is also an offence. As for road tax, most cyclists are only too aware that there's no such thing as road tax and roads are funded from general taxation. Vehicle Excise Duty is paid on vehicle emissions; were cyclists to pay it they'd pay the same rate as other zero-emission vehicles: nothing.
Update: We've spoken to Toby Hockley, the rider involved in the collision, to get a bit of background on the incident. He's pretty sure it was him, anyway. "The police said it was me", he told us, and the time and location fit the bill.
"I was riding on a country B-road with a friend, and descending a hill on a blind right hand corner", Toby told us. "I was sticking to the left as the corner was blind. A car came round in the opposite direction going much too quickly to make the corner safely. It missed the rider in front of me but hit me, my right leg caught the front right wing. I was thrown up onto the bonnet, I hit the side of windsrceen and the wing mirror. I bounced back off the car and went through a hedge for about 20 metres. I managed to keep control of the bike; the back brake had locked on but I managed to rejoin the road and stop in the middle of it"
Amazingly Toby made it through the incident with only minor damage to himself and the bike. "I have a sore elbow, a bruised knee, nettle stings from riding through the hedge, but nothing serious", he told us. "The headset of the bike is loose from the collision, one of the levers got knocked round the bars and there's bits of nettle in the chain, but I think the bike is intact."
"Myself and my friend burst out laughing when we finally came to a stop, more out of shock than anything else", he said. "You count your limbs and carry on".
In response to the incident Ms Way's employers have also made a short statement, both in response to emails from road.cc readers and also in the comments below. "Please be assured that this is not a view held by the firm and we most certainly do not condone this behaviour", they told us. "We are taking the incidents very seriously, and a full and detailed investigation will be carried out and appropriate action taken. We have already spoken to Norfolk Police."
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.
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102 comments
Im sceptical about this case
Has a cyclist come forward and reported a hit and run in the area?
On the face of it,it appears to be the usual crap spouted by kids on the internet nowadays but even so it is tantamount to inciting violence towards cyclists
Whatever the facts i hope she is prosecuted and receives a criminal record but more than likely she will just get a slap on the wrist and a caution
Most motorists are considerate as they pass though giving plenty of room,as with anything,its a small minority of scum that cause and create problems and it only takes one idiot to end a cyclists life
Seems she likely did hit someone. An Iceni Velo club member was knocked off and the Police were already alerted. More on it at http://ipayroadtax.com/no-such-thing-as-road-tax/i-knocked-a-cyclist-off...
I am Ian Fitch,deputy managing partner of Larking Gowen. Regarding the tweets made by one of our employees on their personal twitter account,please be assured that this is not a view held by Larking Gowen and we most certainly do not condone this behaviour. We are taking the incidents very seriously, and a full and detailed investigation will be carried out and appropriate action taken. We have already spoken to Norfolk Police.
And the Iceni member has posted on Facebook to the effect that he's sure it's her from the photos.
Bet she votes UKIP too
Good on you Ian Fitch.
Hear Hear
^
| This
Pretty awful reputational damage to her employer and good of them to go out of their way to make a statement.
Perhaps some contribution to the sponsorship of the Tour Series event in Aylsham might also make amends
Well played Ian
Do you ride at all Ian?
Do Larkin Gowen have a Cycle to Work scheme in place?
She going to loose her job?
I know this is pretty serious but i had to
at the "there's bits of nettle in the chain" bit.
From the description of the presumed incident by the rider involved (track back for this) Ms Way was not in full control of her vehicle when she came upon cyclists travelling in the opposite direction.
She is a very lucky lady as those cyclists could easily have been a Tractor or other substantial vehicle moving slowly along that minor road, and the outcome for her in terms of physical injury and damage to the car might have been much worse.
The car - chances are that a large percentage of the flashy cars being driven around by people 'who pay road tax' don't actually belong to them - they belong to the bank or their employer, or are provided by parental largesse and it follows that the 'road tax' of a company vehicle isn't normally paid by the driver either.
I'd reckon that all this exposure will have her wanting to crawl under a stone but in some ways she would get a lot of respect if she stands up and admits to her serious errors of judgement and acts to redress the situation with the parties involved. She may need to do this in a very public way
It's not hard to find out whether she was at the place claimed at the time of the incident. Her phone will have been checking in with GSM towers along the way, and those positions can be triangulated with relative ease should the courts require it.
"Lucky" for her all she hit was a cyclist if the descriptions of her driving are true. Even luckier cyclist given her previous driving claims.
I feel sorry for the poor fcuktard, after a busy afternoon googling yesterday she probably quickly realised you only get a £35 fine for killing a cyclist so they'll not lift a finger for spouting off on twitter about knocking one into a hedge. Fingers crossed she does a bit of porridge or gets at least an £18,000 fine so has to sell her car.
Well, that's backfired.
Bet she feels like a nob now
I doubt she has an ounce of regret, remorse for what she appears to have done, and she would probably do it again if she thought she could get away with it as she thought she would this time.
Deleting her twitter account says it all.
She looks and sounds like a prime candidate as an 'Apprentice' contestant. The future management of this country! We're all fucked.
Dear Ian
If found responsible for this act you should do the right thing and terminate her contract of employment, otherwise she will go through life thinking this is acceptable behaviour and bring the name of your company into disrepute.
Thank you
Rick Allison
NHS
Taunton
I agree with the last poster Ian.
Heads up you, its the internet, people read it and you should understand now if not in the near future, a lot of people do believe what is written on the internet as I am sure you are about to discover when your arse is taken to a police station and followed by your visit to court and subsequent punishment. Which I hope is to the full letter of the law and the police and judge make an example of you.
You had a license to drive, not a license to drive other road users off the road, I'm guessing you're about to lose your license to drive.
As above. People are bound to recognise her and link her behaviour with your company. Negative marketing.
You never win against the internet.
Ah, Norfolk, where the council keep trying to rebuild cycle tracks as roads, because cyclists don't deserve any routes that cars can't use. When the overwhelming message from local highways departments is that cyclists don't count and can be treated with contempt, is it surprising that local young idiots drive like cyclists don't count?
I think that young driver is not a lone example, sadly. There are a lot of them about, driving too close or into people, abusing, intimidating and honking at them.
That's really quite irrelevant.
I'd caution that with victim, alleged perpetrator and witnesses now all having been spoken to by police, calm to allow the police to conduct due process is required. As for her employment? Again, let the legal process run it's course. I'm pretty sure a criminal conviction would ruin her training as an accountant anyway.
We don't know what is in her employment contract, but in mine there are a couple of clauses that would allow my employer to sack me for this. I hope her employer does the right thing as its unlikely she'll get anything other than a small fine and slap on the wrist from there courts, even if it gets that far.
Unless her behaviour is checked she's going to kill someone, hopefully some appropriate action by her employer can make her change her behaviour
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