A motorist in Scotland has been convicted of causing the death by careless driving of the president of Peebles Cycling Club.
Carl Lane died in April last year, six months after he had sustained serious spinal injuries when Willam Stewart, aged 54, crashed into him with his Volvo XC90.
Stewart, from Innerleithen, had pleaded not guilty, saying he had not seen Mr Lane prior to the collision.
However ,Sheriff Valerie Johnson, sitting at Selkirk Sheriff Court, rejected his defence and fined him £650, reports the Border Telegraph. Five penalty points were also put on his driving licence.
Following his death last year, 200 members of Peebles Cycling Club took part in a ride in tribute to Mr Lane, a retired flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force.
The ride, undertaken at the suggestion of children belonging to the club, was at the Glentrees mountain bike centre in the Tweed Valley and included a new section of trail named Carl’s Lane in his honour.
Mr Lane had been riding at Glentrees on the day he sustained his fatal injuries.
In 2013, he was shortlisted for the Scottish Region in British Cycling’s Local Cycling Hero competition.
11 thoughts on “Driver convicted of causing death of Scottish cycling club stalwart”
Another tragic case, but at
Another tragic case, but at least the driver was found responsible, despite the usual claims of the driver not seeing the cyclist. I suppose the driver was just unlucky, if he’d been in England they would have just given him a really good wigging and told him not to do it again or he’d really be in trouble.
More than slightly disturbed at the sentence though. How can someone found guilty of killing someone with a car ever be allowed to drive again? Five points!? Why wasn’t this an immediate lifetime ban? Perhaps someone with rather more knowledge of the Scottish judicial system might like to explain.
I don’t think it is any
I don’t think it is any different from the usual outcome in England and Wales. Careless driving, minor fine and a few points. For a more serious sentence you need to convict on Dangerous Driving. As pointed out ad nauseum, that rarely happens because it’s harder to prove, so there’s more chance of a conviction with a charge of Careless Driving. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of someone getting a lifetime ban for anything.
Not much detail about the circumstances to go on in the report, so I can’t comment on that, but very, very sad to lose someone like this, especially when they were putting a lot in to cycling as a volunteer.
It’s good that the driver was
It’s good that the driver was convicted but like the other posters, I do have to question the severity of the penalties for the driver. I’d have expected a minimum of 12 points plus a driving ban of at least two years for an offence of this nature. The fine is also incredibly low for what was after all a fatal crash.
£650 and no ban.
£650 and no ban.
The Sheriff and driver are both cunts.
Glentress not Glentrees
Glentress not Glentrees
£650 and five penalty points?
£650 and five penalty points? I hope the sheriff didn’t also take his hand and lightly slap it, because that might constitute cruel and unusual punishment. I mean, he was in a car, therefore going some place, presumably either to work or consume, hence doing his duty as a citizen. And you want him to pay attention as well?
Quote:
Isn’t that acknowledgement of a lack of due care? I.e. Careless – if he’d not said that, then he probably wouldn’t even have got as far as the courthouse.
Example of wheelchair user
Example of wheelchair user almost killed by a bus driver.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/bus-driver-hit-woman-in-wheelchair-as-crossed-at-a-zebra-crossing-a3377761.html
While I fully agree with the sentiment that killing or maiming with a vehicle is treated exceedingly leniently even with what would appear to be aggravating factors of drink driving, mobile phone use, no insurance or licence etc. Cyclists as victims are not alone in getting the shitty end of the justice stick.
Mungecrundle wrote:
yes, equally this story of a young woman killed recently while standing on a traffic island in the centre of the road
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/18/joanna-reyes-dies-hit-by-car-shoreditch
“However ,Sheriff Valerie
“However ,Sheriff Valerie Johnson, sitting at Selkirk Sheriff Court, rejected his defence and fined him £650, reports the Border Telegraph(link is external). Five penalty points were also put on his driving licence.”
28 years ago I was fined £300 and given 5 points for driving to close to the car in front on the M1…
PS. And why do people think that “I didn’t see them” is a defence for careless driving, surely it’s more or less confirmation of guilt.
It’s always the ‘I didn’t see
It’s always the ‘I didn’t see them’ ergo it’s not my fault that gets me.
If I wander off down the street right now with a kitchen knife and a blindfold swinging it about before stabbing someone will my defence honestly be that I didn’t see them?!
As for the £650 I doubt any MP would be content to trade their lives in for the sum of £650 to be paid on their death to their family…yet vulnerable road users are expected to do just the same and be assured government takes road violence seriously?
Another slur on morality and your basic human right to travel in peace without undue fear of being slaughtered by an over entitled government sanctioned motorist execution.