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Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Pregnant woman blames collision with elderly cyclist on kicking from unborn baby
A heavily pregnant woman who said she hit an elderly cyclist in her car because her unborn baby was kicking her has received a £150 fine in court and three points on her licence for driving without due care and attention.
Rebecca Knowles-Dixon, who previously appeared in this BBC feature wondering whether her tattoos and piercings would prevent her from getting a job, ran into Graham Walden, 74, on a county road near Ashburton, Devon, in September.
Mr Walden was thrown some distance by the collision and suffered serious head and chest injuries, the court in Torquay was told.
Knowles-Dixon was driving down a hill when she said a series of ‘painful kicks’ caused her to flinch and swerve into a hedge in the path of the cyclist, according to a report in the Plymouth Herald.
She also blamed glare on the windscreen, but was only driving at 20mph.
Mr Walden suffered fractured ribs and was airlifted to hospital but survived.
Knowles Dixon argued that losing her licence would cause her exceptional hardship as she lived more than two miles from a bus stop and needed the car to do festival work.
She told the court: 'I was heavily pregnant at the time when the baby kicked me in the ribs several times and very hard.
'This made me flinch and caused me to have a momentary lapse in concentration.
'I could not have predicted what happened. It’s never happened to me before. It’s really quite painful.'
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38 comments
Err, rest assured that if I ever become pregnant then it will make more of a news splash than this story.
What's the price of fish nowadays?
Every car should be equipped with an emergency "in case of an accident" reference plate attached to a dashboard.
It would list all the standard excuses for killing or injuring someone that are normally accepted by the British legal system.
Pregnancy. That's the new one. The possibilities are endless and whatever happens they won't take you licence away coz that would cause you a hardship.
The glare glare on the windscreen/blinded by the sun thing always works fine with judges, too...
One could be blinded by the sun, moon, passing Chinese satellite, comet or asteroid, kids playing with lasers etc...
Coughing/sneezing fit without any underlying medical condition may do as well.
Chocking on a tune sandwich would be pushing it but probably would work, too...
The most important advice would be at the end. Whatever happened, don't plead guilty. It's never your fault. If anything it's even better to blame the victim. If it's a cyclists, pointing out not wearing a helmet of high-viz kit will get you a great deal of sympathy from the judge.
The plate would need to be folded or rolled due its length...
Use you imagination, never plead guilty and never apologize!
BBB: You forgot "Bee came in the window and scared me" - that one's actually been used (can't find the link back now though).
Guess what?, another " British Justice" fail.
"She also blamed glare on the windscreen, but was only driving at 20mph."
If I can't see where I'm going, I don't ride my bike at 20mph. When is the sentence going to fit the crime?
I would like to say "shocking", but it isn't
Scum, sub human scum
How do these people live with themselves?
What a role model for her unborn child???
Liar!
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