Driver blacked out for 15 seconds before killing cyclist, court told

If there was no camber on the road, the car would probably have continued in more or less the same line, as long as he had no contact with the steering wheel.

The lady who had no recollection of driving home was probably suffering a recognised condition called "Transient Global Amnesia" which is very common.  The length of time an episode lasts varies but, other than not being able to remember anything that you did during an episode, you function completely normally, so you can still drive a car safely.  The condition is most common in older people but the medical profession does not know what causes it.  People can seem confused during an episode but it is not a reportable condition for the DVLA.

It depends on what it means to black out. I worked with a lady who was diabetic. She sometimes found herself in the car on the drive having driven home from somewhere with no recollection of doing it because she was in some sort of quasi-coma. He could have been aware enough to stay on the road but not enough to notice the cyclists.

This makes almost no sense.

How does a car stay on the road with a blacked out driver for that long?

350 metres in 15 seconds, so average 52mph.

If I closed my eyes that long at that speed, I'd be part of the scenery long before 15 seconds.

Feels much more like distracted / messing with radio / reaching in glovebox / behind passenger seat etc.

^ He's right.

My grandfather managed to write off two cars due to blackouts (the first time he didn't even realise he had blacked out), after the second time he stopped driving, it took several months before the doctors identified sleep apnoea as a possible cause - though they never got to the bottom of it.

When I was at uni, one of my mates randomly fell over, unconscious, whilst we were waiting for a lecture. He came around pretty quickly, he just randomly blacked out (young, fit, athletic), went to the doctors and they had no idea why.

What I don't understand is why the driver has pleaded guilty to death by dangerous driving (if he genuinely did blackout). In many cases reported on this site, motorists hit cyclists when not giving enough room and, at worst, get found guilty of death by careless driving.

It just doesn't make sense to me - unless we aren't being told about something.

Vonhelmet is right, why plead guilty if the accident was due to him blacking out......unless all the facts have not been released!

Having crashed on a motorway after blacking out, I know that this happens and it is more common than you think.  I was just lucky that all the traffic was virtually at a standstill and moving in the same direction.  Apparently, I accelerated from the middle lane onto the hard shoulder where I hit a crash barrier and then a broken down car.  My 8 month old car was written off and I spent 4 days in hospital.

After months of extensive medical tests, no cause was found.  Dehydration might have been the cause, as dehydration can cause a drop of blood pressure which is one of the many causes of blackouts.  I was unable to drive or exercise for 6 months and the DVLA required medical reports to confirm I was fit to return to driving.

Doctors indicated that the majority of people would suffer a blackout at some point in their life and, in most cases, no specific cause would be found.  Around the same time I was informed of the death of an old friend who died whist diving on a wreck after apparently blacking out whilst he was at the surface.  He was only 40 years old.  Quite sobering really! 

More like a loss of conscience. Absolutely disgraceful! A lifetime ban from driving as a minimum on top of whatever weakarsed sentence they give him.

Why plead guilty if it wasn’t intentional? That makes no sense. Plead not guilty on some medical grounds.

Of course, if that were the case, he should then have his license permanently revoked, given we can’t be sure if or when this will happen again or why, but something tells me that won’t happen.

Ah, hello again the old, 'I blacked out for no medically known reason' defence, why are they so accepting that he had no knowledge of what was happening? it's the killers word they're accepting to try to wriggle out of things.

Death by dangerous but you can bet sentencing will be lenient because he didn't mean to do it and has shown remorse and early guilty plea. Not sure if it's even worth printing the results, it'll be same old shite, different day. 

That said the family are dealing with this brilliantly and the building of a school in Mr Berry's name is a magnificent gesture and a lasting reminder of what a top guy he seems to be.

RIP to family and friends, taken too early.