A 19-year-old driver has been handed 300 hours of community work and been banned from driving for two years after he hit and killed a cyclist near Spalding. Hadley Fisher admitted causing the death of Jason Ingle by careless driving on February 17 last year while attempting to pass him at around 60mph on a narrow road.
Lincolnshire Live reports that the incident occurred on Kellett Gate, a 4.8m wide road with a 60mph speed limit and no street lighting.
Fisher told police that Ingle had been on the right hand side of the road and said he had thought he was going to stay there. However, as he passed him, the cyclist moved across. Prosecuting, Ruth Snodin said "there was no way he could avoid him".
A witness who heard the collision said that when he arrived on the scene, he saw Ingle lying in the road with his bike nearby and Fisher walking around with his head in his hands, wailing.
An off-duty paramedic attended and an ambulance arrived in five minutes, but Ingle was pronounced dead upon his arrival at hospital.
Mitigating, Daven Naghen said that Fisher had made a "misjudgement" and "should have slowed down more" when he saw the cyclist around 300 metres in front of him.
He said Fisher "wrongly assumed" that Ingle would remain on the right hand side of the road and had not adjusted his speed – estimated at 60 to 66mph – to take account of a vulnerable road user.
Ingle was not wearing a helmet. Naghen said: "We don't know what difference it would have made."
Fisher was said to be "inconsolable" over the incident and had given up a job that involved driving all over the country in favour of one where he only drove to his workplace.
Magistrates told Fisher he was "driving too fast for the road conditions, possibly due to your lack of experience," but did recognise his admissions and the remorse he had expressed.
As well as the community order and driving ban, he was ordered to pay £170 in costs and charges.
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