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Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgTwitter user's response to media coverage of cyclist jailed for killing pedestrian is hard-hitting - and heartbreaking
A Twitter user’s response 18 months ago to saturation coverage in the mainstream media of the jailing of cyclist Charlie Alliston for causing the death of pedestrian Kim Briggs in London has resulted in his putting together a thread underlining how cases involving drivers are treated by both the media and the courts, and which at the same time is simply heartbreaking.
Starting the thread on 20 October 2017 – two days after Alliston, then aged 20, was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders’ institution for causing death through wanton and furious driving – Twitter user @Ormondroyd said: "A thread for all the pundits lining up to wring their hands about dangerous cycling and light sentencing in the wake of the Alliston case."
"When Ichhapal Bhamra carried Tom Ridgway for 90 yds on his bonnet before crushing him into a tree, and was fined £35, where was your voice?
"When Lee Sewell, speeding after a 14hr taxi stint fatally smashed Gary Glymond 120yrds off a crossing, and was fined £500, what did you say?
"What about the killer of Eilidh Cairns, fined £150 for driving without glasses? He did it again 2yrs later, killing again. Did you speak?
"Where was your anger for four year old Esme Weir, killed while scooting along the pavement by a kerb-mounting van driver who was acquitted?
"How about Clinton Pringle, killed by an inattentive driver who had been texting moments before impact. He was 3. Eight months, suspended.
"If you really cared about safety, and this wasn't just a pop at cycling, you'd find plenty to speak about. Every day. Instead: tumbleweed."
He added: “Media/politician posturing over Alliston is fake: Your life is cheap to them if a motorist ends it. Because drivers vote, buy & click.”
He also contrasted the case with one in which a five-year-old child, who was on a pavement, was killed by a motorist who was driving into an illegal car park but was never charged over the youngster’s death.
“This story never made it to the UK national papers. No mention in Hansard. Wall to wall Alliston coverage, no voices for Lennon,” @ormondroyd said. “Says it all.”
Since then, he has added dozens of reports, mostly from national newspapers, of cases in which drivers who have killed or seriously injured vulnerable road users such as pedestrians or cyclists have been cleared or, if convicted, had what many would see as extraordinarily lenient sentences handed down to them – if, indeed, they were charged in the first place.
The reason that cases such as the one involving Alliston make national headlines is because they are so rare, as are serious injuries to pedestrians in such incidents – and all too often, mainstream media reaction disproportionate.
Three weeks after Alliston was sentenced, for example, with the perceived threat cyclists pose to pedestrians still a hot topic for the national newspapers, the Daily Express reported that Department for Transport statistics revealed that during the previous seven years, a total of 25 pedestrians had lost their lives and 700 seriously injured as a result of a collision in which a cyclist was involved.
Its headline? “Cyclists kill or maim two pedestrians every week, according to statistics.”
While the article notes that the data “does not state who is at fault in the accidents,” the headline certainly points the finger at whom the newspaper believes to be the guilty party.
Now put those figures – which average four deaths a year, and 100 serious injuries – into the context of overall road casualties and the frustration of cycling campaigners when faced with such sensationalist coverage is easy to understand.
In 2017 alone, 1,792 people were killed and 24,831 seriously injured on Britain’s roads. Among those killed were 470 pedestrians and 101 cyclists, with thousands more seriously injured.
Not all of those casualties will be the fault of a motorist. Genuine “accidents” – in the strict sense of the word, that is an event brought about purely by chance, rather than the sense still employed too much by some elements of the media and even official sources as a catch-all term for road traffic collisions – can and do happen.
But all too often, clearly a driver is at fault, which brings us back to @ormondroyd’s thread.
We've shown below a selection of cases below that he has highlighted on Twitter (one addressing transport minister Jesse Norman) and it's difficult not to draw the conclusion that the fact so many of these shocking cases go unreported at national level, and the feeling that the criminal justice system fails vulnerable road users, is what society has deemed an acceptable price to pay for mass motor vehicle ownership.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Lennon Toland was 5. Killed on the pavement by a driver entering an illegal car park. "No evidence of careless driving". No charges brought. pic.twitter.com/SWSTZEPOt0
— Jon (@ormondroyd) October 20, 2017
Apparently the going rate for ploughing through two horses, on a straight road, killing them and seriously injuring one of the riders, is five penalty points and a fine. https://t.co/lVESmTAtnX
— Jon (@ormondroyd) October 16, 2018
Lauren Johnson, a mother of two very young kids, was killed on the pavement by a driver who mounted it, doing at least 53mph in a 20mph zone. The CPS elected not to prosecute, stating it is not in the public interest to do so. Jesse?https://t.co/lZn5OkTb1r pic.twitter.com/ULu2zl9VGo
— Jon (@ormondroyd) October 21, 2018
Daniel Squire, 18, was fatally hit from behind by a van driven by Philip Sinden. The court heard that a draft message was saved on Sinden’s phone at 08:40:23, less than 30 seconds after he last received one. Someone dialled 999 to report the crash 21s later.
Sinden was acquitted. pic.twitter.com/JjBThcWd28— Jon (@ormondroyd) April 18, 2019
69 year old John Durey was killed while cycling in Kent, by a driver who hit him head on while overtaking two vehicles. Prosecutors argued he'd have been been visible to the driver for 45 seconds, but she was cleared of dangerous driving, receiving a community order & 18mth ban. pic.twitter.com/yWzJ1xKN0K
— Jon (@ormondroyd) April 28, 2019
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50829
Reading this has just kicked my up the arse to complain about my own treatment after being hit from behind by a car doing approx 50mph, the driver didn't see me! Unbeliverbly I survived but revived head injuries broken fumur and collar bone. The driver has been offered a driving course with a £175 fee.
That's really shit, on both counts.
Complain? You should be FUCKING OUTRAGED.
I hope you recover fully and that you are also able to pursue the culprit for compensation.
Because the police force gets to keep a portion of the fee.
If it goes to court and he's fined, they don't get anything.
Those Russian blokes stickering pavement drivers have got the right idea
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russias-viral-stop-a-douchebag-fad?ref=scroll
Been doing it for a fair few years now, it can and does flare up quite a bit.
4:16 onward it all kicks off, hilarious ending though
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibl6SHbq8sY&has_verified=1
Well, that's an hour of my life I can't get back! Just sat watching loads of those videos. Brilliant stuff.
I'd love to see a similar organisation in London, but the young men doing the stickers would be stabbed or shot, and those that lived would be prosecuted for getting themselves shot.
I remember reading some of the comments on the Daily Mail website under the report about little Esme Weir. Some comments were actually blaming her mother and focused on the "nuisance" of little children scooting on the pavement. The illegal pavement mounting of the pick-up driver who hit her was somehow acceptable. The jury who acquitted him must have felt the same. Contrast with the venom directed at any cyclist who dares to cycle on the pavement. I used to regularly see a pickup parked on the narrow pavement outside my child's school. Presumably another parent. I hated being forced to squeeze past the inside of it, keeping my daughter as far away as possible away from those massive wheels.
Such a shame when the zip from my coat snags on the expensive paintwork, and my shoulder bends the wing mirror back
I always - always! - either fold away or bend back the side mirror of any motor vehicle parked on the footpath (unless the driver's still sitting in it...). Petty, I know, but...
guaranteed that they don’t even realise this has happened either so your actions are futile !
it makes me feel better, though, and isn't as prosecutable as scratching the vehicles paintwork...
The push rims on a wheelchair make really interesting patterns when dragged along the entire length of a car that's been left on a pavement such that it's hard to get past...
I don't intentionally cause damage - but I don't particularly go out of my way to avoid it, either. It's easy to avoid, though - don't park on the goddamned pavement.
Pound coins have specialy sharpened edges.
Both my kids scooter to school/pre-school a lot of the time, as do many of the other kids.
We have to go along and then cross a short stretch of road that leads to an industrial estate and therefore gets some quite large lorries rumbling along. Most of the drivers are pretty good about slowing down and moving away from the kerb, but some seem to take the opportunity to drive as close as physically possible, which is pretty scary, even on the side with the wider path.
Hopefully won't be a problem for much longer, as they're putting in a new road soon which the lorries should use, as it will avoid an awkward junction for them.
I reckon that juries of motoring offence cases ought not to contain any motorists. Conflict of interest.
Looking in the comment of the Bournemouth Echo story (Jaiden Mangan, killed on crossing), there it is in a nutshell why juries should not be involved in deciding guilt in these cases:
Bob78:
"Its just incredibly sad. Its the kind of thing that hundreds/thousands of people do each day (including speeding, mobile phones, just dropping someone off, tyres lacking tread/underinflated)
, that, lets be honest, we are all guilty of at some point. This was just incredibly unlucky and ended in this tragic outcome."
That's right. Our media has convinced us that road deaths are no-one's responsibility, they are like rain or earthquakes, an act of god.
And a staggering number of people blaming the boy's mother for not holding his hand while he rode a balance bike. Sometimes I despair of my fellow humans.
Also if you see the BBC report, the guy parked on the crossing gets 3 year ban and the killers defence lawyer is stating that driver was fortunate to only be charged for careless driving, yet the killer who could not be arsed to look left or right at lights but was only concentrating on traffic coming for a space gets careless and 18 month ban. I'm not stating the parked car driver should be absolved off all fault but talk about shifting blame.
I was reading the comments on an Alliston thread the other day, and it referenced a gov report that said that about 40% of vehicles fail their MOT on something, 5% of those on brakes. There are a lot of illegally driven vehicles out there (and that's just in terms of roadworthiness). At the very least on the way to the test centre.
I'm driving a car at the moment with major defects. Perfectly legal to do so until the MOT expires in a week's time - even following the recent updates to the law, which tells you all you need to know about the appetite for the "war on the motorist"
(Handbrake is knackered on my car because the adjusters are seized so whilst it's a major fault it isn't affecting handling or braking or grip so I'm driving it whilst I wait for the parts. Just leave it in gear when I park up)
It would seem that speeding is ubiquitous. And the "groin obsession"is becoming this as well, they are addicted, and could not create a more dangerous way of breaking the law if they tried. All in an attempt to minimise the chance of getting caught.
I work with a potential killer driver. He has narcolepsy and only has be tested once every 3 years! He sometimes falls asleep when I'm talking to him so god knows how he's not run off the road yet. Apparently insurers aren't allowed to 'discriminate' against him either. Madness.
No doubt he'll be a 'not in the public's interest' job if anything ever happens.
I'm sure the gutter press have a reminder in their diaries for when Charlie Alliston is released, so they can drag it all up again, roll out Mr Briggs for a comment and hound Charlie and all other cyclists some more.
Meanwhile, the road safety review will have moved precisely nowhere in 18 months.
I would have thought that Alliston was released quite some time ago. I suspect he's now keeping his head down, travelling by bus or something...
I'll add my colleague David Irving to the list - hit by an van driver and crushed by a following car. Van driver acquitted, following driver not even charged. Hit and run from the van driver. Low winter sun m'lud. M'lud also directed the jury to ignore Highway Code advice, and the expert police witness victim-blamed, saying that he shouldn't have been there (it's a 40mph limit urban dual carriageway)
http://www.southamptoncyclingcampaign.org.uk/2014/news/1888/ for detailed court reporting on this one - Bez also covered it here
https://beyondthekerb.org.uk/at-the-going-down-of-the-sun/
"Jury will be directed to ignore Highway Code "slow down or stop if dazzled" "
Of course David didn't fit into a group of interest, or one that would trigger an emotional response, so he got no justice. Just a wife without a husband and two kids under ten without a Dad, no-one important, move along.
This is from the local rag featuring the acquittal of the van driver
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10972581.family-react-to-acquittal-of-d...
I can't imagine why being 'dazzled by the sun' is considered a mitigating factor and not an aggrevating factor. No collision ever happened because a driver was dazzled by the sun, the collision happened because they did not alter their driving to match the conditions.
The usual excuse is "I'll get rear-ended if I brake heavily". Given the passive and active safety features of modern vehicles vs a soft and squishy human body I think that defence is utterly execrable - but trotted out time and time again. And accepted by juries. These are the same people who tailgate people for doing the speed limit, park on zebra crossings, lob their two tonnes of metal at the pavement, and so on.
The driving license points system is quite unlike any other implementation of punishment. Do something illegal and it should be an instant ban and retest, not a "it's OK, you've got three more strikes before we do anything to stop you"
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