The Law does not protect Cyclists

Hi Ridgeback. Welcome to the site, it is a shame it is under such circumstances. 

The only point I would add to some of my colleagues ones below is I actually do not think it is cyclists specifically but any vunerable road user. Unfortunately it seems that perfectly normal people seem to accept that cars maim and kill and as the majority of people drive, they try to be lenient because they know they could be the next killer. They will make excuses to blame the victim (no hi viz, no helmet, why was the parent letting the child walk ahead) or to alleviate the criminal (he was only doing just over the limit, the sun was in his eyes, he was stopped in a queue so why can't he use his phone) or as some said below, to wrongly accuse the authorities (LTNs are a disgrace, cameras are money making devices, war on the motorist). It doesn't help that politicians and newspapers will go down the popularist route and will denigrate cyclists for minimal offences or demand a death penalty when the odd death is caused, yet won't even contemplate changing laws to punish the most serious transgressors in motor vehicles. 

In the same weekend that your unfortunate story broke, we see one where a 94yo killed a cyclist (and was banned for four years) and a cyclist killed by a Range Rover. Both could have been deaths prevented by the country finally deciding enough is enough and forcing people to retake their test every 10 years to ensure good driving is drilled back into them (or licenses removed on medical grounds). It would be a start but no party will do it because of the popularist backlash, the claims of a war on the motorist / back door tax from the normal suspects. 

I'm so sorry for the loss of your dear grandson.

As a mother of a young child growing up, it saddens me that a young person's life can be taken away by someone who should not even have been allowed on the road, who can then avoid any real punishment.
Unfortunately this lack of deterrent means this offender and many others will continue to treat vulnerable road users with disdain and make us all fear for our children's and our own safety on the road.

Deepest sympathy for your loss. I was absolutely furious when I read of this case on this site yesterday and I still am. I know it won't do anything to ease your pain but I have been sharing your grandson's story on every social media outlet I can to let people know of the grotesque injustice that has been done.

First of all I am sorry for your loss. Most of us read about these seemimngly ridiculous sentences but don't have any personal involvement.

Here is what I think :

Driving has always been seen as a convenient way of  getting from A to B in the shortest possible time and the current generation has grown up with this expectation. Car "accidents" are seen as part of the risk one takes in order to have this privilege. Anything which slows progress in a car is a non starter. You can actually fail the driving test for driving too slowly. Killing someone in a car because you are not being careful enough is considered unavoidable because you have to get where you're going as quickly as possible and not hold anyone up. In contrast consider a cyclist who is obviously not trying to get from A to B as quickly as possible so if they kill someone the same excuse doesn't apply.

I am afraid that law makers have fallen in to the same mindset taking the view that driving quickly is a necessary part of modern life.

Until driving is seen as a way of getting from A to B as safely as posssible and in comfort, as opposed to in the shortest possible time, we vulnerable road users will contnue to suffer the consequences.

Can we do anything to help? A few suggestions.

Short term. Sign the ryan's law petition and get all your friends and family to do the same. Have you signed it yet? It may not succeed but at least failing to stop will get an airing in parliament if the number reaches 100,000. Here is the link again if you haven't already signed.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/575620

Medium term. Get a camera and submit footage. They can only hold out for so long. (I hope)

Long term. Change the voting system in this country. The current government have an overwhelming majority based on under 40% of the electorate voting for them, many of them persuaded by clever reporting in the press. Until we have proportional representation our anti motoring voices will go unheard. If the system changes I will be voting Green, until then it's a wasted vote. Mind you I may vote Green anyway next time as any vote I cast will be wasted.

I read about this case elsewhere...  I am so sorry for your loss, I cannot imagine what you and your family must be going through, compounded by the astonishingly lenient sentence.

The leniency shown by the courts in this case is disgusting. The failure of the police/CPS to bring appropriate charges even more so.

Yet another driver who should not have been on the roads at all.

You have my deep sympathy for the trauma this despicable individual has caused to you and your family.

So sorry to hear your loss. I can only imagine the pain you and your family are suffering.

Some thoughts, based on experiences of dealing with multiple instances of being a victim of outrageous driving and outrageous responses from those tasked with enforcing the law.

- bad driving behaviours are 'normalised' in society, with the possible exception of drink driving. So speeding, using your phone whilst driving, are perfectly acceptable rather than stigmatised. See the number of people who complain that speed cameras are there to collect money, rather than save lives.

-driving is seen as a right, not a privilege. Hence the right to drive whenever you like, whereever you like, and tiny inconveniences like LTNs are seen as a breach of human rights. Hence you can't possibly take someone's licence from them - how would they survive?

-cyclists are de-legitimised not just as road users, but as human beings. So it's not just enough that people regularly comment how cyclists don't belong on the road, you also get the Rod Liddles and Matthew Parrises calling for us to be decapitated. We are scum, cockroaches. 

-any cyclist who is hurt or killed is instantly victim blamed by society and the police. So you got hit by a driver whilst cycling? Let's not inspect the driver's phone or take your camera footage seriously, the real question is why you weren't wearing enough high-vis? Oh, you were wearing high vis? In that case, you should just expect, as a cyclist, to be hit from time to time. It's one of those things (pretty much a word-for word  response from a police officer following an incident I witnessed.....)

-it's people with the above views who are sitting on juries of court cases hearing driving offences, and sitting in the police cars responding to 999 calls.

So sorry to here of your loss Ridgeback, I am also a Grandfather and would be absolutly devastated in your position.

The lack of serious repercussions for idiots like this driver astound me. If you are driving otherwise in accordance wth your licence (provisional ?) then why do you get the "privelge" of being charged with a driving offence, why not manslaughter. Similalry the courts here phrases like "The driver didn't have time to react or stop" without also hearing "too fast for the available visibility" or "dangerously fast"

I am so sorry for your loss Ridgeback. I have already commented on this case elsewhere. Needless to say that the sentencing is a sick joke that does nothing to discourage this sort of behaviour. My wife and I do all our daily travel by bike (we no longer own a car). We have three grown up daughters who's daily transport is by bike (no car ownership either). I sometimes wonder how long it will be before one of us becomes another statistic.

An open challenge to Cycling UK, British Cycling, Anyone involved in British Justice.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Time and again on these pages we hear about drivers facing prosecution for causing serious injury or killing cyclists walking free from court with minimal punishment.

We get our information from press reports so we don't always know if we have all the information and are aware of the extenuating ircumstances, but the cumulative evidence is damning.

This last example is one of the worst I have ever seen.

When will we as a society realise that there is a problem and do something about it?

I send my sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Oscar.

It is allowed- not formally, but in practice. We have heard frequently on these pages of minimal suspended sentences and comedy community service orders for killing cyclists, because it isn't considered to be a real offence. The indoctrination of future drivers into the brotherhood where no offence against a cyclist is a real offence starts young, and they don't forget the lesson even when they join the police. Regular readers will not be surprised to learn that my comprehensive report into this offence by the school bus resulted in no response whatsever from Lancashire Constabulary. What did the school bus driver gain from his MGIF offence? 2 minutes later I passed him as he waited to turn right into Garstang High School.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'd seen the news on this case and it is genuinely shocking how minimal a punishment McMurtary has received, whether in absolute terms or compared to the punishment he would have received if he had killed someone other than by hitting them with a vehicle.

The law needs changing. There is no way the sentence in this case (and others) can be acceptable. I can only hope the sentence is reviewed because of the public reaction.

My thoughts are with you and your family Ridgeback.

2 pages here
https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-teenage-cyclist-avoids-ja...

It's not allowed Ridgeback, all those things contravene one law or another.  We don't need more laws, certainly not those that are inspired by a specific event.  As the old saying goes, hard cases make bad laws.

What we need is a re-evaluation of the part that driving plays in our lives and a recognition of the enormous consequences of poor driving.  We should stop regarding the driving licence as a right and we should significantly raise the standard of the tests. 

The main reason people drive recklessly and dangerously is they don't believe they will be caught.  We need to increase the number of traffic police patrols and seriously upgrade the number of safety cameras.  

Finally we should require our legal system to enact the full range of penalties more often.  At the moment most sentences reflect the lower end of the scale available to the courts, even those involving deaths and serious injuries.  

None of these things will come free.  More prisons, police and cameras will involve more money but when a fatal accident ends up costing a million pounds perhaps it's more of an investment than a charge.