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Smidsy - Witness or Victim - Does the Justice System serve us?

One evening in February I was coming back home from the local supermarket. My route involved riding along a straight section of quiet main road, then making a right turn into my estate (housing, not country).
I got into position well before the turn, signalling right and riding alongside the white line, approaching the junction I returned my hand to the bars to brake and control the bike, as I did so I looked over my shoulder and saw that I was being overtaken by a car on my right. Before I could take any avoiding action there was an almighty blow on the right of my body and the next thing I remember was lying on the wrong side of the road facing oncoming traffic.
Some nice people scraped me off the road, the driver stopped further up the road and walked back. Thankfully I was not seriously hurt, but did have to visit A&E the next day. The driver said "I did not see you" then "Sorry", which seemed strange as I had been in his view for 250 metres, had two rear lights and ten reflectors on the back of my shopping bike, and he was performing an overtaking manoeuvre.
The police arrived and took details, at this time they told me that the driver already had 30 points on his licence.
During the next few weeks;- The police came round and took a witness statement. I was informed the the driver was to go to court to enter a plea, but I did not need to attend. A voice mail a couple of weeks later told me the driver failed to turn up at court, so had been found guilty in his absence and my witness services were no longer required. Thank you.

I am left with a lot of questions.
I have not been told what the driver was charged with? Careless driving? + Driving without insurance? + Driving with a ban?
I don't expect to be advised of the punishment. Fine + more points + ban + Extended retest? Will he claim excessive Hardship to carry on driving?
I will not get to meet the driver in court. I would have liked to have heard his explanation under cross examination for failing to see me. There were several people around, but no one actually saw the collision, it would have been my word against his. With a good defence he could have claimed that I lost control, and his quick reactions prevented a more serious "accident".
I suspect he will continue driving regardless.

It sounds like this driver has been gaming the system for ages. It's tempting to make a case for the Chinese System which involves a car park and a bullet, but seriously there must be a socially fair system.

I invite your comments.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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11 comments

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Tom_77 | 1 year ago
1 like

I've reported a couple of (non-collision) cases that went to court - https://road.cc/content/news/near-miss-day-733-291029

For both of these I was told the outcome of the case. I had to email the Witness Care Unit a couple of times for each case before someone responded though. So you should be able to find out what happened in court, if you can find the right person to ask.

I'm a little unclear about the driver failing to attend court. If a defendant is unable to attend court (e.g. due to illness) can their solicitor enter a guilty plea on their behalf?

While it's understandable that you'd like some kind of explanation from the driver, a defendant is not obliged to give evidence in court.

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OnYerBike | 1 year ago
8 likes

I think in this case you are most definitely a "victim" and not just a "witness". As such, one option to explore would be the various victim support organisations - this might be a good starting point: https://www.gov.uk/get-support-as-a-victim-of-crime

If you can talk to someone familiar with the court system, they might be able to obtain answers for you and/or point you in the right direction. 

As for your general points, it's not clear if the driver had previously claimed exceptional hardship and therefore had managed to retain their licence (as thousands of people have) or if they were driving despite a ban. In either case, I think everyone here is going to agree with you that the current system isn't fit for purpose. 

I think the exceptional hardship excuse should simply be removed. As far as I can tell the hardship is rarely "exceptional" but rather a perfectly foreseeable consequence of losing one's licence. Furthermore, getting to that point means either having committed several offences or, rarely, an single exceedingly dangerous offence. In either case, I think it's clear evidence of a driver with no regards for the law.

At the very least, I think the exceptional hardship excuse should be limited to a single use. Firstly, I think it would be completely evident that if someone has already got to that point and then gets caught driving dangerously again, then they are not fit to be driving. Secondly, if the same excuse can be used again and again, then having successfully argued exceptional hardship once means they can use exactly the same argument and expect the same outcome, and therefore become essentially immune to punishment, which cannot be a just outcome.

I think there should be much more serious punishment for anyone caught driving without a licence, especially if their licence has been removed. Whilst in general I think we incarcerate people too readily, this might be one situation where it is justified - firstly to recognise the seriousness of the crime and act as an appropriate deterrent, and also because it would appear to be the most effective way of protecting the public.

I do think there is a segment of society that cannot accept that driving is a privilege not a right, and cannot accept that the manner of people's driving should ever be challenged. The same segment that considers any enforcement of driving/parking offences to be a "war on motorists".

My final thought is that we have created a car-dependent society, and that not being able to drive would make many people's lives harder. But maybe if we made public transport and active travel more viable alternatives across much more of the counrty, then it would become more palatable to ban people from driving more readily and more permanently.  

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Cycloid replied to OnYerBike | 1 year ago
2 likes

Thanks for your considered reply, I totally agree with what you say.

If the driver had claimed exceptional hardship (several times), how the hell did he get insurance?

In granting this the courts place the driver's hardship above the right to life of vulnerable road users.

As you say I feel like a victim, but there was no serious injury to me or my bike, on the other hand his wing (door for pedants) mirror came off when he hit me which will have cost him a few bob.

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hawkinspeter | 1 year ago
3 likes

30 points?

It doesn't sound fair that you can't speak to the court about your experience of the collision, but let's hope that he was given some prison time to keep him off the roads for a bit.

Anyhow, I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt.

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IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
3 likes

As you know the date of the trial, you should be able to contact the court and find out the result of the trial because it is a matter of public record.

However, I have found it is impossible to contact the court for such information - when I tried to find out about a "secret" court appearance that a relation was hiding (turned out it was a drunk driving offence which we suspected but they had lied about - and in that wonderful logic of the guilty they blamed us for not believing them) all routes led to the disconnection of doom. Fortunately they didn't read their post and we happened to have another relative who was a magistrate so we recognised the postmark and was able to get our relative to check the case for us.

The local press often publish court case info. so you could try contacting your local paper.

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Cycloid replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
2 likes

Similar Experience to you. The information is not readily available. Also I don't know the court, it could be one of several.

Part of my point is that I should not HAVE to struggle for information, I'm involved

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GMBasix replied to Cycloid | 1 year ago
0 likes

Did you ask the police? I presume you were given contact details at some point.  If not, write to the chief constable.  There is an element of data subject access here, since it is inconceivable that your name is not across all the police and court documents.

As for the other cyclist, again, I would consider the police, but the local highway authority will also know because a death will be reported to it.

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Cycloid replied to IanMSpencer | 1 year ago
1 like

PS. A local cyclist was killed on the road and I only know his name. I have been unable to find details of the inquest or (any) court case. Maybe I am just inept.

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brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

Important thing, though: how's your bike? 

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Cycloid replied to brooksby | 1 year ago
5 likes

Spoken like a true Cyclist - Thanks for your concern.

My shopping bike is an old bombproof steel MTB, converted to single speed fixed. It cost £6-50 on Ebay. Totally unscathed.

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brooksby replied to Cycloid | 1 year ago
0 likes

yes

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