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broken bike.jpgSix months for lorry driver who killed cyclist after driving into the back of him on a straight section of road
A Bridlington lorry driver who “failed to see” a cyclist and crashed into the back of him has been jailed for six months for causing his death by careless driving.
The Hull Daily Mail reports that Kieron Taylor was driving his 7.5 tonne lorry towards Cottam Crossroads just north of Driffield when he hit Ian Milner from behind. His speed was 3mph over the limit for large vehicles on the road.
Taylor pleaded guilty to the charge during an appearance at Beverley Magistrates Court in August last year.
The court heard that he had failed to spot the cyclist “until it was too late” as his attention was on a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.
During that hearing, prosecutor Collette Dixon said: "As a result of the defendant's driving, the lorry collided with the rear of Mr Milner's bicycle. Mr Milner was thrown from his bicycle and he died as a result of that collision.
"It is the Crown's case that the defendant, Mr Taylor, was exceeding the speed limit for a significant period of time prior to the incident.
"He failed to take any steps to deal with the potential hazard which was on the straight section of road ahead of him, which was the pedal cyclist."
A collision investigation report by Humberside Police concluded Milner would have been in Taylor’s eye line for around 13 seconds before the collision.
It also stated that he had been cycling in the “correct position” on the road and would have been clearly visible in a bright turquoise top and helmet.
Mitigating, Andrew Barton, said: "The circumstances as outlined are not in dispute. He was proceeding along the road and he has failed to see the pedal cyclist.
"We're not talking about a significant amount of speeding. The real failure was Mr Taylor's failure to observe the road ahead."
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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17 comments
The very least that should be changed is that the driving ban should be after the jail sentance; and there should be an automatic 2 year ban if there is the slightest blame by the driver - their lack of attention took a life and they therefore shouldn't be driving.
Given some more lenient sentences for much worse driving, can we consider this a step in the right direction?
Killing someone and charged for 'dangerous driving' rarely produces prison sentences so this is at least a sign.
On the other hand, what would the sentence have been if he'd not been wearing a turquoise top and a helmet?
I can't help but be struck by the similarity of gun deaths in the USA. Lots of people defending their right to bear arms and hence allow mass shootings, and in the UK lots of people defending their right to drive and thousands die. And all we do about it is express sympathy and build more roads and appallingly bad cycle infrastructure.
This is a massive social problem, a herd of elephants in the room, that our politicians are too weak to tackle. If the same number of people were killed and seriously injured every year due to any other cause, there would be outrage and immediate action; remember the dangerous dogs act? Instead we get pathetic sentences like this, multiple failures at every level of the judicial system to investigate, charge and convict and an assumption that accidents just happen; they don't.
Perhaps we need a demonstration at the forthcoming government investigation into dangerous cycling or whatever euphemism they'll actually be calling it.
I'm a bit uneasy about drawing parallels, given the clear differences, but the right to drive does seem to have become virtually inalienable. Even repeatedly driving like a twat isn't enough to have the right permanently revoked.
What about a horse-sized duck?
now wait a minute? the trick here is careless driving? what the fuck is this? 6 months for taking someones life?? everybody can sai I did not see him or her! At least where I live, I have no infrastracture, no roads but when you kill someone it is considered a manslawghter by accident, intentionaly or with a plan. there is no distinction of you killed using a car a spaceship a duck, a firearm, or a lightsaber! From what I can tell, the car manufacturing and road infrastracture lobby has infiltraded into your law system to let any idiot with a car do whatever he or she likes and the penalty will be only 6 months. My only conclusion is this: cyclists, get out of the british roads!!
Because the CPS and the justice system is fooked, the standard of driving here clearly meets the 'far below' for dangerous but because those in charge caved to offer up death by careless to get more convictions it's lowered what should be dangerous to careless far too often as the easy out for the CPS.
If they'd have instead addressed matters properly and removing the clear flaws that enabled a jury full of motorists to let off other motorists to it in judgement, not to mention failure to apply law correctly and an inept CPS, then we would have far fewer of these cases.
Currently it's a three tier system, motorists at the top, peds second and people on bikes at the bottom by a long, long, way.
Total disgrace.
And if this had been those young children that were killed by a distracted driver on the motorway that got all the news the attention and sentence would be massively greater. How is it any different?
Yet another travesty of justice, it makes me so angry that despite talking to local MP and sending emails to various parties that nothing sems to work to change matters.
It's truly sickening how we are treated as third class citizens.
Where are fucking headlines in all the papers for this heinous crime, where is the manslaughter charge, where are the police with their emotive video, where are the bottleless and inept CPS, where are the government noddies who are calling for better laws/process when people get hurt???
Absolute disgrace and all are complicit in the death by simply not doing their jobs properly further upstream to prevent this kind of thing.
Thirteen seconds is a helluva long time to not look at the things in front of you on the road... What was so interesting about the vehicle coming in the opposite direction??
It is a long time, or commonly known as "I wasn't looking where I was going so I invented this story about an oncoming vehicle, and the wonderful British justice system swallowed it, hook, line and sinker."
We have so far to go.
Do I become a "hazard" by mounting a bicycle?
I'd be interested to learn the "correct" road position for a cyclist. I thought that there were several correct road positions and that the riders experience and judgement came into it?
In my experience with the police I have found they hate it if a cyclist takes primary or even secondary and they refuse to acknowledge them as appropriate positioning under any circumstances, so I would suggest the cyclist was riding right next to the gutter.
There are several police forces who actively tweet quite the opposite, and they make clear how other road users should respect the positioning of cyclists, primary or secondary
Pleading guilty to avoid death by dangerous driving- no doubt, hopefully the police checked if the 7.5Ton killing machine driver was texting- from phone records -or watching video for 13 seconds.
How to kill someone and get away lightly with it. Drive over them.
"We're not talking about a significant amount of speeding. The real failure was Mr Taylor's failure to observe the road ahead."
That's alright then. He wasn't necessarily speeding significantly - he just wasn't paying attention. As a result, it's fair to give him a six month sentence, of which he'll serve three, and a six month driving ban - no doubt to run concurrently with his sentence
Honestly, what kind of absolute cuntishness is this? A clear day, with 13 seconds of visibility before rolling over the cyclist? And he gets that kind of sentence?
Fucks sake