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Community sentence for driver who killed Fife cyclist

David Gordon also banned for driving for 10 years for causing death of Gary Christie

A driver who was convicted of causing thee death by careless driving of a cyclist in Fife last year has been sentenced to 300 hours’ unpaid work and banned for driving for 10 years.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard David Gordon, aged 56, was making a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre and was on the wrong side of the road when he hit Gary Christie, 38, in Kirkcaldy.

BBC News reports that Mr Christie, a father of two, died from his injuries two weeks after the collision, which happened on 1 November 2016.

Sentencing Gordon, Lord Menzies said: "It must not be forgotten throughout all of this that Mr Christie was an innocent man who was just going about his daily routine of cycling to work and who was killed in the prime of his life." 

The judge said he had read a victim impact statement from a son of the deceased and added: "I can only begin to understand the loss and suffering which the death of Mr Christie has caused to his family and friends." 

He continuied: "You have accepted full responsibility for this accident and you have displayed remorse.

“Many people convicted of crimes claim to be remorseful," added the judge, who said that in this instance he believed the remorse was genuine.

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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23 comments

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Cugel | 5 years ago
2 likes

Whilst having no sympathy for the driver, the 10 year ban and a punishment that at least has some chance of extracting some value for others seems better than a period in gaol and only a short driving ban, which is the usual result in such cases.

I'd like to see such drivers made to pay back far more in the way of not just community service but an extraction from whatever they earn, for the rest of their lives, paid to victims or the bereaved. Gaol and other punishments of the revenge ilk are basically nasty, ineffective and expensive.

Cugel

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
7 likes

Maybe instead of being someone who tells cyclists to share nicely a certain well know olympic gold medal winner should be asking the procurator fiscal as to why the justice system in Scotland is as fooked as it is in the rest of the union when it comes to motorists killing people on bikes and why the judge in this case and many others see fit to let killers off the hook with a slap on the wrist?

Just a thought Christopher?

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john1967 | 5 years ago
12 likes

Jump up and down on top of a wagon at a fracking site and get 18 months in prison.

Kill a cyclist and get fuck all.

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Zebulebu | 5 years ago
3 likes

This makes me feel physically sick. Absolutely fucking disgusting.

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Hirsute | 5 years ago
3 likes

Best way to murder someone then and get off.

I thought 18 months was the standard tariff...

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grumpyoldcyclist | 5 years ago
5 likes

Think once again we have to refer back to thr driving test rules.

Would an examiner have even started a driving test with an opaque windscreen? No? Then dangerous driving.

The overtake, would the test have continued after that incident even without a collision? No, then dangerous driving.

Collision itself, do that on a test is it a minor fail or a major fail? Major, then dangerous driving.

Simple

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Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
5 likes

Overtake described as 'dangerous' 

Conviction is for 'careless'

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NPlus1Bikelights | 5 years ago
5 likes

If there is a crowdfunded Cyclists' Defence Fund private prosecution I'll support it.

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HoarseMann | 5 years ago
1 like

Well, given the driver had a string of previous motoring offences, that he clearly showed no remorse for by continuing to break the law, let's hope he adheres to his driving ban.

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Russell Orgazoid | 5 years ago
8 likes

Anyone up for a crime like this is remourseful.

It means little as it's actually self-pity.

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the little onion | 5 years ago
1 like

And another detail from the linked BBC story:  Another cyclist who was witness to the event stated that "There was a cycle path at the side of road, but it was not well maintained and he used the road instead."

 

So many chances to avoid this death.

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the little onion | 5 years ago
12 likes

Whilst I would normally be pleased with a killer driver having their license removed for 10 years, note that despite the opaque windscreen, the visibility of the cyclist and the stupidity of the overtaking manouvre, the charge was CARELESS driving, after the jury didn't convict on a charge of DANGEROUS driving. 

 

So, the standard of driving was judged to only fall below the standard of a competent driver, rather than falling WELL below the  standard of a competent driver - the difference between the two charges.

 

Time to re-define dangerous driving as that of a standard that would cause the driver to fail their driving test.

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brooksby replied to the little onion | 5 years ago
3 likes

the little onion wrote:

Time to re-define dangerous driving as that of a standard that would cause the driver to fail their driving test.

It seems completely mad that it isn't!  

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hawkinspeter replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
4 likes

brooksby wrote:

the little onion wrote:

Time to re-define dangerous driving as that of a standard that would cause the driver to fail their driving test.

It seems completely mad that it isn't!  

I believe the government is looking into road traffic safety and reviewing the offences, so I'm sure that will be rectified shortly.

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fenix | 5 years ago
4 likes

More details here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45497905

 

Poor cyclist had done nothing wrong. Lights, Helmet. Safely cycling.

 

Fkwit driver didnt have a clear windscreen. Disgraceful. 

Avatar
brooksby replied to fenix | 5 years ago
7 likes

fenix wrote:

More details here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45497905

Poor cyclist had done nothing wrong. Lights, Helmet. Safely cycling.

Fkwit driver didnt have a clear windscreen. Disgraceful. 

"When the jury returned their verdict it was revealed that Gordon had previous road traffic offences, including two for speeding." - what a surprise...

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lolol replied to brooksby | 5 years ago
6 likes

More details here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45497905

They just can't resist a bit of victim blaming though

"The cyclist, who had been knocked down was wearing a dark blue helmet, black cycling top with white side panels and black cycling trousers with white stripes."

 

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EK Spinner replied to lolol | 5 years ago
4 likes

lolol]</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>[quote=fenix

wrote:

More details here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45497905

They just can't resist a bit of victim blaming though

"The cyclist, who had been knocked down was wearing a dark blue helmet, black cycling top with white side panels and black cycling trousers with white stripes."

 

 

I strongly suspect those "White" panels on his cycling top and cycling trousers should be described as Reflective

Avatar
vonhelmet replied to EK Spinner | 5 years ago
2 likes
EK Spinner]<p>
</p>

<p>[quote=brooksby

wrote:

fenix wrote:

More details here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-45497905

They just can't resist a bit of victim blaming though

"The cyclist, who had been knocked down was wearing a dark blue helmet, black cycling top with white side panels and black cycling trousers with white stripes."

 

 

I strongly suspect those "White" panels on his cycling top and cycling trousers should be described as Reflective

The physicist in me finds the notion of reflective clothing irksome given that basically everything is reflective. You’d need some sort of insane hyper absorbent fabric to not reflect light. If you’ve got lights on your car, then you should be able to see cyclists out there, “reflective” clothing or not. After all, it’s not like the only bit of a car you see is the lights, is it? You can see a car in the dark without it being “reflective”.

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dassie | 5 years ago
0 likes

I sometimes wonder whether daylight strobing a 2000 lumen ebay special would help in this kind of scenario, but I suspect probably not given the mentality of some drivers.

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Canyon48 | 5 years ago
1 like

...?

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hawkinspeter | 5 years ago
4 likes

Seems fair - dangerous overtaking leads to the needless death of a cyclist, so the court sends a strong message of "try not to do it again in the next 10 years, but otherwise, carry on".

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EddyBerckx | 5 years ago
0 likes

...

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