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MP says justice system too often fails to punish drivers who hit cyclists

Evidence given at first session of parliamentary inquiry into road justice

Ruth Cadbury MP has said that the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group’s (APPCG) inquiry into Cycling and the Justice System, which began yesterday, will investigate whether more needs to be done to tighten up the investigation and prosecution of drivers who have injured or killed cyclists.

“We know there are examples where cyclists have not received the justice that they deserved,” Cadbury told the London Evening Standard, adding “… when cyclists are involved in crashes and have life changing injuries, too often the justice system fails to punish the driver adequately.”

At the first of five hearings, MPs heard from representatives from Cycling UK and RoadPeace, as well as from personal injury lawyer Martin Porter QC.

Cycling UK told the inquiry that the issuance of driving disqualifications is down in the last 10 years, and argued that the right to drive is put ahead of the safety of vulnerable road users.

RoadPeace said that the Highway Code was due for an update with Martin Porter highlighting Rule 163 regarding overtaking as being in particular need of clarification.

Porter also said that there was an element of victim blaming in the Highway Code due to its guidelines on clothing.

Cycling UK said that both the driving test and the Highway Code should look into the issue of car-dooring and recommended the introduction of the Dutch reach in training.

Discussion also centred on the use of helmet cameras and West Midlands Police’s close pass initiative. While that operation was lauded, Cycling UK and RoadPeace said there was an issue with police priorities whereby vulnerable road users’ concerns were not always taken seriously.

The case of Mick Mason was highlighted where a private prosecution has been brought after the Metropolitan Police Service decided not to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The inquiry later heard from Julie Dinsdale, who lost her leg in a crash at Old Street in 2015, and her partner Keith Bontrager. The two are fighting for compensation after the lorry driver involved was fined £625 and given five points on his licence after admitting driving without due care and attention.

Bontrager described the situation amongst road users in this country as adversarial and cited Copenhagen and Amsterdam as being places where this was not the case.

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9 comments

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severs1966 | 7 years ago
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It's the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group again! They will make lots of positive recommendations, which will be recorded, and then filed away, and forgotten. No change to the justice system will occur.

Don't forget that this is the parliamentary group which has existed for years, but has yet to do anything of use to bike riders.

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Rob the Commuter | 7 years ago
1 like

I agree about the justice system being useless,

I got wiped out by a bus last week. It clipped me while overtaking causing me to fall into the path of the following traffic. The impacts with the side of the bus and the kerb were so hard, that the front wheel was buckled beyond repair, breaking spokes in the process.

Somehow, I failed to make a note of the registration as I was sliding backwards down the road. Notwithstanding that my GPS has recorded the precise, time, location, when I started braking and speed at impact, the police are not interested. They have not so far, despite a request in writing, released the witness statement. Busses have way point telemetry, so it should not have been that hard to trace.

I have discovered that the accident form "Stats 19" can be down loaded from the internet. So I filled it in and sent it off by post, having failed to get the accident recorded when I attended a police station.

Does the justice system care about cyclists?

Not in my experience.

 

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kitsunegari | 7 years ago
5 likes

An absolutely incredible piece of victim blaming by Dr Helen Measures and her legal coaching staff in that court case. Making it out as if it was the cyclists fault for panicking and falling off her bike, when she was performing a dangerous overtaking manouever.

The worst thing is that a jury found her not guilty. She was on the wrong side of the road. She's on record as saying she couldn't see 100 percent of the road.

Her lawyer introduced her as a person of high moral standing, a cancer specialist, a church goer. So what? Drivers like her are part of the cancer on our roads.

Reading up on the case the judge waxed lyrical about the defendants moral character, yet at no point was the moral character of the victim even brought up, let alone defended.

How are cyclists ever going to get justice when the judicial system and juries are this biased and stupid?

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brooksby replied to kitsunegari | 7 years ago
3 likes

kitsunegari wrote:

An absolutely incredible piece of victim blaming by Dr Helen Measures and her legal coaching staff in that court case. Making it out as if it was the cyclists fault for panicking and falling off her bike, when she was performing a dangerous overtaking manouever.

The worst thing is that a jury found her not guilty. She was on the wrong side of the road. She's on record as saying she couldn't see 100 percent of the road.

Her lawyer introduced her as a person of high moral standing, a cancer specialist, a church goer. So what? Drivers like her are part of the cancer on our roads.

Reading up on the case the judge waxed lyrical about the defendants moral character, yet at no point was the moral character of the victim even brought up, let alone defended.

How are cyclists ever going to get justice when the judicial system and juries are this biased and stupid?

And for anyone not familiar with that case:

Sandra Beck, prosecuting, had asked Dr Measures: “You are relying on other road users avoiding you when you are on their side of the road?”

Dr Measures replied: "I can't help it if a cyclist, with all due respect, falls over as I'm approaching them and comes into my line of travel."

News stories here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10348435/I-cant-help-it-if-...

then

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10371230/Cancer-specialist-...

and some commentary by a blogger

http://cyclingfront.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/i-cant-help-it-if-cyclist-get...

 

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ktache | 7 years ago
1 like

If you look up Helen Measures on Google you find that-Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe.

 

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brooksby replied to ktache | 7 years ago
1 like

ktache wrote:

If you look up Helen Measures on Google you find that-Some results may have been removed under data protection law in Europe.

 

I've always wondered why legal cases from only a couple of years ago are deemed to be so irrelevant that they can be forgotten by Google. Clearly overtaking so badly- even if cleared of criminal convictions- has been very embarrassing for the good Dr Measures, poor thing. 

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burtthebike | 7 years ago
2 likes

All this sounds well and good, but will anything change?  After all, these are politicians.

I hope they'll go on to discuss cycle facilities, how bad most of them are, and the lack of them, but still, a good start.

Haven't heard it reported on the news though, far too full of Brexit and air pollution, and the air pollution stuff never mentions cycling except to tell you to stop it when pollution is high.

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Grahamd | 7 years ago
0 likes

duplicate post 

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Grahamd | 7 years ago
0 likes

If that is all that can be highlighted in the first of 5 hearings, then I fear that the full extent of the challenges and changes required will not receive the time required to get sufficient momentum for any appreciable changes.

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