Community sentence for driver who killed Fife cyclist

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

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?

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.

This makes me feel physically sick. Absolutely fucking disgusting.

Best way to murder someone then and get off.

I thought 18 months was the standard tariff...

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

Overtake described as 'dangerous' 

Conviction is for 'careless'

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

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.

Anyone up for a crime like this is remourseful.

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

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.

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.

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. 

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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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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