Minibus driver’s “momentary lapse in concentration” led to cyclist’s death

Quote:

Philippa White, prosecuting, told the court ... “There is no suggestion ... that this was anything other than a momentary lapse in concentration.”

Is it common for the prosecution to be providing mitigating circumstances for the defendant?

There we are again, the convenient 'death by careless' charge, the perfect get out of jail free card that is used as it's easier to secure a conviction than 'death by dangerous'.

Can anyone explain this is to me...I was in a large grocery store this week and placed over a tiny puddle of fluid was a large plastic sign stating 'DANGER - Please be aware'.

Society somehow recognises an inoccuous spillage on a polished floor as something that presents a high level of risk to mankind.

In contrast, when a human being drives a lethal piece of machinery into another resulting in loss of life that is described as a careless action.

Have I gone mad or is something very very wrong? 

C'est la fucking vie? The law failed you. Grotesquely from the sounds of it. The next time I'm on a protest ride, or a memorial ride, what happened to you will be yet another reason why I turn out for these things. I wish I didn't have to. I'd rather be out riding bikes and having fun.

But that's no reason to accept what happened here as being acceptable. It's not, and the sentencing guidelines and sentencing in all likelihood in this particular case, what happened to you and a whole bunch of other stuff is not. To loosely quote Angela Davis, I'm done with accepting the things I cannot change.

I don't see why the driver should be prosecutied at all. After all a driver ran in to the back of my bicycle at 50mph resulting in me smashing my head on the bonnet/windscreen and then being thrown across the path of oncoming traffic and was simply sent on a driver education course. If it was good enough to send that driver on a course it should have been good enough in this case, as life or death simply balances on a knife edge and it matters not which way it falls. Sad news yes, but c'est la vie.

“I saw the cyclist and then hit them and then drove over them” yeahs that just sounds careless doesn’t it. 

Momentary lapse.  So that's ok then, completely justifies the death of an innocent person.  Kudos to the driver for admitting causing death by careless driving, but it wasn't careless, it was murder by vehicle.  We have to have a change in the law, so that killing someone with a vehicle is held to the same standard as any other unintentional killing.

I'm sure the government review of road law, promised so long ago, will cover this.  Yeah, and I'm a dalek: "Exterminate".

Looking at the photos on the Lancashire Telegraph, the vehicle is more like a short wheelbase coach than a minibus. Poor bloke.

I'm not sure what the defence is getting at equating it to a whiplash injury in a car. It’s almost like they’re blaming the cyclist for not driving a car?!

I don’t buy the momentary lapse for one minute. He saw the cyclist, but still managed to hit him. That’s not a lapse, that's gross incompetence or reckless behaviour.

So let me get this right, driver sees cyclist but crosses give way line anyway and knocks cyclist over. Having then stopped past the line, driver then sets off again and drives over the cyclist lying in the road. So that's at least three 'momentary lapses' of concentration then?