- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Man who cycled into pensioner sentenced to 16 months (+ video)
A 27-year-old Bristol man has been handed a six-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving. Connor Coltman cycled into 70-year-old Angela Horseman as she crossed East Street in Bedminster on January 15, leaving her with life-threatening injuries. He fled the scene fearing he’d killed her.
Bristol Live reports how Mark Worsley, prosecuting, played CCTV footage showing Coltman cycling in East Street at 8.45am. The cyclist can be seen swerving around pedestrian Jose Barata before hitting Horseman.
Horseman was taken to Southmead Hospital where she was found to have bleeding on the brain, a fractured skull and a punctured lung.
Worsley said: "Mr Coltman picked up the bicycle and stayed at the scene for a few seconds. He waited briefly. His companion said, 'you'd better go' and, despite a witness saying he should stay put, he made off and others came to assist."
A witness said they heard Coltman say: "Oh my God, I think I've killed her."
Another said they overheard him say: "I ain't gonna stop. It's not my responsibilty."
Coltman is said to have ridden off making motorcycle noises.
Robert Morgan-Jones, defending, said: "He is just 27. His chronological age does not accurately reflect his level of maturity."
Coltman worked as a gardener when he was 18 but has not worked for three or four years and has mostly been homeless. He has a long-term drug problem.
British Transport Police tracked Coltman down a few hours later on the railway line between Bedminster and Bristol Temple Meads. He was wearing different clothes and identified himself as ‘Phil Morgan’.
Coltman tried to run, but was arrested. He said that the collision was an accident.
The charge of causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving for which Coltman was convicted is the same for which Charlie Alliston was found guilty following the 2017 death of pedestrian Kim Briggs.
Since Alliston’s trial, Briggs’ widower, Matthew Briggs, has called for the creation of new offences of causing death by careless cycling and causing death by dangerous cycling, similar to those that apply to motorists.
In 2018, the Government ran a consultation on a proposed new law of causing death by dangerous cycling, which would carry the same penalty as applies to causing death by dangerous driving.
Cycling UK has consistently called for a broader review of all road traffic offences, examining whether the current definitions of and standards for ‘careless’ and ‘dangerous’ actually work when applied to offences by all road users.
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.
Latest Comments
- OnYerBike 1 sec ago
The Sora groupset seems very expensive for what it is. Even without going down the AliExpress route, you can get 11spd 105 for £360 (https://www...
- Bigfoz 1 min 57 sec ago
UAE Tour of Britain maybe?
- bikes 8 min 28 sec ago
Driving culture in a nutshell. Dangerous and with tiny/nonexistent penalties. ...
- hawkinspeter 13 min 44 sec ago
I like the way that it can collect water in the wrong places and so putting it through a car wash invalidates the warranty.
- mdavidford 16 min 54 sec ago
You're overlooking the 'lifting it out of the shed' factor, though.
- Cugel 52 min 49 sec ago
It won't. Never has and never will. Criminals act in two ways: impulsively, where emotion of the moment overcomes all other considerations; with...
- hawkinspeter 14 min 52 sec ago
I'd say that Mogg Street is more likely used by cyclists who opt for the bridge over the M32 rather than the underpasses as opposed to trying to...
- open_roads 1 hour 41 min ago
And we can be sure that Police Scotland would be similarly disinterested if larger versions were scattered across roads and motorways to sabotage...
- fixit 4 hours 47 min ago
No shit! really? you need a research to come to this conlusion?
Add new comment
20 comments
Bristol Post today says that Bristol City Council has said there are currently no plans to review road safety in East Street as the incident appeared to be “isolated” and caused by “reckless behaviour”.
(Outbreak of common sense at Bristol City Council?)
I do agree that this sentence seems harsh compared to sentences for drivers who have maimed or killed people but perhaps his actions were the main reason for a custodial sentence.
After knocking down the pensioner he cycled off leaving her critically injured on the pavement. He showed no remorse and was even heard to comment that it was her own fault. He had been weaving in and out of pedestrians beforehand at speed deliberately......not because he had fallen asleep at the handlebars and mounted the pavement by accident.
I do think a jail term is the best place for this low life. This type of cyclist gives us all a bad name and adds fuel to Daily Mail readers who call for cyclists to be licenced with number plates...(ridiculous).
One can think jail is appropriate for certain behaviours without invoking the stupid 'gives us a bad name' trope.
Also - choosing to drive when you are sleepy is as much a choice as choosing to weave in-and-out of pedestrians on the pavement. Both involve deliberately taking risks with other people's safety. I don't see any moral difference there.
Agreed though, pavement racers (who in my experience are almost always young males in hoodies) annoy me. I think it's the combination of bullying and cowardice (they are clearly too scared to ride in the road, yet want to act like tough guys with regard to pedestrians).
Edit - though I'm even more annoyed with the youths who ride motorbikes (at speed) along the footpaths in the park. Maybe we should just ban young people in general. Get off my lawn.
Sorry but if you'd read the Twitter thread supplied in the first comment by Legs you would see that many drivers have behaved just as badly as this cyclist and still got let off with just a slapped wrist. For example the driver who hit the 15 year old girl on the pavement and drove off, leaving her critically injured and unattended by anyone for 11 minutes. No jail, just a £500 fine, very short driving ban.
Exactly this. You can't even use his "previous criminal record" excuse as some of those listed also had criminal records or were under the influence. I doubt he would have been as harshly treated if he had just knocked her flying whilst running. It just seems that a cyclist doing it is the worst of the worst.
@brooksby There is a clear and apparently systemic discrepancy between the convictions for motorists and cyclists in these cases, and a lot of sense and rightful outrage in this thread, but *please* try and avoid the "motorists are all " nonsense. You may not drive but there are plenty who do (even here), and do not agree with what's going on.
I drive.
And I agree with him. Where I live, my wife and I believe (only slightly tongue-in-cheek) that we're probably the only drivers who do not speed and who do not tailgate.
The 'a tiny minority' myth needs to be addressed. There is a toxic malignancy in British society, and its most conspicuous and everyday manifestation is seen in the car driver.
Fair enough. Can I change "all" to "many but not all"?
Now I'm confused.
"similar to those that apply to motorists" ???????
So why not a small fine and a brief stay on the naughty step? Custodial seems overly harsh doesn't it?
Let's face it, had he been in his car he'd have been let off. I'd challenge this as being overly unfair given comparative fatalities caused by motorists...any one of the 1750 a year or so we can pick from.
Someone said this upthread: motorists are all convinced that they are treated unduly harshly and that all cyclists are treated leniently. Many of them honestly cannot see or understand any evidence to the contrary. They seem literally blind to the evidence.
The one thing that doesn't exist, is parity under the law; but we don't want parity - we surely want proportionality? I think: cars are massive objects which easily and frequently cause death and injury. Bicycles aren't.
So, a bloke using a particular mode of transport causes an "accident" and as a consequence all other people using the same mode of transport will get tarred with the same brush. This is exactly how all motorists are held to account when one of their number runs someone over... Oh, wait a minute...
Yet again proving the massive discrepency in sentencing/charges of road users when they harm another person. If they had run into the victim and done the same damage then the sentence would be knowhere near what was handed out, nor indeed would it be if they were driving.
All we want is equity in treatment with respect to actual harm done, intent and the potential that an action has to harm i.e. careless cycling.
This guy is obviously a bag of shit and got away lightly. But hey he was on a bike so that must make him benign in some way......
Bikes are simply a form of transport for some people, not an enlightened way of living that elevates you morally above someone that has car.
This guy doesn't have a car because he's a drug addict and the bike is probably stolen. Its also Bristol again.
You know what the phrase 'straw man' means, right?
I wish they would start charging drivers with causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving.
As it seams to guarantee a conviction and that conviction guarantees a custodial sentence, regardless of if the charge is admitted or not.
It seams far more effective than careless driving for instance.
The headline says 16 months, but the lead paragraph says six. Which was it? The BBC says 16, so I'll assume that. Perhaps the author typed "six" because they are so used to that being the sentence most car drivers get, if at all, even for killing someone. And at least this bogan's record will show a crime that sounds as serious as it was, even if it indicates a different mode of transport. Ironically, drivers never get prosecuted for "causing bodily harm by wanton or furious driving". Usually they are charged "careless driving", which is just an insult to their victims.
https://twitter.com/ormondroyd/status/910244326567006211?fbclid=IwAR0LIq...
yes it would seam a small fine would have been the correct sentence in the circumstances. As ever the moral of the story is, you should have been driving a motor vehicle.
Absolutely spot on. Though the Daily Mail commenting types will never read it - even if it was in front of them their brain wouldn't let them take it in.
People just can't take in information that doesn't fit with what they want to believe. There was a story on the Mail recently giving an insiders account of how awful the training and management is in the private service that replaced NHS-direct. Most of the comments were declaring 'typical public-sector - this is why we need to introduce the private sector to the dreadfully inefficient NHS', having completely failed to notice that this _was_ a privatised part of the NHS.
(Also - was Daniel Squire on that list?...really the problem is such a thread is likely to become unmanagably long).