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news
Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Red light jumping motorist who blamed cyclist for collision jailed
A speeding Walsall motorist who jumped a red light and hit a cyclist has been jailed for 21 months. Jason Handley initially told the cyclist, "It's your fault, you did it to yourself," but later accepted he was entirely to blame.
The Express and Star reports that on July 27, 2018, Handley was driving along Wolverhampton Road West in Willenhall when he turned down Walsall Road, which is restricted to buses and access only.
The court heard that he drove down Walsall Road so quickly that a bus shook as he overtook it.
As he approached the junction at Clarkes Lane, the traffic lights turned amber. Handley accelerated.
Handley claimed he was doing around 30mph and went through on amber.
Collision experts estimated his speed to be 55mph. They said the lights changed to amber when he was 125 yards away and then red when he was 45 yards away.
As Handley went through the lights, he hit cyclist Robert Turner, who said he had been using the pedestrian crossing for safety reasons.
Turner suffered an elbow injury that exposed the bone and severe leg fractures. He was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham where he underwent multiple surgeries and remained for 15 days.
He has been housebound ever since and has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
Handley initially drove on but returned to the scene where Turner said to him: "Look what you've done, you idiot."
The motorist replied: "It's your fault. You did it to yourself."
Defending, Jasvir Mann said that Bentley had expressed "considerable remorse and regret" and now accepted the blame for what occurred.
After admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving, he was jailed for 21 months and banned from driving for five years.
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.
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22 comments
There's way too much of red light running these days; I have a few crossings/junctions where I'm checking the traffic is definitely stopping before proceeding after some near-misses.
Yup. I'm always amazed when people step (or ride) out into the road as soon as they hear the beeps, sometimes head down on the phone. I wait until the lead cars have completely stopped and eyeball the drivers all the way across. Having had more than enough bad experiences of red light runners and near-misses on zebra (and the new tiger) crossings, I don't trust any driver. I usually wait until the road is clear of traffic before crossing - I'd rather my fate was in my own hands rather than put trust in a distracted/don't give a shit driver.
It is getting out of hand. There are junctions where I expect 2 or 3 cars to run the red every time.
Sounds like it'd be easy to film them and hand the footage into the police.
Got one the other day but the number plate wasn't clear and the recording time was wrong (my fault); Avon & Somerset cops won't accept it. Headcam's just died (Drift Stealth 2) so I'm looking for a reasonably priced replacement (Stealth disciontinued I think). Prefer a small headcam as it gets footage where you're looking.
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Got one the other day but the number plate wasn't clear and the recording time was wrong (my fault); Avon & Somerset cops won't accept it. Headcam's just died (Drift Stealth 2) so I'm looking for a reasonably priced replacement (Stealth disciontinued I think). Prefer a small headcam as it gets footage where you're looking.
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Hi Shades, I have Stealth 2 & replaced the battery following instructions on a Youtube video w soldering iron. When it conks out I will look for a Ghost X as replacement. HTH.
bit of an understatement there. I record all my rides, and at one major intersection I went 5 months since the last time a driver hasn’t run the red from a right turn lane across my path, up until last Thurs when to my surprise it didn’t happen. The last two days, drivers were back to running the red. When you can ride the same route 60 times or more at roughly the same time of day and watch at least one driver run the red each time, you call it endemic.
That is at least some justice served. Need a bit more consistency in sentencing, it almost seems pot luck whether a decent deterrent is handed out or not.
FTFY
Thanks, my bad.
"buses and access only" is another of those brilliant ideas which utterly fails in practice unless there are either bus gates or enforcement or something...
My anecdata for today:
This is the Streetview for the Horsefair in Broadmead, Bristol https://goo.gl/maps/aZJKo5rph2Mn38rv6
Its the central shopping area, very busy pavements on both sides of the road (except on the day the Google car went along, obviously...), and it's supposed to be buses/taxis/bicycles and "access".
In practice, its open to all and it can take minutes to actually cross the road - a single lane, one way, but its busy.
How more people aren't run down along it I don't know - I've seen so many near misses, where visitors to our fair city (
) don't realise quite how fast 20mph traffic actually is here, a bit further along: https://goo.gl/maps/V6MsVoPqVFVFuDLE8
By recent standards, that's actually a pretty meaty sentence and ban.
Very sadly yes, I was actually impressed by this.
Crap driving, not limited to breaking traffic regulations, leading to knocking down and badly injuring a cyclist:
This case (above) - 21 months jail plus 5 yr ban
This case (below) - 6 points and £350 fine
(https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/cyclist-knocked-unconscio...)
Simply hitting a moving cyclist, well that's ok apparently:
https://road.cc/content/news/266851-met-cycle-safety-officer-hit-wing-mi...
I do wonder whether the first case above was given the stiffer sentence due to the perceived danger to other motorists, more so than the actual harm caused to the cyclist. i.e. flagrantly running a red light at speed is dangerous to all road users, not just cyclists. The other two cases present little real danger, except to cyclists, who probably should not have been there, no?
Bentley had expressed "considerable remorse and regret" and now accepted the blame for what occurred - now that he's been caught and has to explain his behaviour.
Funny how often that happens, isn't it?
Why do the papers even report the 'defense' solicitor's remarks after the case, completely meaningless.
I wish they'd report something more like: After court the solicitor looked non-plussed, when asked about the case, he replied "You win some you lose some, he did the crime now he's doing the time, now it's cocktail hour for me" and proceeded to jump into a taxi.
They probably feel like that and get paid no matter what, however they would be kicked out of the law society if they actually hinted officially that that can't be bothered to serve their client to the upmost extent.
But but but cyclists jump red lights - what pathetic sentence can we expect then, for a motorist who has shown no compassion in the wake of injuring a person with their own recklessness??
Whoops should have the read end - remorse bollocks!!
Remorse is cheap. Defence lawyers must have no conscience at all.
Only banned for five years, why not lifetime?