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Dangerous driver who killed cyclist jailed (Google Maps/Cheshire Police)Dangerous driver who killed cyclist in "horrific incident" jailed for four years
A dangerous driver who did not have a licence or insurance when she hit and killed a cyclist in a "horrific incident" last year has been jailed for four years.
Seena Chacko was sentenced at Chester Magistrates Court on 21 November having pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop. The 62-year-old cyclist, who has not been named as Cheshire Police says the family wish to retain their rights to privacy at this difficult time, was hit and seriously injured by Chacko.
The "horrific incident" happened on Saturday 14 September 2023, the cyclist dying in hospital three days later. Chacko was driving without a licence or insurance when she hit the victim on Wilmslow Road in Handforth, the police reporting the cyclist was knocked to the roadside with serious injuries.
Despite the scene, described as "shocking for those who witnessed it", 42-year-old Chacko continued to drive with the victim's bike lodged under her vehicle, until she was stopped by another motorist.
The incident happened near The Bulls Head pub at 10.30am, the cyclist treated at the scene by passers-by and paramedics before being taken to hospital in a critical state. She remained in a critical condition until she died on 17 September, Chacko having pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, a charge which was amended following the victim's death. She also admitted failing to stop following the collision.
The investigating officer Sgt Russ Sime from Cheshire Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit thanked the public who assisted by providing first aid treatment at the scene and stopping Chacko.
"This was a horrific incident and shocking for those who witnessed it," he said. "I'd like to thank those who stopped the car, and those who gave the cyclist first aid while paramedics were called.
"Our thoughts are with the family of the cyclist. No one should have to go through these very sad circumstances and this tragic incident highlights the need to drive safely for everyone's sake."
While Chacko's four-year sentence is far from the shortest seen in a case where a driver has killed a cyclist with their dangerous driving, there has been discussion in recent times about sentencing for such cases.
In May, the National Police Chiefs' Lead for Roads Policing Jo Shiner warned that deaths on the UK's roads have become "unseen" due to their frequency and stated that "the basic standard of driving on our roads has reduced".
Explaining how her father was killed on the roads when she was a teenager, Shiner spoke of her passion for reducing the number of people who die in road traffic incidents.
The head of roads policing in the UK went on to make the case for stricter punishments for anti-social driving, arguing that drivers who kill or cause serious injury through their actions often receive lenient punishments when compared to other non-traffic crimes.
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
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24 comments
".....National Police Chiefs' Lead for Roads Policing Jo Shiner warned that deaths on the UK's roads have become "unseen" due to their frequency....."
They always have been unseen, ignored and excused as just collateral damage for car mobility. Road deaths are at or near a record low, not because there are fewer collisions, but because of better emergency treatment and hospital treatment. The question is Jo, what are you, the police and politicians doing about it?
Reminded me of this in Parliament.
Question : What assessment have you made about the benefits of cycle commuting.
Ans : We have evidence that cycling helps with physical and mental health
Action : We are doing another study. Results due mid 2025
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2024-11-14.14389.h&s=cycling
Pathetic. They should have create a sub-committee to advise on the desirability and feasibility of undertaking a study...
(I'm reminded again that every generation or so - or perhaps each quarter-century - a fresh and enthusiastic government committee arrives at the starting line again, to find out if active travel can help, and if so how ...)
Just been listening to James O'Brien on LBC, waxing eloquently about the obesity epidemic caused by eating the wrong food. Yet again, not a mention of the other side of the equation, exercise. Our media is obsessed with food and completely ignores exercise.
Was it a mere 7/8/9 years ago that NICE said the best way of addressing the obesity crisis was for the government to achieve its cycling targets? Totally ignored by the media then, and nothing has changed.
I think you'll find it's the Church of England who are responsible for the obesity crisis.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/boris-johnson-church-of-eng...
Wait - have those wafers been upgraded to chocolate wafers now (or maybe those pink ones?)
Or is it all the sugar in the communion wine?
Wait the minimum tariff for death by dangerous driving is 5 years.
Surely driving without insurance or a licence makes it a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road, add failing to stop, & vulnerable road user, that's got to be starting point 12 years, even with 1/3rd off for a guilty plea, that should have been minimum 8 years, double the sentence theyve applied here.
What did they do mitigate for a good previous driving record ?
Don't be silly.
A sentence like that would only be considered if the person killed was a copper, MP or media celeb.
Otherwise just be grateful she didn't just get a community sentence and asked nicely not to do it again.
Where did you read the minimum tariff is 5 years? Sentencing Guidelines says it's 2 years (minimum disqualification is 5 years).
I'm not saying I understand or agree with the final sentence, but I can imagine driving without insurance is not assessed at the "culpability" stage - whilst it is clearly not following the rules of the road, in itself it doesn't make the manner of driving more dangerous, which is what culpability considers.
Being unlicenced is more complex - on the one hand if viewed as purely an administrative burden, the lack of a valid licence does not speak to the manner of the driving at the time of the incident. On the other hand, it would seem evident to me that operating a car in public without adequate training is by definition dangerous.
It would make sense to me that driving without a valid license should automatically count as Dangerous Driving as it falls far below the standard of a careful and competent driver.
agreed, the reason for the lack of licence could be several reasons (possibly innaccuracies and or ommisions in this list of example)
1. driver has passed a UK test and hasn't renewed thier paperwork (photocard only lasts 10 years - I must check mine)
2. driver has passed test in another country and has lived here beyond the time they are required to transfer this over to a UK licence.
3. driver has licence from elsewhere but is required to sit a UK test to get a UK licence.
4. driver has never held a licence and has chanced it for years.
I think a judgement would need to be made on the reasons for no licence as there should be a significant variation on culbaility for these kind of categories
Yep sorry I thought the minimum was in line with the dsq timeframes now after the lifetime upgrade.
Even so it has to be the least culpability to get a 3 year starting point, it's still 6 for the mid range. And it's illegal to drive without insurance, it's a standalone offence in its own right, as is without a licence and not stopping at a crash you caused, thats surely part of the culpability as its the drivers decisions to do those things?
But there you go this kid who filmed himself driving with his knees, used his mobile phone extensively whilst driving, gets 26months for crashing into another car and the driver of that car he hit is completely paralysed below the neck as a result and needs full time care.
So maybe 4 years is considered a tough sentence
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c89vzl0lz55o
Am I the only person genuinely surprised to read this? I'd assumed that it would be at night - but 10.30 in the morning???
I may be due a parrot, but I think the pub was just given as a location, rather than indicating that anyone had been drinking there.
No, sorry: I didn't mean that she was on the piss, I actually meant that it was broad daylight.
Same here - it took me by surprise. 10:30am doesn't feel like a dangerous time to cycle; apparently I'm wrong on that.
the sentence needs referring for review under the leniant sentences review scheme. 4 years is a complete joke - it needs a 0 on the end for any kind of deterrant effect, not least as the offender is unlikely to even serve 1/3 of that.
Is a 0 missing on the length of sentence?
How do you drive along with a bike jammed under the front of your car and (supposedly) not notice?
Top mitigations:
Presumably in this case it was either an exceptional / emergency "one-off" or they were not licenced due to some "bureaucratic snag" (they didn't get the paperwork in time). Or were they a "otherwise law-abiding, unlicenced, uninsured driver"?
SMIDSY?
Got that I think, but I on the same point missed "the sun was in my eyes" and "I couldn't see the cyclist because it was dark".
(Apparently people are regularly caught out by it being hard to see because there's a bright light in the sky which moves about, or in the opposite sense when it gets dark because that has disappeared. I think it would be helpful if this were mentioned in the driving test, and if vehicles were provided with some means of assisting drivers with seeing things more clearly in both those conditions.)
[Sorry - wrote mine before saw yours! You make the point much better than I.]
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Don't forget the 'sun in my eyes' excuse - even in the middle of an overcast winter!
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