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news
1920px-Tamar_Bridge_from_train.JPGDriver avoids prison sentence after mowing down cyclist for 'riding over a bridge'
A driver has avoided being jailed after he deliberately crashed into a cyclist because the man 'cycled over a bridge'.
Muir David Taylor, 65, 'started going mental' and swerved into the rider, knocking the man into a busy road.
He then drove off, leaving the victim lying injured on the floor.
Taylor appeared at Plymouth Crown Court, Devon, for sentence having pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
Prosecuting the case, Emily Cook described how on November 6 last year the victim was cycling behind Taylor on the Tamar Bridge when Taylor took exception to him, Cornwall Live reports.
Taylor slowed down so the cyclist had to stop and the pair exchanged words.
After leaving the bridge Taylor should have turned right but instead, without indicating, swerved left across two lanes of traffic to get in front of the rider.
The cyclist pulled up and Taylor told him not to cycle on the bridge with witnesses describing him as 'going mental'.
Taylor then deliberately drove into the cyclist, knocking him over and into a live lane of traffic.
He then accelerated away but witnesses were able to identify his vehicle to police and Taylor was traced and arrested.
The victim was lucky to only suffer minor injuries but has been left shaken by the ordeal.
Sentencing Taylor, Judge Robert Linford said: “You lost your temper and at some point your vehicle hit a cyclist. This was extremely dangerous driving because you lost your temper.
“That said this is the only time you’ve done anything wrong in your entire life and you have expressed an appropriate level of remorse.
“I note the problems that beset your life prior to this incident.”
Taylor was given a 12 month community order consisting of a mental health treatment requirement and a rehabilitation activity requirement. He was also banned from driving for 12 months.
Latest Comments
- Steve K 2 sec ago
I'm there now too, if anyone wants a follow/wants to follow me. @cyclingtheseaso
- Shepton 35 min 44 sec ago
I totally agree. I used to commute through Long Ashton and only started getting agro from motorists when the pavement was made to be a shared path....
- Steve K 57 min 53 sec ago
It may just be the picture angle, but it doesn't look like those bike docks would fit a bike with a pannier rack. And certainly not a cargo bike.
- Rendel Harris 59 min 21 sec ago
She was still there in Greenwich when I cycled past her on Wednesday!
- Rendel Harris 1 hour 9 min ago
It's obviously a very personal thing but if I was in the market at your budget I would take a serious look at the Ribble AllRoad SL Pro, currently...
- Hirsute 3 hours 54 sec ago
No driver involved https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/24728452.car-crash-station-way-colch...
- hawkinspeter 3 hours 38 min ago
The kind of common sense that associates global financial crises and recession with a need to cut back on libraries and allow unlimited banker...
- hawkinspeter 4 hours 51 min ago
To be charitable to the police (though I wonder why I should), they're acting on a specific complaint raised by the motorist and so are doing their...
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69 comments
pedant time;
'Muir David Taylor, 65, 'started going mental' and swerved into the rider, knocking the man into a busy road.
He then drove off, leaving the victim lying injured on the floor. '
Buildings have floors; outside, it's the ground or road or path or grass, etc.
Meanwhile, over in a different country: https://abc13.com/driver-gets-shot-after-bumping-bicyclist-man-shoots-hitting-wife-with-truck-suspect-ran-over/10859767/
Scrolling through the rest of the news makes me glad it is in a different country.
Sounds like textbook Cyclist Derangement Syndrome. Some drivers are so incensed by seeing a cyclist that they absolutely must make things difficult for them or try and run them off the road. This is also occasionally experienced by passengers in vehicles and can occasionally result in them throwing things at or assaulting a nearby cyclist.
riders?
Oops. corrected to drivers. Bloody autocorrect.
I would have thought that most people have never committed a crime until they do.
Original sin...
If this bastard had done this to me, I would spend the rest of my life hunting him down and applying some 'justice' of my own.
The law is a joke, but I would have the last laugh and would happily do time to educate the little turd.
Gosh, you're hard behind your anonymous username and keyboard! If you genuinely believe that extra-judicial violence in the name of vengeance is justifiable you're a massive part of the problem with our society and also no better than the original offender.
By the way, I've worked with violent offenders who've been through the prison system; knowing them and hearing their terrifying stories you would very much not be happy to do time, and your apparent self-image as a hard man wouldn't last five minutes. Grow up.
Well, if that Statham came up to me, all tough-guy-look-at-me, and knocked over my latte, I'd say - "OI! Statham! NO! Do not come here with your cockerney accent and your shaved head trying to be like Diesel!"
The Stath could take Diesel any time
Could we make a compensation claim for his emissions over the past 13 years though?
if you are talking about his films it'd be about facking time. Perhaps we could get the govt to commit to phasing new F&F out by 2030
Not sure if the cyclist is willing to take this farther, by appealing the sentence, or whether a third party, Cyclists' Defence Fund perhaps, could take this on. If they did and started a crowdfunder, they can count on me for more than just few quid.
While the sentence itself is an insult to cyclists and all road users, the message it sends to drivers is abominable, and gives them licence to do pretty much anything, including assault with a deadly weapon, then drive off and receive a slap on the wrist. As others have pointed out, such an assault on a random member of the public with any other weapon would likely result in an immediate custodial sentence.
The old adage about if you want to kill someone, use a car, is still true apparently.
Ashley Neal's latest video is a similar scenario...
https://youtu.be/fXeRKq-1WG8
Lack of police action stinks.
Lack of police action stinks.
Her claim of actually being an ex-Police officer was probably true then.
Another gullible judge who believes that up till this point the guys been a model citizen despite a life beset with obstacles. It's called normal life not the cushy existence that judges experience from cradle to grave.
Can this sentence be appealed? The judge needs to be taken off duty.
"That said this is the only time you’ve done anything wrong in your entire life and you have expressed an appropriate level of remorse" Entire life, putting extra emphasis to make it seem that only the presence of a cyclist has made him become a criminal after 65yrs, so it's ok? what's an appropriate level of remorse?
“You lost your temper and at some point your vehicle hit a cyclist. This was extremely dangerous driving because you lost your temper" - The vehicle hit a cyclist, the driver merely aiding and abetting the vehicle's intent to harm? It's only dangerous because he lost his temper? So if he had kept calm whilst driving the car into the cyclist it would have been less dangerous?
Why is this not attempted murder, if he deliberately swerved across 2 lanes of traffic, then that clearly shows premeditation?
Or at the very least, assault with a deadly weapon!
I've done some searching, but can't actually find what the charge/verdict was on - if it wasn't some form of offence against the person (the generic category for assault, GBH etc), then we have clear proof that the CPS treats cars in a different category to other objects, when they are used as weapons.
He pleaded guilty to Dangerous driving according to the linked newspaper article.
He basically came close to getting the absolute minimum even though by my read it started at a 12 week custodial sentence.
https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/dan...
Seems like the beak believes in extenuating circumstances.
Depends on what CPS agreed to go with and what was slid across the table to them. If it's a "we'll agree to this lower charge or fight you all the way", then chances are CPS agreed to it as it's one case off the books and sod the public.
Sue him personally, should be an easy win. Take the money and give it to a local scrote to kneecap the fella.
Job done.
If he gets decent representation, like members of CUK get as part of their membership, the driver will have to remortgage his house to pay the compensation. Should be more than enough to hire a proper hit man rather than the local scrote, and still have change for a new bike.
Why is it shocking? When the legal system is clearly a mess, other measures could be deemed appropriate. If it was my partner who had been injured by that tonsil, him and his family best be careful.
Yes, i want to avoid breaking the law but should a member of my family almost be killed and the perpetrator gets a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket, i would take some action that will not be legal. What's the worst that can happen, wet bus ticket?
What's the worst that can happen, wet bus ticket?
Those comedy penalties only apply if you hit/ injure/ kill a cyclist with a vehicle- you're not likely to find these offenders cycling anywhere.
There is that to consider but I would still take my chances.
Is the judge encouraging crime with this sentence?
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