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news
Stanwix Bank, Carlisle (Google Maps)Hit-and-run drink driver thought cyclist he seriously injured was “only a traffic cone”
A drink driver who failed to stop at the scene of a collision which left a cyclist with a potentially serious head injury told police that he believed that he “had only hit a traffic cone”.
Motorist Daniel Towers was handed a 12-month community order, with 200 hours of unpaid work, and banned from driving for 16 months after pleading guilty at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court to drink driving, careless driving, and failing to stop after a collision, the News and Star reports.
The 34-year-old was driving home from Carlisle city centre at around 9.30pm on 16 November when he struck a cyclist on the A7 at Stanwix Bank before driving on. Police were called to the scene by witnesses, who described the cyclist as “barely conscious”.
Prosecutor George Shelley told the court that the victim, who was also “struggling to breathe”, had sustained several injuries in the collision, including a potentially serious head injury, and was taken to Cumberland Infirmary to be treated.
According to Shelley, the cyclist suffered memory loss in the crash and only remembered waking up in hospital. However, the long-term impact of the collision is currently unclear, as police have since been unable to contact the cyclist, and no victim statement was prepared for court.
> Community order for hit-and-run driver who left cyclist with broken pelvis
Nevertheless, officers from Cumbria Constabulary were able to trace the motorist after one witness noted down the registration number of Towers’ Volvo, while debris on the road also matched the damage later found on the driver’s car.
After a breathalyser test later that night returned a reading of 51mcg of alcohol in 100mls of breath (the legal limit is 35mcg), Towers claimed that he had only consumed “one beer” at 7.30pm before driving home, where he apparently drank some more. However, the prosecutor noted that “no bottles were found in the refuse bin or the kitchen bin”.
The motorist also told police that he didn’t feel that he needed to stop after the collision as “he believed that he had only hit a traffic cone”.
Mitigating, Jeff Smith told the court that “loud music” was playing in the car at the time of the incident and that neither Towers or his female passenger were aware of the collision.
Issuing Towers with a 12-month community order, with 200 hours’ unpaid work, District Judge John Temperley noted his concern that no detailed information about the cyclist’s injuries was available.
He also handed the 34-year-old a 16-month driving ban, and ordered him to pay costs of £85 and a £114 victim surcharge. Towers was offered the opportunity to participate in a drink driver rehabilitation course which, if completed, will reduce the length of the ban.
The motorist’s lawyer said that he intends to commute to work by bike for the duration of his imposed hiatus from driving.
“He was cycling to work at 6.30am yesterday morning,” Smith said. “He’s suffered significant anxiety since the commission of this offence, and he knows that he has done wrong. He hasn’t had a drink since the accident and does not intend to drink in the future.”
Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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20 comments
I do hope the cyclist gets in touch with the police. A substantial compensation package from the driver's insurer is waiting for negotiation.
Not unless they broke bones, lost limbs or organs. Even then, I wouldn't consider it substantial compared to the injuries. Ask me how I know.
I have never understood how people can claim they thought they only hit something smaller. I once hit a badger, and the noise was immense. But then I wasn't pissed at the time.
A much longer driving ban would be appropriate. I hope the victim recovers fully.
Compare this case with the "reckless taxi driver".
https://road.cc/content/news/taxi-driver-who-left-cyclist-brain-injury-a...
So we had a taxi driver who stopped at the scene and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving sentenced 2 years suspended, 160 hours unpaid work, 15 days rehabilitation, and 3 year ban.
This motorist didn't stop, didn't plead guilty to dangerous driving, lied about drinking and claimed he hit a traffic cone. Sentenced to 12 month community order, 200 hours of unpaid work and a 16 month ban.
Which driver showed remorse, which driver do you think may learn from this experience and do you think the punishments reflect this?
16 months is absolutely outrageous for an offence like this.
I think, despite being a Champion Police Despiser, that the police did well on this one. They didn't just say 'Sod it, victim has skipped- back to the station for donuts'- they did at least find the driver. The problem here was the court.
I disagree. The failure to find the cyclist is negligent in the extreme.
He clearly didn't leave correct details with either the police or the hospital and it doesn't sound like he has kept any follow up appointments for further treatment or may even have discharged himself since the police are unable to give even the most basic details of his injuries. To me that suggests he doesn't want to be found for whatever reason. I am not sure how much resources we can ask the police to spend on tracing him when he isn't, as far as we know, wanted for any offence and hasn't been reported missing by anyone. I would far rather they put resources into investigating the many other unsolved crimes than into tracking down someone who is unlikely to cooperate even when eventually found.
I mean the story literally says the guy has suffered memory loss - so a clear neurological symptom and you therefore assume he's knowingly given false information to the police and doesn't want to be found, not that actually the guys got some legitimate neurological problems that probably need care.
In any event, as you are so keen the police focus on other offences, they could maybe kill two birds with one stone and hunt down a cyclist hit by a bike who on your view of the world is wanted on suspicion of providing false information to a police officer! Win/Win!
Compare this case in the UK to the adjacent story. The UK one drives drunk, hits cyclist, causes potentially serious injuries, drives off, makes excuses / denies liability all the way through courts and gets a community order and a 16 month driving ban that can be further reduced by attending a course.
The US one, also drunk, killed a cyclist, stopped I believe, admitted it, entered a guilty plea and gets 8 years in prison.
So the UK driver will very possibly be driving again inside a year. Absolutely a failure of the justice system in the UK to deter those drivers who currently feel able to drink and drive. I never thought I would say this, but we need to take a leaf out of the US's book on this one and issue proper sentences for this type of offence.
As much as I'd like more serious driving bans and sentences, I wouldn't want to copy the U.S. legal system. As far as I can tell, U.S. justice is just an underhand way of providing slaves for the capitalist prison owners to earn more profit. Also, they're extremely racist.
I fully understand and agree with your concerns re the operation of the US penal system. One reason why I didn't say follow the system, just the sentencing policy with sentences served here of course.
We have a real problem when drink driving gives a 12 month ban plus fine / community service for first offence but add hitting and seriously injuring a cyclist, failing to stop and denying it all through the process and it only adds a maximum of an extra 4 months driving ban and less if you attend a course to teach you what everyone already knows - that drunk driving is dangerous!
Also: the US is (mostly) an awful country to be a cyclist in and it's sometimes not even pleasant or safely possible to make a trip as a pedestrian.
The US does take certain offenses more seriously than in the UK. However - just like the UK - people are very selective about what they think is outrageous when it comes to driving. Anything apart from that is often perfectly OK.
Somewhere to stop copying when it comes to transport. The little that's good there we could find in full strength elsewhere.
Should be an automatic custodial sentence and minimum 5 year ban consequtivley.
Totally pissed, hits a cyclist, either isn't aware or doesn't care about it, drives off. Then only gets just over a year without a license? JFC! Should be at least 5 years.
So on the one hand
"neither Towers or his female passenger were aware of the collision."
but on the other
“he believed that he had only hit a traffic cone”.
Well, which is it, Mr Towers?
How does that happen?
It could be that the police were crap at their job, or it could be something like the victim was an undocumented migrant, so were a bit reticent about giving their details to the police
Traveller / rough sleeper / unhoused?