Motorist jailed for running over cyclist who spat on his car

[andrewc]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/14/motorist-jailed-for-running-over-cyclist-who-spat-on-his-car


"The victim was left with his pelvis broken in two places, six broken ribs and a punctured liver. He later lost his job and is now too scared to cycle. He still cannot bend over to tie his shoelaces, the court heard."


18 months.. 

[barakta]

Driving ban for life. I'm not convinced prison is useful but I'd put him on damned licence and make him do a billionty years of community service or something.

Spitting on a car vs being run over. Not the same thing. Provocation my arse.

[hatler]

Dear god. That's surely worthy of a non-motor related conviction. What the fuck is wrong with our legal system?

[T42]

Max term for assault with intent to cause GBH is life in prison.  Given his age that just might be 18 months.

[ian]

Sadly this sort of casual victim-blaming is still endemic in our legal system. The victim looked at my client funny, so I think the stabbing was, in part, the victim's fault for having eyes and using them to look in my client's direction.

I've never had a 'moment of madness' in which I've tried to murder someone.

[Jethro]

I never realised until recently that when a person is disqualified from driving by a Court, he/she then has to apply for his/her licence back after the end of the disqualification period and it is not a given fact that the licence will then be returned.  It appears that it is at the discretion of the police.  Hopefully they will refuse in this case.  It will also be very difficult for this person to obtain insurance in the future.

[T42]

I never realised until recently that when a person is disqualified from driving by a Court, he/she then has to apply for his/her licence back after the end of the disqualification period and it is not a given fact that the licence will then be returned.  It appears that it is at the discretion of the police.  Hopefully they will refuse in this case.  It will also be very difficult for this person to obtain insurance in the future.

Years ago I read of a case in Germany where a bloke had been given a suspension for being caught with a radar detector.  When he tried to get his licence back it was refused, repeatedly. He eventually found that the comment "charakterlich ungeeignet" - "of unsuitable character" - had been added to his record in the central licensing office.

[Wobbly John]

I wonder if the type of person who tries to kill someone with a motor vehicle would worry about driving unlicenced or uninsured?...

[ian]

I wonder at the sort of people who go through life so angry that they feel it's OK to try and murder someone for the smallest of slights. That and the fact I'm sure he wouldn't have been so 'brave' had he not been sitting in an oversized, overpowered car, of course.

[ElyDave]

sadly there are people like this all over the place, I have had someone try to run me off the road in the middle of Ely for having the temerity to filter through traffic to the advanced stop line at a set of traffic lights, it's probably not a large step in some people's minds to actually doing so.