Eilidh Cairns inquest- "Road too narrow to overtake"

[CamPhil]

Could this be the case that could get our government into the dock for it's failure to protect the right to life?

Sadly not:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-15620862?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

I was under the impression that the exhaustion of legal process in the national judicial system was a prerequisite for the case to be heard in the European Court - in which case this would be an unfortunate but necessary step.

[her_welshness]

A good follow up by Ross Lydall and Kate Cairns:

http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2011/11/sisters-fury-at-coroners-failure-to-prevent-more-cyclist-hgv-deaths.html#tp

[her_welshness]

I have written to my MP:

Dear Ms Ruddock
 
On November 25th the second reading of the Road Safety Bill will be debated in the Commons (sponsored by Sir Alan Beith MP).
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2010-2012/0191/cbill_2010-20120191_en_2.htm#l1g1
 
This Bill proposes (amongst other safety measures) 'the fitting of equipment to heavy goods vehicles
to eliminate driver blindspots and aid driver awareness of cyclists, pedestrians and other road users'.
 
As a committed cyclist I am very distressed by the number of cycling fatalities and injuries in the capital,
with Heavy Goods Vehicles involved in a high proportion of those incidents.
 
Please support this Bill.

[hatler]

Kate Cairns statement is very powerful.

Are the CDF involved in this ?  Have they been asked ?

It strikes me that this is precisely the sort of thing it should be doing.

[Domestique]

I have written to my MP:

Dear Ms Ruddock
 
On November 25th the second reading of the Road Safety Bill will be debated in the Commons (sponsored by Sir Alan Beith MP).
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2010-2012/0191/cbill_2010-20120191_en_2.htm#l1g1
 
This Bill proposes (amongst other safety measures) 'the fitting of equipment to heavy goods vehicles
to eliminate driver blindspots and aid driver awareness of cyclists, pedestrians and other road users'.
 
As a committed cyclist I am very distressed by the number of cycling fatalities and injuries in the capital,
with Heavy Goods Vehicles involved in a high proportion of those incidents.
 
Please support this Bill.

Good letter hw
I may alter it a bit and send a copy onto my local timewaster mp if thats ok.

[her_welshness]

I have written to my MP:

Dear Ms Ruddock
 
On November 25th the second reading of the Road Safety Bill will be debated in the Commons (sponsored by Sir Alan Beith MP).
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2010-2012/0191/cbill_2010-20120191_en_2.htm#l1g1
 
This Bill proposes (amongst other safety measures) 'the fitting of equipment to heavy goods vehicles
to eliminate driver blindspots and aid driver awareness of cyclists, pedestrians and other road users'.
 
As a committed cyclist I am very distressed by the number of cycling fatalities and injuries in the capital,
with Heavy Goods Vehicles involved in a high proportion of those incidents.
 
Please support this Bill.

Good letter hw
I may alter it a bit and send a copy onto my local timewaster mp if thats ok.

Go for it  Will let you know what my MP's response is.

[hellymedic]

Kate Cairns statement is very powerful.

Are the CDF involved in this ?  Have they been asked ?

It strikes me that this is precisely the sort of thing it should be doing.

The CDF is involved with this.
CDF Trustee

[hatler]

Thank you. That is good news.

[AndyK]

Eilidh Cairns' killer implicated in second London lorry fatality

FFS.

Charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Let's hope the sentence is fitting this time: a lifetime ban from driving and prison time.

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/lorry_driver_charged_with_97_year_old_marylebone_pensioner_s_death_1_1334175

[Steph]

Eilidh Cairns' killer implicated in second London lorry fatality

FFS.

Charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Let's hope the sentence is fitting this time: a lifetime ban from driving and prison time.

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/lorry_driver_charged_with_97_year_old_marylebone_pensioner_s_death_1_1334175

Oh grow up and rejoin reality.

Andy, despite the words,  in no manner meant as a swipe at you, but only as a shout about what hope we really have in getting the courts juries full of drivers to convict, or the tossers in the CPS to actually prosecute.

[spindrift]

http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/joao-lopes-guilty-of-causing-death-by.htmlhttp://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/joao-lopes-guilty-of-causing-death-by.html

It transpires that in June 2011 Mr Lopes was driving a lorry that struck and killed a 97 year old woman pedestrian, Nora Gutmann, a holocaust survivor.  For some months many of us (though not Private Eye) have been keeping quiet about this connection for fear that it might prejudice a jury at a future trial.

However no trial is now required.  Lopes has pleaded guilty at Isleworth Crown Court to causing the death of Nora Gutmann by dangerous driving and also to falsifying the data on his tachograph.

The investigation into the death of Eilidh Cairns did not, on any view, go as it should have done.  I know that I have the benefit of hindsight but it is nonetheless surely right to point out that those who choose to, or not to, prosecute drivers following fatal crashes involving vulnerable road users have a heavy burden of responsibility to ensure that dangerous drivers are removed from our roads.

[drossall]

Corrected link for that.

[Ham]

Lopes has been remanded in custody where he awaits sentence due to be passed on 1st August.

Well, well. At least we know he'll be getting a custodial - although probably the time (edit: not finished) in custody will likely end up being something near the time served.

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manual/death_by_dangerous_driving/

That page makes interesting reading. Level 1, 2 or 3 here? My money's on 3

[Julian]

Almost certainly 3, exacerbated by falsifying the tachograph & the previous conviction, reduced by a third for the guilty plea.

My money's on anything from 18 months to 3 years. I'd be surprised if he got more.

*hopes for surprise*

[perpetual dan]

This link is also relevant http://lcc.org.uk/articles/lorry-driver-serial-killer-of-london-cyclist-and-pedestrian-pleads-guilty.

We have not had justice today

[TimO]

Less than a year later, Lopes was back on the road driving for a different employer, and he killed again.

You've also got to wonder about an employer and insurance company that were willing to take on a driver who had clearly been driving with defective vision.

I guess he may have been under no obligation to inform his employer of it, if he hadn't been found guilty of any crime, and possibly the same is true of the insurance company (although don't they tend to use phrases like "any information"?)

It's the failure of the police and CPS to carry out complete and proper investigations which is the most depressing however.

[Jacomus]

This link is also relevant http://lcc.org.uk/articles/lorry-driver-serial-killer-of-london-cyclist-and-pedestrian-pleads-guilty.

We have not had justice today

From the article:

The evidence was that he deliberately interferred with his tachograph so that it would not record the extra hours and trips he was making in the killer lorry.

Er... no... Lopez is the killer, the lorry is just a tool.

This kind of responsibility transposition drives me up the wall, especially when you find it in articles such as this, written by people who really ought to know better.

[Wendy]

Er... no... Lopez is the killer, the lorry is just a tool.

So is Lopes, IMO. I agree with you of course.

[Pickled Onion]

Less than a year later, Lopes was back on the road driving for a different employer, and he killed again.

You've also got to wonder about an employer and insurance company that were willing to take on a driver who had clearly been driving with defective vision.

I guess he may have been under no obligation to inform his employer of it, if he hadn't been found guilty of any crime, and possibly the same is true of the insurance company (although don't they tend to use phrases like "any information"?)

It's the failure of the police and CPS to carry out complete and proper investigations which is the most depressing however.

Assuming he declared the endorsement, he would have been able to say, quite legitimately: "I have three points because I forgot to put my glasses on one time". He would have no obligation to add "... and as a consquence I ran someone over and killed them" because he wasn't convicted of that.

This, surely, is part of the reason for the Causing Death By Careless Driving offence - easier to prove and even if they end up with a derisory sentence, having to declare the conviction gives a massively different message than the minor charges that have previously applied. Unfortunately the old ways are mostly continuing.

[jogler]

It's the failure of the police and CPS to carry out complete and proper investigations which is the most depressing however.

IMO the failure of the courts to impose any form of punishment on drivers who kill other road users who have not contributed to their own demise is the most depressing aspect of road deaths.
I'll admit to a bias wrt cyclists.

[Ham]

The only fitting punishment is one that can't be applied from the outside: if he were to lie awake every night for the remainder of his natural born days, wake up sweating, seeing the faces of the two people he killed staring at him everywhere, accusing him, haunting him. Standing like shades behind all his family at any celebration, there every time he looks up, every time he says good bye to a loved one in the morning and has to wonder, will they come back safe or will they be unlucky and meet a man like he is himself.

Even so, it wouldn't help bring back the dead.

[spindrift]

Thanks for correcting the link drossall.

This whole story is grim, it would make a compelling tv drama, the police cocking up the investigation, the coroner refusing to allow questions, three families torn apart. The copper's remarks in the dock struck me as callous and indifferent, I wouldn't speak like that at work "If I knew that I wouldn't be standing here"- which doesn't even make sense. Why would you be churlish and sarcastic whilst giving evidence? Kudos the the Cairns for following this through.

[Redlight]

http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/s_to_u/sentencing_manual/death_by_dangerous_driving/

I'm intrigued to note that the CPS web site has a section entitled "tell us what you think".

Perhaps we should.