Witnessed by one of my friends this morning...

[her_welshness]

'I am not a fan of cyclists, but....
This morning on the way to work, at a T section, someone in their car decided that they were too important to wait for traffic to subside and decided that the only way to turn right is to swerve sharply with foot on the pedal. They swerved straight into a cyclist. The sound of the impact was horrific. I couldn't see the cyclist at first - all I could see was a mangled bike. I then saw the silhouette of a person lying motionless on the ground; clad in neon yellow they weren't hard to spot, but they were a small distance awy from the bike. Luckily (if that can be said) it happened almost on the doorstep on my hospital and almost all the people coming in were medical professionals.

As for the driver of the car? Obviously they got confused between their accelerator and brake as instead of slowing down they sped up even more. Clearly a human life isn't as important as whatever crap they had planned today. I hope they choke on their fucking sandwich.'

[hellymedic]

 
I hope the cyclist wasn't too badly injured and makes a good recovery.

[ABlipInContinuity]

chilling x2.

Inexcusable driving.

Part of me thinks it is about time the Government sponsored a road safety campaign spelling out for motorists.

[clarion]

It isn't clear from the report if the car driver stopped after.  I hope so.  I hope that they face the consequences of their actions.  I hope the cyclist isn't too badly hurt.

[alexb]

We're having a minor drink this afternoon to celebrate one less lunatic on our roads, on our streets even. A colleague was the victim of a hit a run by an unlicensed (banned) uninsured driver (who was using a mobile phone).

She went to court this morning. The driver already had a 5 year ban and 6 month suspended sentence. After this she received an 18 month custodial sentence and 10 year ban.

Small victory, but an incrementally safer London suburb as a result.

[tonycollinet]

I've said it before.

I want to see hit and run (where hit person is injured) made a crime suitable for automatic imprisonment.


Hope victim is OK.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

I've said it before.

I want to see hit and run (where hit person is injured) made a crime suitable for automatic imprisonment.

Indeed. If I'm not wrong, I read somewhere that the consequences of committing a hit and run are so little that it is an incentive for those without insurance or drivers license to just scarper.

[Jacomus]

I've said it before.

I want to see hit and run (where hit person is injured) made a crime suitable for automatic imprisonment.


Hope victim is OK.

It would happen if you gave someone a kicking that delivered the same physical damage as hitting them with a car.

Its just that, well, cars are driven by decent people. Everyone drives a car don't they? I mean it is basically the cyclists fault for being in the way, slowing all the decent people down. What with their total disregard for the Highway Code, and freeloading on decent car drivers road taxes, they pretty much deserve to be kept in line like this.

 

We need judges that only cycle to take on cycle vs car cases, the balance is weighted FAR to heavily to identify with the driver.

[Che]

My feeling is that, in driving away, you're making a conscious choice that may significantly endanger the person you've hit. I don't see why the law shouldn't be changed such that the penalty for leaving the scene of an collision is the same as the penalty for deliberately performing the act. Then, a fatal hit and run would be murder, one resulting in injury would be GBH or ABH, or whatever were pertinant, and perhaps in cases of no injury, a penalty  equivalent to that for vandalism.

[her_welshness]

Guys - my friend's colleague is treating the cyclist so I will hear how they are doing and will report back to you.

[Jezza]

I knew a lad involved in a hit and run once. Involved as in the perpetrator. He was 16 at the time, living in Southern Africa, and was driving home from a club having consumed several drinks. He hit a security guard on a bicycle, stopped to see what had happened, and then panicked and drove off, leaving the mortally wounded guard in the road. He then rang an ambulance from a gas station some time later to say he'd seen a body in the road.

The guard was conscious but knew he was dying. He had memorised the numberplate and managed to get his pen out of his tunic pocket and wrote it on his hand. He tried to crawl off the road and got as far as the verge, and then died. He was found by a taxi driver the next morning, who called the police.

The 16-year-old decided to flee the country. He got as far as the border and was stopped by customs who were suspicious of the damage to his car. They called the police, who matched the registration with the one written on the guard's hand. The driver was arrested and eventually sentenced to 6 years in prison for manslaughter. After 3 years he died, aged 19, apparently of AIDS. 

 

[Che]

Wow. That's a pretty horrific story in all aspects.