Advocacy & Safety - Jail for dooring of bunch

Some good news coming from our court system last week. I took some inquiries about this incident soon after it happened, and advised the guys that they should pursue this to the end with the police.

In March last year, five of the Sate's top road cyclists were on a training ride through one of Hobart's northern suburbs (in a low socio-economic area). A car came alongside and the guy, who had been drinking, opened the door, bringing down most of the group. The guy was seen laughing as the car sped off. One rider suffered a dislocated shoulder, another had huge grazes down one side (he still turned up for our Bike Week century ride the following Sunday, though!). The bikes did not escape grazes and bruising, either.

Anyway, with a combination of one of the cyclists getting part of the registration number, and a witness getting the other bit, the perpetrator was arrested quite rapidly.

Well, last week he appeared in the Hobart Supreme Court (which shows the gravity of the matter as most "minor" cases are heard in the lower Magistrates Courts), and the judge sentenced him to 15 months jail.

I'd give you a link to the local Mercury Newspaper's story, but I can't seem to find anything that isn't commercially related on the site (typical Newscorp).

Anyway, quoting from the paper (in an educational, not-for-profit sense): Campbell pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Hobart to two counts of assault. In sentencing, Justice Alan Blow said the crimes deserved jail.

"These were serious crimes involving the use of a car as a weapon against a group of defenceless cyclists. Cyclists have as much right to use our roads as motorists.

The sentence of 15 months has a 10-month non-parole period, and Campbell was also suspended from driving for five years.

A great result after a nasty incident. It's nice to see our justice bench has achieved enlightenment. Congratulations also to Tasmania Police for following through with the investigation and charges.

R

Wow :eek:

By the way, what's the penalty for driving while intoxicated in its own right, in Australia? Fairly serious?

Originally posted by mechBgon
Wow :eek:

By the way, what's the penalty for driving while intoxicated in its own right, in Australia? Fairly serious?

It depends on which state your in, but I think most of them frown on driving while intoxicated. Of course, getting adequate policing for it is the tricky bit. Either way, it's nice to see a bit of justice in the world. Although personally I believe the sentence should have been a little higher, as this was a blatantly deliberate assault.

Justice - that's all we want! ThanX for the post. The law does work (even for cyclists) sometimes!!! :)

Originally posted by Rowan
A car came alongside and the guy, who had been drinking, opened the door, bringing down most of the group. The guy was seen laughing as the car sped off. One rider suffered a dislocated shoulder, another had huge grazes down one side (he still turned up for our Bike Week century ride the following Sunday, though!).
......A great result after a nasty incident. It's nice to see our justice bench has achieved enlightenment. Congratulations also to Tasmania Police for following through with the investigation and charges.

R

I AM a bit confused here, though I am sure you can clear it up. Was the guy who opened the door on the passenger side or was he the driver? If he is the driver, you are telling me a guy got 15 months for vehicular assault?


In any case, 15 months for drunken driving and non-aggravated assault on five people??? . Boy oh boy it makes me want to book the next flight to tasmania. Hell of a prosecutor you guys must have out there.

roughstuff

I didn't follow the case particularly closely, but my understanding from what I was told at the time of the incident (and more or less confirmed by a previous newspaper article) was this:

The guy who opened the door had been drinking and was well and truly intoxicated, and was in the passenger seat next to a learner-driver. Our laws here put great onus on the licensed driver accompanying a learner, including remaining under the legal limit, etc... hence, I think, the suspension from driving.

One of the interesting statements from his defence counsel was that he had not committed an assault for some time.

R

Originally posted by Chris L
It depends on which state your in, but I think most of them frown on driving while intoxicated. Of course, getting adequate policing for it is the tricky bit.

I think we've got the drink-driving stuff pretty well under control here, with random breath testing. There have been other changes in our societal outlook here -- smoking is legally banned in bars that serve food, there is a culture of having designated, non-drinking drivers when groups go out to party, and there is heavy use of taxicabs -- that have put a lot of pressure on the viability of the drinking industry. The benefit is that in the suburban areas at least, it is a little safer to ride at night.

Quite a few of our Audax rides have a night component, and after midnight, you'd be lucky see more than five cars at a time on many of our highways.

R

I was pleased to read about the jail term and the driver's license suspension.

Several years ago in San Jose, a couple of idiot radio announcers jokingly (I hope) advocated "dooring" bicyclists and motorists. Thanks to a huge email and telephone campaign organized by the California Bicycle Coalition and other groups, the clowns got suspended for a couple of weeks and were forced to make a public service announcement about safe, responsible sharing of our road system.

Originally posted by Rowan
I think we've got the drink-driving stuff pretty well under control here, with random breath testing. There have been other changes in our societal outlook here -- smoking is legally banned in bars that serve food, there is a culture of having designated, non-drinking drivers when groups go out to party, and there is heavy use of taxicabs -- that have put a lot of pressure on the viability of the drinking industry. The benefit is that in the suburban areas at least, it is a little safer to ride at night.

Yeah, I keep forgetting the sign as you cross the border at Coolangatta: "You are now entering Queensland, please set your watch back 35 years".

Originally posted by Chris L
Yeah, I keep forgetting the sign as you cross the border at Coolangatta: "You are now entering Queensland, please set your watch back 35 years".

Hey, you "Quinlanders" aren't allowed to steal our motto!!:)

Weren't we the ones who gave the world Joe Bjeke Petersen? And (worse still) Pauline Hanson? And wasn't it Gold Coast mayor Gary Baildon who wanted to ban Marilyn Manson from performing at the big day out a couple of years ago on the basis that "I have to protect the morals of the people of the Gold Coast because they are too stupid to do it for themselves!"

He was right, though. After all, he did get re-elected. :eek: