Advocacy & Safety - cyclist jailed for pavement death..

Quite right too!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8197430.stm

"The impact knocked Ronald back - he sustained head injuries by falling down into the road." Should've been wearing a helmet ;)

ohhh a meatloaf reference....nice

Fair enough.

Got any articles of motorist being jailed for killing cyclist in a similar fashion?

In case people aren't aware of it, in the UK "Pavement" = sidewalk. Yeah, if you insist on being on the sidewalk, proceed at walking pace, particularly near intersections and around corners.

Should've been wearing a helmet ;)

Hey, that's my line!

from another thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=573365) that linked common cycling questions answered by the CTC,

What are you going to do about cyclists riding on the pavement?

Facts:

o There are about 40 pedestrians (almost one a week) killed annually in Britain by
motor vehicles on footways or verges (not to mention about 650 pedestrians
killed annually by motor vehicles on the road)

o By contrast an average of 0.3 pedestrians were killed in collisions with pavement
cyclists over the same period.


I know in my area, every so often there are automobiles that kill pedestrians while they are walking, standing, or seated on sidewalks.

A few of these collisions result in multiple deaths, often exceeding the total number of cycling deaths in my province for an entire year.

Just this week, a driver drove into a group of patrons sitting in the outside seating area of a Starbucks. 2 people are in critical condition.

I think "wanton and furious driving causing bodily injury" is a great name for a crime.

7 months!?! Does anyone know how many people one would have to kill with a car to get 7 months?
Not defending Mr. Bat outta Hell, but talk about being made an example of when they trot out a 19th century charge initially penned for bombing the streets on your horse.

Jesus Christ 7 months seem like nothing for essentially murdering a guy. I don't really know what kind of sentences people get for running others down in their car, but if it's anything less equivalent to manslaughter I can say I'm quite appalled.

I might kill off a few of my enemies by just mowing them down on my bike or in a car — sounds like the law doesn't really care about such little offenses.

Jesus Christ 7 months seem like nothing for essentially murdering a guy. I don't really know what kind of sentences people get for running others down in their car, but if it's anything less equivalent to manslaughter I can say I'm quite appalled.

Murder is killing with intent. I'm really glad the courts have a better idea of the meaning of legal terms than you do. This might be "criminally negligent manslaughter" but it is not murder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter#Criminally_negligent_manslaughter

7 months doesn't seem ridiculous to me. It's likely that most people in the UK don't consider that they, on a bicycle, could pose such a threat to a pedestrian. It's also likely that there's some level of unfortunate bad luck that the pedestrian was killed and not just hurt.

I might kill off a few of my enemies by just mowing them down on my bike or in a car — sounds like the law doesn't really care about such little offenses.

If the prosecution demonstrates intent you'll find yourself in a real life murder case. We joke, but the law is not half as dumb as you think.

I might kill off a few of my enemies by just mowing them down on my bike or in a car — sounds like the law doesn't really care about such little offenses.

Automobile is much better option with metal cage, seatbelt, air bags vs a bike where you have a good chance of getting hurt/killed as your intended enemies.
I'm shocked the dude is serving 7months, as a driver he might get a ticket.

This is simply bizarre. If the pedestrian had been in a crosswalk and the bicyclist had been in the street, would Sgt Tony Burden be calling for bicyclists to be banned from the road?

The offense of "wanton and furious driving causing bodily injury" has nothing whatsoever to do with bicycling on the sidewalk/pavement. The law is antique but at least it's more recent than the terms "pavement" (British) and "sidewalk" (USian) which refer to places where pedestrians could escape from the mud, muck and horse poop of the almost universally unpaved roads of the day-- yes, sports fans, that is the origin of the terms and escaping horse poop is the main reason sidewalks and pavement were invented in the first place.

A lunatic riding like a madman is indeed at fault but the sentence of seven years is about seven years longer than motorists normally get for running over and killing bicyclists. It hardly seems equitable.

I hold the bicyclist is 100% at fault in this case and I have no sympathy for him but the sentence is harsher than motorists normally get for similar offenses.

If anything motorists should be held more accountable in cases where they run over a pedestrian than a cyclists should be. The fact remains that there is no licensing requirement to ride a bike. Thats why so many people suck so badly at it. I admit I rode on sidewalks when I first started to, maybe not "like a bat out of hell" but I didnt know what I Was doing and they didnt teach bicycle 101 at my high-school. Drivers are licensed and are supposed to have completed a number of hours of instruction and training before they drive.