2011-11-04 - Rider Down, East Smithfield / Dock St Junction

Urrgh I feel sick

Mr Beiu, 39, initially denied to police having been on the telephone at the time of the incident, but later admitted it, saying he had been too “shocked” to confess at first.

it's strange how shock can affect people.

I missed this at the time but Kaya Burgess posted an update on Mary's condition a year on from the incident:

Link

Carrying on the theme of things Mary doesn't know;

Mary doesn't know that Kaya Burgess has become an asset to those interested in Road Traffic Incidents. He has reported doggedly around the issues which are faced daily on our roads, keeping details of all of the UKs fatalities up to date and detailed in a place where it cannot fail to be noticed. I can't remember a year when the reporting of Road Traffic Incidents has been so ever present in the news and in part this is attributable to Mary

This report about the crash really makes me sick.

I missed this at the time but Kaya Burgess posted an update on Mary's condition a year on from the incident:

Link

Carrying on the theme of things Mary doesn't know;

Mary doesn't know that Kaya Burgess has become an asset to those interested in Road Traffic Incidents. He has reported doggedly around the issues which are faced daily on our roads, keeping details of all of the UKs fatalities up to date and detailed in a place where it cannot fail to be noticed. I can't remember a year when the reporting of Road Traffic Incidents has been so ever present in the news and in part this is attributable to Mary

I'm in tears on reading how she is now. Really hope she gets a miracle and pulls through.

Heart-breaking article and gut-wrenching report.

Really sickening that the driver can have been so negligent. Reports like that, as hard to read as they are, really need to be widely publicised so drivers realise how damaging their inattention can be.

Disgusting
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/lorry-driver-who-left-cyclist-with-critical-injuries-cleared-of-dangerous-driving-8417866.html

Jury is made up of drivers innit?

what on earth does that bit about him coming to the uk to escape poverty have to do with the case other than to try and humanize him and garner sympathy for him from the reader.

Yep. Another driver gets away with it again.

Tragedy first, then injustice later. So fucking sad it's hard to believe.

Driver who knocked over cyclist Mary Bowers cleared of dangerous driving

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/public/cyclesafety/article3631594.ece

Tragic. Law reform badly needed.

just totally sickening...

Reports from the court was that the judge was furious at the verdict returned.

Martin Gibbs, British Cycling Policy and Legal Affairs Director, commented: “Once again the justice system has failed us. The HGV driver was on a phone call, said he didn’t look properly and the evidence is clear that Mary was visible for a long time.

“It seems to me that there was no other sensible conclusion than that his driving was dangerous, not careless. These failures send completely the wrong message about how we expect people to behave on our roads.”

http://road.cc/content/news/72111-driver-mary-bowers-case-acquitted-dangerous-driving-found-guilty-careless-driving

What a joke.

I hope the family and the Times will consider civil proceedings against the driver and the firm. There has to be redress.

I propose an organised protest ride sometime in New Year

I would definitely come out for that, as many others would too.

I think it's the least we can do, and I do hope it would be well supported. Hopefully more effective than Critical Mass.

Me too. I am pissed with this and the holloway road one today

I would join that

But what are you protesting? CPS prosecuted and sounds like the judge was looking for a reasonable verdict but the jury just said 'fuck you' to all of it. Law reform no use if a jury decides not to convict.

The jury may well have been influenced by the image of cyclists, as may also have been the case in the Holloway road case. What else could have persuaded them that running over someone while driving a truck whilst on a phone, or opening the door of a car with dark windows into the path of a cyclist could be exonerated?
Truly shocking decisions.

Driving is the normal everyday activity most people do. Probably many of the jurors were drivers. Our language is geared at dehumanising drivers referring to 'cars' not people. and people on bikes are not normal and still marginalised. No wonder juries protect drivers and society is lenient on their damaging and sometimes fatal misdemenours