2013-01-27 - Two Riders Down/Double Fatality, Hanham (Bristol, South Gloucestershire)

The death of a cyclist is always tragic but two people being killed on a tandem is especially saddening.

My thoughts go out to the friends and family of the cyclists.

Terrible news.

Rest In Peace, Ross and Clare

Even for an outsider, it is very hard to find words for this unimaginable horror.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/no-words-to-describe-our-loss-familys-grief-over-married-couple-killed-riding-tandem-bike-in-bristol-8470805.html

To my mind, this should be treated as manslaughter at the very least, or unpremeditated murder. It absolutely makes you seethe just to anticipate the likely judicial aftermath, quite apart from the distant grief everybody must feel that something like this could happen.

RIP you wonderful tandem couple.

That is heart-breaking. So young.

If family / friends of the couple ever see this thread-
deepest condolences from me.

January 29 (Press Association) -- A motorist was tonight charged with killing a husband and wife who died when they were knocked off their tandem bicycle.
Nicky Lovell, 38, will appear before North Avon Magistrates' Court tomorrow accused of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Lovell, of Oldland Common, South Gloucestershire, has also been charged with driving while disqualified; driving without third party insurance and driving a vehicle and failing to stop after a road accident.
Cyclists Ross and Clare Simons died in a crash on Sunday in Hanham, near Bristol.

If guilty of causing death by dangerous driving then the penalty is minimum of 2 years inprisonment and maximum of 14 years. The driver has mitigation, as he handed himself in (although did not stop at the scene) and was being chased by the police. If the police car chasing has broken any protocols for driving under blues and twos then the driver may get off without any sentence.

None of this will bring back this lovely couple who were starting on the next stage of their lives...

Have been following this in the news. It's so tragic. The exact circumstances will come out when it goes to court and I'd expect the driver to plead guilty. But none of that will change what has happened.

Condolences to this couple's family and friends.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Nicky-Lovell-court-today-charged-causing-deaths/story-17999783-detail/story.html

The other woman arrested was in the same car.

A man who killed a couple when he knocked them off their tandem bike with a car while being pursued by police has pleaded guilty in court.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-22265472

Good to see the driver doing the right thing

Disqualified driver Nicky Lovell, 38, was today jailed at Bristol Crown Court for 10 years and six months for killing husband and wife Ross, 34, and Clare Simons, 30, when he crashed into them as they rode their tandem bike while he was fleeing police.

He was also banned from driving for life.

Is a life driving ban actually a life driving ban? Or is it a 'life driving ban' that lasts for a few years? I still cannot, like many others, comprehend why this isn't considered to be a double murder. It's just not right.

EDIT: I understand legally, why it isn't murder. I'm just saying that its not right for someone to only get ten years for killing two people. Sorry for the derail.

Murder needs intent, doesn't it?

(Wrong thread?)

Murder requires intent to kill or cause GBH. They could prosecute for manslaughter, but they never do as juries won't convict on that charge in road collisions.

i sat in a jury after an 8 day trial in 2005, where the defendant pleaded not guilty for 'death by dangerous driving'.. it took 4 hours to convince two remaining jurors to change their minds.. we all sat there devastated as the charges and sentence was handed out. the driver was 21 years old, the vicitm a cyclist aged 24..

its not an experience i ever want to go through again. the driver got a lifetime ban and 3 year prison sentence, probably served 18 months. his life was pretty over too, lost everything, job, girlfriend, support from her family..

but what haunted me most was seeing her parents in the courthouse and her friends having to live with the consquences of failing to prevent their friend cycling home that fateful night, three times over the alcohol limit. I know this is a different story but the british justice system needs to find a place for everyone in society.

My thoughts to the family and friends of the two cyclists and hope they can find closure to their very tragic story.

Seeing as his list of previous driving offences is as long as your arm the driving ban will be no deterrent to him getting behind the wheel again when he is released in 2018.

Nicky Lovell doesn't look like he's got a great deal going on up there