Guilty as charged

congratulations

i have a civil claim underway already (it wasn't high on my list of priorities after the accident but my mum pretty much sorted out a solicitor!).

summed up, i was cycling over blackfriars and was in the cycle lane. i came up alongside the lorry as we came to the lights, which we went through together. then i just remember seeing this wall of orange turning and thinking 'shit, i am actually going to die now' then thinking 'no i am not ready to die...' then all i remember is screaming, the nothing, then being pinned under the front wheel. i guess i was either knocked out or just don't remember being dragged.

the driver did indicate, but when he did i was just coming level with him, and i didn't see it. (yes i know what you are all going to say, and hindsight is a wonderful thing).

the cross examination was really tough, mainly because they made me look at photos of the cctv, and then when i didn't give them the answers they wanted, they made me watch on tv frame by frame. they bully so hard, it's hard not to let them push you into a corner and say what they want you to say, but i managed to keep saying 'i don't know' or 'i don't remember' when i didn't. it's so hard not to try and give what you think is the right answer, rather than what you do or don't remember, whilst trying to not break down. i had such bad flashbacks and my whole body was shaking. my heart was beating so hard it felt like everyone in the room could see it. The judge was brilliant, and made sure i was ok - i kind of felt looked after.

they tried to make out that i was a reckless rider. he mentioned i wasn't wearing a helmet. he said that you could see i was pedalling hard as i hadn't taken my feet off the pedals to free wheel. i told him you don't take your feet off the pedals to free wheel. he said i was lent low over the handle bars. i told him it was a hybrid bike, you don't go into racing position like on a road bike (knowing that later he would say i was lower than the windows on the lorry, which is not true - the police made me get back on my crumpled bike and measured my height a few months ago) he also was talking about the speed at which i was travelling, to which the judge said ' is there an estimated speed in the report you can give me' to which he replied ' i can give you an estimate - FAST.' There was a lot more to it, and i can give you more details after the police de brief on tuesday.

anyway, i left after i gave evidence as i was not feeling great, but my dad stayed and filled me in. in his summary, the Judge sad that although the driver had a good driving history, he knew he had a blind spot and should have taken more care while crossing a busy cycle lane and was negligent. According to the police, all he had to do was lean forward two inches and look.

the thing i feel most now, and that i am happiest about, is that i am in a really strong position to campaign and would love to be able to help prevent this happening to other people. i want lorry drivers to know about this and learn from it, and cyclists that don't know about about the dangers of cycling on the left side of a lorry, i just don't quite know where to start!

Great post! It sounds like an absolute ordeal, jemjah. It's amazing to read that you stayed focused and strong in the face of this aggressive line of questioning. You've shown great resilience throughout all of this and I really hope that the court experience shows you how much you've overcome.

For campaigning, get in touch with Charlie at the LCC (charlie_lcc on here). He'll be able to point you in the right direction. There's the HGV group facilitated by the LCC, which combines campaigners from RoadPeace, the CTC, the LCC, and some others. I'm sure they could use another determined campaigner.

Ace work. Respect.

Jen; you are articulate, brave, impassioned and compassionate. I think you will make a brilliant campaigner. Good luck and if there is anything you want to do that would link up with Cycle Training, in any way, either for yourself or as part of your efforts to educate other cyclists, just go the Cycle Training forum on here and I am sure everyone on there will be happy to help you.

send your questions/suggestions to Boris

mailto:mayor@london.gov.uk

are you a criminal lawyer?
What gave me away? ;)

Jemjah, well done again on the evidence. It's really interesting to hear how people feel about it, rarely get to talk to witnesses for very long after trials. The only 'cycling trial' I've done was prosecuting an old fella who doored a naval rating. They went for the naval rating in a big way, but he was nice and solid, explained his bit really well. The old boy said he checked before opening his door, and could see tens of metres of clear road. I asked how long it was between checking and opening his door, he said half a second. Quick mental maths

"so, according to you, to come into contact with your door in the way that he did, he must have covered the distance you say was clear when you checked between you finishing your check and your door being fully opened?"

"Yes."

"To do that, he would have been travelling at 314 miles per hour. Does that sound like a realistic speed for a cyclist?"

Convicted. Only time my cross-examination has ever gone according to plan.

The questions you describe make me suspect a typical motoring lawyers type outfit. He thought you had to take your feet off to freewheel?!

when you say he was talking about the speed at which you were travelling, do you mean the defendant or the lawyer?

Making you out to be reckless was always going to be the major tactic, I'm afraid, and good for you for saying that you didn't know -- so many people make things up, guess, etc., and that never does the process any favours.

Important things - you = alive, justice = done.

Just read this Jemma and can only echo what others have said. Well done, you have my utmost respect. So sorry you had to go through this all in the first place but you have handled it really well. At long last this chapter is closed and you can move on.

well done jemjah, I think you've done really well. It must be a very intimidating experience. We really need to make sure that these rare cases where HGV drivers are successfully prosecuted get in the news media as much as possible. That way, hopefully, other HGV drivers may read/see it and take heed.

yep, i totally agree, but not sure how to get it into the press... i did have contacts at the london paper, but not much help now!

Get in touch with Charlie, jemjah--we can always release on it if you want to get the publicity.

Nice one jamjah, a really good result, justice shall we say.
Maybe now you can put it all behind you now knowing all that could be done, is done.
Well done, I'm happy for you.

Nice one

Well done jamjah, good to hear a cyclist getting some justice for once.

How do you feel about poor taste jokes ? I have a couple waiting on the back burner . . . .

: P

. . . . but - seriously, really good to not have to hear another "he got off with a £60 fine" story.

Whoop! You rock. Sorry for everything you had to go through, but massive respect for standing up to it.

Well done Jemjah for enduring the conviction system, being cross examind is a horrible experience and the other side's lawyers only have one aim unfortunately... so well done for beating them and seeing that justice was served. You're probably exhausted by the whole process but the driver's conviction is really important and I think you've just made every single member of this forum proud.

What Oliver said; get in touch with Charlie at LCC, he can help you with press and their HGV working group.

Well done jemjah, I'm sure at times you must have felt like giving up, but what you've done will hopefully help all of us. Thank you.

. . . . the driver's conviction is really important and I think you've just made every single member of this forum proud.

Hell yeah !!