Cyclist collision - Due care and attention

[Steve Benson]

A 70 year old relative has had a small bump in his car with an 70ish year old cyclist. Apparently brushed by him at less than 10mph but unfortunately the cyclist fell off and has hurt his hip and arm.

All sorted at the roadside, insurance details exchanged, police and ambulance attended. Seems the poor cyclist will recover with a bit of discomfort and time.

Relative now charged with driving without due care and attention which is not in dispute, he admits this and is sorry but definitely guilty.

The question I want to ask is what is the likely outcome of the charge and is it worth engaging a lawyer? Not sure on the lawyer front as he’s happy to admit the charge and has no real mitigating circumstances.

Clean license at present.

Thanks.

[Donbot]

If he has deep pockets it's probably worth a go. Lawyers seem to get people off just about anything.

[poo at Paul's]

Sounds not too bad, could have been worse.
I think he should wait for the summons, i "think" you can plead guilty by post now, and avoid the hassle of a hearing. I am not sure of sentencing, but thinking maybe 3-6 points and a few hundred quid fine?

[Master Bean]

Steve Benson said:

A 70 year old relative has had a small bump in his car with an 70ish year old cyclist. Apparently brushed by him at less than 10mph but unfortunately the cyclist fell off and has hurt his hip and arm.

All sorted at the roadside, insurance details exchanged, police and ambulance attended. Seems the poor cyclist will recover with a bit of discomfort and time.

Relative now charged with driving without due care and attention which is not in dispute, he admits this and is sorry but definitely guilty.

The question I want to ask is what is the likely outcome of the charge and is it worth engaging a lawyer? Not sure on the lawyer front as he’s happy to admit the charge and has no real mitigating circumstances.

Clean license at present.

Thanks.

Brushed past or hit? Are they the same thing?

[Steve Benson]

Brushed past apparently but I wasn’t there. Not sure it makes and difference, his vehicle touched the cyclist so he’s guilty and he admits as much.

The cyclist had no injuries from the collision/brush/touch, just his subsequent collision with the floor.

[ambuletz]

your relative passed a cyclist so close that they knocked them off their bike. how exactly does someone harmlessly 'brush past' someone when they are a 1.5-2 ton slab of metal? what exacly does one expect the lawyer to do? they shouuld've been giving plenty of room and not at all attempt to squeeze past.

[LosingGrip]

Steve Benson said:

A 70 year old relative has had a small bump in his car with an 70ish year old cyclist. Apparently brushed by him at less than 10mph but unfortunately the cyclist fell off and has hurt his hip and arm.

All sorted at the roadside, insurance details exchanged, police and ambulance attended. Seems the poor cyclist will recover with a bit of discomfort and time.

Relative now charged with driving without due care and attention which is not in dispute, he admits this and is sorry but definitely guilty.

The question I want to ask is what is the likely outcome of the charge and is it worth engaging a lawyer? Not sure on the lawyer front as he’s happy to admit the charge and has no real mitigating circumstances.

Clean license at present.

Thanks.

Could be a few options. Worse case is court. Sentencing guidelines can be found here. I would think its a cat two offence (but I don't have much dealings with that side of things, but similar cases I've seen with that).

Could be a £100 fine and three points. Could also be a driver awareness course (different to the one if you get caught speeding etc).

Or there could be no further action taken.

[Gareth79]

poo at Paul's said:

Sounds not too bad, could have been worse.
I think he should wait for the summons, i "think" you can plead guilty by post now, and avoid the hassle of a hearing. I am not sure of sentencing, but thinking maybe 3-6 points and a few hundred quid fine?

Agreed, 3-6 points and a fine (means-tested) is most likely.

Brush vs. hit is not relevant really - it was too close and caused them to fall off.

Possibly suggest they spend a few £ on a few hours with a driving instructor to figure out what else they are doing wrong! It might look good in court to say they have done that too.

[tighnamara]

Steve Benson said:

Brushed past apparently but I wasn’t there. Not sure it makes and difference, his vehicle touched the cyclist so he’s guilty and he admits as much.

The cyclist had no injuries from the collision/brush/touch, just his subsequent collision with the floor.

Not sure that’s much of a defence , he wasn’t injured until he hit the ground

Sure he can try and defend himself but if he is brushing against cyclists on the road he probably needs to focus on his driving rather than trying to defend his actions.

He possibly should suck it up and take responsibility / consequences ……..and thank his luck stars it wasn’t any worse.

[anonymous-user]

Hasn't he got legal cover with his insurance to help with any potential cases?

[anonymous-user]

With that thread title i was hoping it was about the incident i saw the other month.

The 'lycra' mobs love to throw it out around these parts and one was flying down a local hill in front of me when he came up behind a few very slow/stationary vehicles.

Interesting manoeuvre slamming his brakes on and sliding about before hitting and going up the inside of the car in front

Definitely didn't seem to be much care and attention from the cyclist.

[outnumbered]

There is no such thing as “brushing by” a cyclist or pedestrian in a car, you’ve hit them with a ton+ of metal. If you “brushed by” a parked car at 10mph you’d be looking at an insurance claim for damage to both vehicles, which demonstrates that the language isn’t really appropriate…

Sure people have plenty of stories where cyclists have done stupid things and should take the blame for an incident, this doesn’t sound like one of them.

[agtlaw]

Steve Benson said:

A 70 year old relative has had a small bump in his car with an 70ish year old cyclist. Apparently brushed by him at less than 10mph but unfortunately the cyclist fell off and has hurt his hip and arm.

All sorted at the roadside, insurance details exchanged, police and ambulance attended. Seems the poor cyclist will recover with a bit of discomfort and time.

Relative now charged with driving without due care and attention which is not in dispute, he admits this and is sorry but definitely guilty.

The question I want to ask is what is the likely outcome of the charge and is it worth engaging a lawyer? Not sure on the lawyer front as he’s happy to admit the charge and has no real mitigating circumstances.

Clean licence at present.

Thanks.

What stage is this at? Charged infers court proceedings have commenced.

- Fixed Penalty

- Postal Requisition

- Single Justice Procedure Notice

- Notice of Proposed Disqualification

- Something else?

If court proceedings have commenced and the cyclist was injured then you should anticipate 5-9 points (or a short ban), fine, costs, surcharge. Most likely 6 points.

[Jeremy-75qq8]

My sister mother in law age 86 went through railings and Ended up in a basement in her bmw i3.

When my sister arrived at the scene she was asking how quickly they could get a new car! Sister suggested maybe this was not a good idea.

The police gave her an option. Surrender your licence or we prosecute. She surrendered her license.

[Donbot]

speedyguy said:

With that thread title i was hoping it was about the incident i saw the other month.

The 'lycra' mobs love to throw it out around these parts and one was flying down a local hill in front of me when he came up behind a few very slow/stationary vehicles.

Interesting manoeuvre slamming his brakes on and sliding about before hitting and going up the inside of the car in front

Definitely didn't seem to be much care and attention from the cyclist.

Surprised it took this long.

[The Hitman]

Master Bean said:

Brushed past or hit? Are they the same thing?

I think the law wouldn't distinguish between the two. And considering you should give cyclists a couple of metres room when overtaking, I think it's probably the right course to take.

[nickfrog]

speedyguy said:

With that thread title i was hoping it was about the incident i saw the other month.

The 'lycra' mobs love to throw it out around these parts and one was flying down a local hill in front of me when he came up behind a few very slow/stationary vehicles.

Interesting manoeuvre slamming his brakes on and sliding about before hitting and going up the inside of the car in front

Definitely didn't seem to be much care and attention from the cyclist.

What is a "lycra mob" ?

You find it funny when an other road user crashes ?

Some serious issues at your end.

Edited by nickfrog on Saturday 24th September 10:45

[helix402]

The driver involved could benefit from some training. Some local councils off it free for older drivers.

[jondude]

I think the law now says you need to give at least 1.5m when overtaking a cyclist, which pretty much means the overtake has to be the same as if overtaking a car - you use the oncoming lane to pass.

Quite a few drivers getting done on cyclist cameras and making it to the papers where the fines have been high. (Although we are talking driving past at speed and deemed too close)

I have only seen it happen once to be fair but a cyclist ahead of me on a country lane, all geared up with his cameras, was actually moving in towards the cars as they quite carefully passed him. Just had a gut feeling he was trying to get footage that made it seem like they were too close.

Sod that, I took a side road.

[BoRED S2upid]

Steve Benson said:

Brushed past apparently but I wasn’t there. Not sure it makes and difference, his vehicle touched the cyclist so he’s guilty and he admits as much.

The cyclist had no injuries from the collision/brush/touch, just his subsequent collision with the floor.

So he did have injuries then.

I wouldn’t waste money on the lawyer accept the fine and points and increase in insurance premium which could be huge.