Levi Rayner fined £37 for careless driving

Back in January I reported the driver of a yellow Suburu car, L464XDG, for careless driving and threats directed at me when I was cycling through Hounslow.  I now know the driver to have been one Levi Rayner.  He evaded interview by the police for a long while but when finally caught up with he admitted the threats and was duly cautioned.  He denied careless driving but last week when he got to court decided to plead guilty.  I have just learnt he was fined £37, with a victim surcharge of £15 and prosecution costs of £85 with 3 penalty points on his licence.
I throughout maintained that he had been using his vehicle deliberately to seek to intimidate me as his subsequent conduct confirms.  He thought I should be riding at the side of the road and felt justified in using his car to force me there.
I was not at Court - I was told he would be pleading not guilty - so am unable to comment upon the reasons why the sentence was just about as light as it could possibly be.

The Ups and Downs of yesterday

Mainly Ups, thankfully as with Bradley Wiggins and Chris Foome on 1st and 2nd spot on the podium in Paris and the yellow jersey leading out Mark Cavendish for the stage win, things could hardly get better for British Cycling.  Surely the best day for British Sport since (at least ) 1966 and the 3 greatest active British sportsmen.
The Down?  Well attitudes here to racing still need to adjust to reflect the fact that cycling is no longer a 'foreign' sport.  Attitudes need to change most dramatically within the police.  On the same day of Britain's greatest sporting success for over a generation, the Surrey Police were stopping a Surrey League Road Race as my fellow blogger Rob Sharland reports

My Etape du Tour 2012

I opted for Acte 2, the route from Pau to Bagneres de Luchon in the Pyrenees.

Four big climbs, the Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin and Peyresourde were involved.  4,696 riders started and 3,829 reached the finish line, so a much lower rate of attrition than Issoire to St Flour last year.  However, like last year, the weather left a little to be desired.  It was pleasant enough in Pau for the start but by the time I was half way up the Aubisque the persistent drizzle had started and every descent, save the lower part of the one into the finish, was done on wet roads in poor visibility.  I tend to descend in such conditions not that much faster than I ascend - a slight exaggeration but I pass people on the way up never on the way down -and my better 'classement grimpeur' compared to my 'classement reel' reflects this.

Happily I had done a ride in the foothills of the Pyrenees last Thursday when the sun shone brightly.

After bad experiences with tyre blowouts in the Spring I was apprehensive of mechanicals but my only problem was that a stone flung up from the road was the perfect size to lodge into my pedal in such a way as to jam it.  I had several people at the food stop at St Marie de Campan trying to force my foot off a jammed pedal, in a way that migiht have been comical had I not been so cold, wet and anxious to begin the next climb to restore my body temperature.  Thereafter I warmed and the rain relented and I probably had my best climb up the wonderful Peyresourde reversing the final part of the first etape I did, in baking heat, in 2007.

So I have now done six, 3 in the heat and 3 in the rain.  The difference this year is I did not really anticipate the conditions and did not dress appropriately.  I would have given the weight equivalent in gold for long fingered gloves (left in my hotel room in Pau) whilst I was coming down off the Tourmalet; a descent that I note from the on line resource Strava took me over 32 minutes compared to under 18 minutes taken by one Kenny Nijssen on the same morning.  Whether he slowed as I did for the mud strewn all the way across the road at La Mongie intrigues me.

Even if these things seem less than wholly pleasurable at the time, I am always glad after the even that I took part.  I reckon 289th in my age category is creditable enough along with being in the top third of climbers of any age.

Commuting

I did my first cycle commute for ages earlier this week.  Miserable not so much because of the rain but because of this

and this

and many others like them
and the fact that nobody will do anything about it.

Masters Race Dunsfold 4th July 2012

It was the duty turn of Imperial Racing at Dunsfold aerodrome last night for the Surrey League Masters Race.  With the Collins family there it was like a throw back (or forward) to the Winter Series.  The rain was coming down as we signed on but fortunately it all but stopped by start time leaving an overcast sky with a southerly wind.  It may have drizzled but once you get going you do not notice it   I had a good race (not in the result which was 16th out of 17 finishers) but I made it into the early break and 3 of us were away for well over a lap.  One strong rider Seamus Kelly of Kingston Wheelers, attacked and got away on the first time down the back straight.  A rider in BMC kit then jumped after him as we got to the bend and I just stuck to his wheel.  Once we were away from the bunch I recovered sufficiently that we could do a two-up to Seamus, but he was fast and not waiting for us so it took us a half lap to catch up.  We then did a 3 up effort for a further half lap but Seamus was doing most of the work and at the end of lap 2 just after I had done a token turn he powered away.  When I looked back and saw we were dropping the BMC man, who had towed me up, I felt it was only sensible to stick with him.  We had a go at a 2 up to catch Seamus for a second time but it didn't work.  The bunch reappeared (photo shows us just before the catch) but then eased when they got to us and just sat behind us.  Seamus built up a gap again and half a lap later the 2^nd cats jumped off to join him and stayed convincingly ahead until the finish.

Nice to be involved in a little more of the action than usual and I am left wondering if I could have made more of it with better tactics.  Two age grouped races are run simultaneously at Dunsfold and so with both Seamus and Chris in the younger age group than me..if only.

Van driver who ran down Elizabeth Brown cleared of causing death by careless driving

Evening Chronicle reports that Daniel Mackay who drove a van straight into the back of Elizabeth Brown as she was cycling on the A189 near Cramlington, Northumberland, on 13th April 2011, was today cleared of causing her death by careless driving.  A jury at Newcastle Crown Court appear to have accepted Mackay's explanation that as a vehicle ahead of him swerved suddenly to avoid Miss Brown leaving him with no opportunity to avoid running into her.
Some might think an object lesson in why not to tailgate the vehicle ahead.

Press release from Kate Cairns

Further to my last post, this press release from Eilidh Cairn's sister, Kate, merits the widest possible distribution:

BEGINS

‘Jail is not the justice we want’

On 5th February 2009 lorry driver Joao Lopes ran over and killed fit, strong and experienced cyclist, Eilidh Cairns as she rode ahead of him on her daily 10 mile commute through Notting Hill Gate.  

Just days after what would had been her 32nd birthday in June 2011 he again ran over bright and active holocaust survivor 97 year old Nora Guttman at a pedestrian crossing. This week at Isleworth Crown Court Joao Lopes pleaded guilty to causing the death of Ms Guttman by dangerous driving and also to falsifying data on his tachograph.

Whilst Lopes is remanded in custody there are others who may be feeling uncomfortable at the avoidable heartbreak of three broken families.

At Eilidh’s death the police failed to check Lopes’ eyesight, and did so only at the family’s request and then three months after the crash. His eyesight was so bad that it did not meet the standard to drive a car let alone an HGV. The police failed to find witnesses as they turned away vehicles without taking details. Eilidh’s sister Kate, after a personal public appeal, found two witnesses who gave key evidence at the inquest clarifying that Eilidh had been in front of lorry and not coming up alongside as assumed by the police. 

Coroner, Dr Shirely Radcliffe, failed to use her powers under Rule 43 to make recommendations to prevent further similar deaths and concluded that it was just an ‘tragic accident’. Kate challenged her and won permission to apply for judicial review. But at High Court, Judge Silber accepted Radcliffe’s argument that there were ‘no practicable preventative measures’ which could be applied to prevent further similar deaths.

The police eventually acknowledging that the original investigation report was inadequate have only in recent weeks finished a complete review of the investigation into Eilidh’s death. But the CPS this month rejected any proposed charge and will be taking no further action. Following Eilidh’s death Lopes was charged with driving with uncorrected defective vision and given three points and a £200 fine. He did not have his licence revoked.

Kate Cairns said:

For three years I have battled the whole way through an inadequate system which assumes the guilt of the cyclist, and which is rife with incompetence and complacency and which has failed us all on so many levels. There was no interest in carrying out a proper investigation nor in finding witnesses. The police report was riddled with assumptions, omissions and conclusions contrary to evidence, obvious even to a layperson but there was no interest from the CPS in questioning it. Only after the death of someone else, three years later, have the police acknowledge the report was inadequate and reviewed the case of Eilidh’s death. 

Then there is an absolute failure of the coronial process to be meaningful in anyway when the coroner refuses to put her mind to ways to avoid similar deaths. 

Nora Gutman did not have to die, Lopes did not have to loose his freedom, if the  professionals had done their jobs.

 All I wanted was the truth so that other deaths could be avoided and other families did not have to suffer. We have not had justice today, clearly there are many more drivers like Lopes on our streets. Their employers need to take responsibility and train them and incentive them, and comply with legislation and provide the tools and equipment to protect everyone from their business activities. These trucks are lethal killers, not designed for our urban streets. Those presenting the most risk must manage that risk. Whilst they profit, innocent people die. 

The President of the Institution of Highways Engineers yesterday called for a ban on HGVs on motorways on Sundays. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers last month called for a ban of HGVs in urban areas until they are made safe (Intelligent Transport Intelligent Society). The BMJ called for a ban on HGVs in 1992 following the deaths of vulnerable road users. A report ten years later also called for a ban on HGVs until the risk they posed could be reduced.

ENDS