"Careless" driver gets community sentence for A435 cyclist death (4/8/10)
A driver who pleaded guilty to killing a time-trialist on the A435 through “careless” driving has received a community sentence and a 1-year driving ban.
Arron Bjorn Cook, of Thackeray Close, Lower Quinton, Stratford-upon-Avon, appeared before magistrates at Warwickshire Justice Centre in Leamington on November 15.
He admitted causing the death of 52 year old cyclist Cath Ward by careless driving on the A435 Oversley By-pass at Alcester. The incident occurred on a clear summer’s evening on 4th August 2010.
Cath was a popular member of the Solihull Cycling Club. A fellow club member who arrived on the scene shortly afterwards has told CTC that Cook admitted at the time that he was not looking at the road at the time of the collision.
A West Midlands CPS spokesman said: “Following a detailed investigation by the police, a file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service. A Crown Advocate reviewed all of the evidence and decided that although the driver was not driving far below the standard expected of a competent and careful driver, he should have been more careful while he was travelling along the dual carriageway which led to the accident. Due to this, we felt it was more appropriate to charge Mr Cook with an offence of careless driving rather than dangerous driving.”
As well as the driving ban, 27-year-old Cook was given a 12 month community order, with 200 hours of unpaid work – known as Community Payback – and told to pay £110 costs.
The West Midlands Crown Prosecution service said:
“Following a detailed investigation by the police, a file of evidence was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service. A Crown Advocate reviewed all of the evidence and decided that although the driver was not driving far below the standard expected of a competent and careful driver, he should have been more careful while he was travelling along the dual carriageway which led to the accident. Due to this, we felt it was more appropriate to charge Mr Cook with an offence of careless driving rather than dangerous driving.”
CTC’s response:
Whilst obviously don’t have all the evidence available to prosecutors in this case, it is hard to understand how driving into the back of a cyclist on a clear summer evening is anything other than ‘dangerous’, and therefore why the motorist was allowed to get off so lightly for a mere ‘careless’ driving offence. Surveys show that more people want to take up cycling and the Government is keen to encourage this, yet the fear of bad driving is a major factor preventing this from happening. We do not tolerate ‘carelessness’ on our railways, planes, workplaces or construction sites, so the Government really needs to tighten up on the legal system’s response to so-called ‘carelessness’ on our roads.
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