Motorist spared jail over death of veteran cyclist

Mike Healey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/2 ... rd-grayson.

"Accident investigators said Barraclough would have seen Grayson for at least nine seconds. But the defendant admitted he had been looking at a low-loader lorry on the opposite carriageway just before the crash."

So, either he was looking at a vehicle going in the opposite direction for 9 seconds, which should fall far below the standard that a competent driver should display, or he glanced at the lorry and completely forgot about the cyclists who had been in his sightline for long enough to be able to see what colour jersey he was wearing, let alone actually see him, or he didn't notice anyone in front of him at all for nine seconds.

then again, "...signs were in place warning motorists of the event, which Barraclough told police he had seen.", so in any of the 3 possibilites above he was massively culpable and would have overtaken other cyclists on the road, (assuming, that is, that he hadn't just joined the road), so should have been even more aware of the likelihood of seeing other riders on the road.

The usual appalling failure of imagination, let alone rational analysis of a driver's responsibility for the killing

steve6690

He was convicted. I have to say though, he should have gone to prison IMHO. I cannot see that there were any mitigating circumstances.