Cycling accidents - Any prosecutions?

[Sepia]

Could anybody tell me if anyone has been prosecuted for being involved in a motor accident with a cyclist?

I know of several accidents in KZN. The driver was involved in a hit and run and later caught - walked free.  I refer to the Burry case, I also refer to the case on Fields Hill,

Please enlighten me as I do not know of anyone hitting a cyclist with a resultant "Guilty" verdict?

 

[Tubehunter]

I can't recall of a single driver that has received a guilty verdict and jail time for any of the transgressions that have happened and been in the news. (Sad this stat...)

 

Anyone else know of one maybe???

[Bateleur1]

I stand corrected but there was a case many years ago when a drunk twat crashed into the Bruce Reyneke group in the morning killing two and injuring 1 if memory serves me right. This was here in Pretoria Groenkloof area in Goerge Storrar road. I think he was found guilty for manslaughter but the sentence was a slap on the wrist. Something like house arrest eventually for a couple of months.

 

I remember that I was pissed off as he should have been charged for drunken driving and propably received a harsher sentence.

[tombeej]

Here is a typical result. This guy walked free after killing a Westville cyclist on NMR Ave in Durban.

 

The bottom of the article lists a number of other incidents as well.

[BarHugger]

I stand corrected but there was a case many years ago when a drunk twat crashed into the Bruce Reyneke group in the morning killing two and injuring 1 if memory serves me right. This was here in Pretoria Groenkloof area in Goerge Storrar road. I think he was found guilty for manslaughter but the sentence was a slap on the wrist. Something like house arrest eventually for a couple of months.

 

I remember that I was pissed off as he should have been charged for drunken driving and propably received a harsher sentence.

 

 

.......or at least a Gazillion Moolah compensation award to the cyclist and/or family.......one of those that require a 20+ year payback term on the loan.......

 

 

 (....or something similar.....just how i feel)

[BarHugger]

Here is a typical result. This guy walked free after killing a Westville cyclist on NMR Ave in Durban.

 

The bottom of the article lists a number of other incidents as well.

 

....for the lack of a better word......

 

[Spez247]

The Motorist will never be prosecuted, regardless of the circumstances.

 

A mate got knocked over in a head on collision, with a drunk driver over a 18 months ago. He was easily 2 meters off the tar road, and was never on it to begin with. The female driver was so drunk, that when the responding JMPD cops opened her car door, she fell out the car and smacked her face on the tarmac.... handsfree!  She couldn't spell her name, yet mates let her get into a car, and drive home. In fairness, they were probably not in a condition to drive her home anyway. Her Ex was called to the scene; as she was identified by a passer-by; & he told us & JMPD that she was a habitual Drunk Driver, and it wasn't her first accident under the influence.

 

Other than spending the night in jail, and paying (LOL) R3000.00 bail, nothing has come of it.

 

The system protects the guilty, & the victims are victims yet again...

 

I was an eye witness to the incident (it wasn't an accident - first problem), and when we visited the Investigating Officer with Attorney in tow to get a progress report, I looked at my colleagues & told them in front of the "Officer", that the chances of getting a prosecution are as likely as me winning the Lottery 3 weeks running.

 

 The bike was only kept "together" by the gear cables, & the motorist only stopped 500m later, as her car lost its water & oil, after mowing down the trees and hitting a hole in the ground. She had no intention of stopping. Funny thing is that her insurer paid her out, after knowing that she was under the influence.

My mate has a Civil Case opened against her & her insurer, for damages.

 

If nothing else, it has given me time, to think out a whole bunch of options on what to do when I come across the next drunk driver. If nothing else, they will think 3 times over before they do it again.

 

Bottom line - you cycle at your own peril. Regardless.

 

[Sepia]

There we go then.....nothing ever comes from an accident involving a cyclist.  We are flipping doomed unless the law changes/enforced/not corrupt et al.

 

No wonder many drivers do not take a interest in cyclist on the road....one of the main reasons anyway.

[tombeej]

The Motorist will never be prosecuted, regardless of the circumstances.

 

A mate got knocked over in a head on collision, with a drunk driver over a 18 months ago. He was easily 2 meters off the tar road, and was never on it to begin with. The female driver was so drunk, that when the responding JMPD cops opened her car door, she fell out the car and smacked her face on the tarmac.... handsfree!  She couldn't spell her name, yet mates let her get into a car, and drive home. In fairness, they were probably not in a condition to drive her home anyway. Her Ex was called to the scene; as she was identified by a passer-by; & he told us & JMPD that she was a habitual Drunk Driver, and it wasn't her first accident under the influence.

 

Other than spending the night in jail, and paying (LOL) R3000.00 bail, nothing has come of it.

 

The system protects the guilty, & the victims are victims yet again...

 

I was an eye witness to the incident (it wasn't an accident - first problem), and when we visited the Investigating Officer with Attorney in tow to get a progress report, I looked at my colleagues & told them in front of the "Officer", that the chances of getting a prosecution are as likely as me winning the Lottery 3 weeks running.

 

 The bike was only kept "together" by the gear cables, & the motorist only stopped 500m later, as her car lost its water & oil, after mowing down the trees and hitting a hole in the ground. She had no intention of stopping. Funny thing is that her insurer paid her out, after knowing that she was under the influence.

My mate has a Civil Case opened against her & her insurer, for damages.

 

If nothing else, it has given me time, to think out a whole bunch of options on what to do when I come across the next drunk driver. If nothing else, they will think 3 times over before they do it again.

 

Bottom line - you cycle at your own peril. Regardless.

 

Hectic story. Happy to hear your mate sounds ok, and hope she gets properly pinned in that civil case.

[GaryvdM]

How it should be:

[Stretch]

Whatever happened to that idiot in pe?

[Vetseun]

After our Hit and Run incident as per attached link. https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/133190-hit-and-run-in-bloemfontein/?hl=hit+and+run.

 

The slimy drunken disgusting coward bacteria that hit us his away like a cockroach.

 

Cops found him and he was arrested and appeared in court.

 

After getting bail nothing happened. After I threatened to go to the highest authority, eventually statements were taken.

 

Since then, as expected, the dossier disappeared.

 

The accused in the case asked for a specific SAPD member when he was arrested.

 

It has since become apparent that there is another case against the accused. He hit a pedestrian with his Benz, killing her instantly. Same story, he hid the car away. Car was found and he was arrested. Lo and behold that dossier is also missing.

 

I managed to get a fellow Mountain Biker who is a Cop to go and search for the dossier in our case. After a month and a half , he eventually found it and gave us copies.

 

To cut a long story short, there has been absolutely no effort from the State to bring this matter to an end.

 

We are now pursuing a civil claim against the driver. He has defended the matter. Claims that we were riding in the dark without lights and that he didn't see us. Silly poephol doesn't know that I took photographs straight after the accident and it can be seen how dark it was. Photos in link above.

 

Moral of the story, I have no hope of this drunk driver ever facing the law. Maybe we can hurt him with the civil claim, time will tell

[Vetseun]

,

[Vetseun]

Sorry, I got so the moerin writing this that I triple posted

[urbanroyal]

I just know of a lady that received a 25K fine after killing a cyclist....happened in George/Knysna area I think ..

[gogo@]

Am going to post the whole article here as I don't seem to get a link to copy from the Dispatch...

A long article about a driver getting his five year sentence over-turned after he drove into (from behind) and killed Dave Hanton who was running on the opposite side of the road. (Dave was a Hubber).

Shows how really pathetic the justice system is and why every kind of road user is just vulnerable meat to reckless (often dishonest and cowardly) drivers.

I didn't know the sentence was overturned.

I am shocked by this. I was going to quote this case as an example of what sentences can be handed down. The driver here also got a whole lot of buddies to interfere at the scene - that is besides trying to run away. They got a police officer to interfere on his behalf as well.

But, read on, for the cherry on top and find out why the original sentence was overturned - and with what kind of "innovative" legal thinking!

Daily Dispatch, Feb 11, 2013:

"THE Grahamstown High Court has overturned a controversial prison sentence of a soldier who was behind the wheel when his car hit and killed Ironman athlete and Grahamstown businessman David Hanton, 44, near the army base in 2010.

His sentence was instead substituted with a fine.

Corporal Zingisile Nikelo , 44, was convicted of culpable homicide by the Grahamstown Regional Court in 2011.

Despite his clean driving record, Nikelo was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after the court found he had driven recklessly. His driver’s licence was revoked and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm for the duration of the sentence.

Nikelo was dealt a second blow when the court refused his application for leave to appeal his sentence. His appeal was eventually heard by the appeal court in December last year after leave was granted on petition.

The accident occurred on the evening of March 25 2011, on the army base road near Grahamstown.

Nikelo, formerly from Port Elizabeth, had two colleagues as passengers in the sedan at the time. They were returning home from a course at the army base when their vehicle collided with jogger and family man Hanton .

The trial court found Nikelo had swerved into the right hand lane where Hanton and a friend Johan Conradie were training for the triathlon.

The bottom right hand corner of the motor vehicle clipped the right leg of the deceased as he ran. Hanton, a keen triathlete who ran a successful IT business, was dragged along the road for several metres before he was hurled into the air and tossed onto the edge of the tarmac.

Although Nikelo conceded he had been driving the vehicle that hit and killed Hanton, he pleaded not guilty to culpable homicide, saying Hanton had stepped into the middle of the road. The trial court rejected his evidence as false and convicted him.

Arguing against mitigation of sentence, Hanton’s widow, Sarah, testified his death had devastated her family. She claimed Nikelo had failed to apologise or even show any remorse for his actions.

In mitigation, Nikelo’s wife, Sibongile, described her husband as a “responsible” person.

She said he had asked his superiors to send condolences to the deceased’s family. She said he often struggled to express himself.

She offered an apology to the family of the deceased and begged the court to have mercy on her husband, who was also the breadwinner in the family.

The defence asked the court for a non-custodial sentence.

Despite stressing that Nikelo was a suitable candidate for correctional supervision and it was unlikely he would commit a similar offence in the future, the trial court found incarceration to be a suitable form of punishment.

Magistrate Leon Claasen said at the time: “The fact that you are a suitable candidate does not automatically render it a suitable sentence .”

In his application for leave to appeal the sentence, Nikelo claimed the magistrate had over-emphasised the seriousness of the offence.

Last week, the Grahamstown High Court set aside Nikelo’s sentence of imprisonment and substituted it with a fine.

Judge Belinda Hartle found the trial court had placed Nikelo’s conduct on a par with the most aggravated degrees of culpability.

“It is also apparent the [trial] court closed its mind to anything other than direct imprisonment and in so doing missed a valuable opportunity to craft an innovative sentence retaining all the necessary objectives of sentencing,” Judge Hartle said.

“It also failed to recognise that although the appellant was deserving of punishment, he was not the type of offender who ought to be removed from society.”

She said it was possible for a court to impose a severe punishment without making use of imprisonment.

Nikelo was ordered to instead pay a fine of R20000 or face 12 months’ imprisonment. He was ordered to pay an initial R2000, followed by instalments of R1000 a month until the full amount has been paid off.

Judge Nozuko Mjali agreed."