Just 4 months

cupra said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/5056804.stm

"Hit-and-run death driver jailed

A hit-and-run driver who careered into a cyclist leaving him dying in the
road has been jailed.
A Vauxhall Vectra driven by Darren Sexton knocked 33-year-old trainee nurse
Mark Gerrish off his bike in Bath in February this year.
Mr Gerrish, from Weymouth, Dorset, was thrown 15ft into the air and smashed
into a road sign. He died later.
Sexton, 31, drove off from the scene. On Wednesday, magistrates in Bath
jailed him for four months. "

------

Nothing further to add - it's all been said before, sadly 🙁

Given that the most serious offence available in this case appears to
have been "driving without due care and attention", perhaps it's time we
had a new offence, something like the "failing to assist persons in
danger" that they have in France. That way if you knowingly leave
someone seriously injured, however caused, and for whatever reason, you
are indeed committing a very serious offence.

--
Matt B

cupra said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/5056804.stm

"Hit-and-run death driver jailed

A hit-and-run driver who careered into a cyclist leaving him dying in the
road has been jailed.
A Vauxhall Vectra driven by Darren Sexton knocked 33-year-old trainee nurse
Mark Gerrish off his bike in Bath in February this year.
Mr Gerrish, from Weymouth, Dorset, was thrown 15ft into the air and smashed
into a road sign. He died later.
Sexton, 31, drove off from the scene. On Wednesday, magistrates in Bath
jailed him for four months. "

I suppose he's also lost his job and possibly his home, but 10 years
would have been more appropriate considering the driving off aspect.

The trouble the judges have is that they are supposed to impose
penalties based on the behaviour, not the consequences. Many people
DWDC+A from time to time (fiddling with the stereo etc), but luckily
most don't hit anyone while doing so. If the CPS could prove they
intended to kill or injure, that would be different, but it's very rare
that this is the case - there would have to be a motive such as a prior
altercation, witnesses etc.

No excuse for leaving the victim there though, none at all.

Matt B said:

cupra said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/5056804.stm

"Hit-and-run death driver jailed

A hit-and-run driver who careered into a cyclist leaving him dying in
the road has been jailed. A Vauxhall Vectra driven by Darren Sexton
knocked 33-year-old trainee nurse Mark Gerrish off his bike in Bath in
February this year. Mr Gerrish, from Weymouth, Dorset, was thrown 15ft
into the air and smashed into a road sign. He died later. Sexton, 31,
drove off from the scene. On Wednesday, magistrates in Bath jailed him
for four months. "

------

Nothing further to add - it's all been said before, sadly 🙁

Given that the most serious offence available in this case appears to
have been "driving without due care and attention", perhaps it's time we
had a new offence,

There could also have been 'failure to stop after an accident' here, for
which you can get six months. There is an offence of 'causing death by
dangerous driving', but since that wasn't applied, we can assume the
driving wasn't deemed dangerous (even though it killed someone; yes, the
law is a joke).

Quoted message said:

something like the "failing to assist persons in danger" that they have
in France. That way if you knowingly leave someone seriously injured,
however caused, and for whatever reason, you are indeed committing a
very serious offence.

I'm not convinced - that would be a very big leap, and could be very
difficult to judge.

Instead, i think we just need saner road safety laws. A first step would
be to get rid of the special treatment of cars; if you kill someone with a
car, through incompetence rather than malice, it should be the same
offence as if you did that with a chainsaw, a gun, or any other lethal
weapon; i believe that's manslaughter.

tom

--
so if you hear a chaffinch out on the pull attempting a severely off-key
version of "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys then you're not actually
going mad.

Zog The Undeniable said:

The trouble the judges have is that they are supposed to impose
penalties based on the behaviour, not the consequences.

Not universally (under E&W law at least) - it would presumably be a
relatively simple matter to change the principle for traffic offences,
since the principle of taking into account the consequences exists in
other areas.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Zog The Undeniable said:

cupra said:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/5056804.stm

"Hit-and-run death driver jailed

A hit-and-run driver who careered into a cyclist leaving him dying
in the road has been jailed.
A Vauxhall Vectra driven by Darren Sexton knocked 33-year-old
trainee nurse Mark Gerrish off his bike in Bath in February this
year. Mr Gerrish, from Weymouth, Dorset, was thrown 15ft into the air and
smashed into a road sign. He died later.
Sexton, 31, drove off from the scene. On Wednesday, magistrates in
Bath jailed him for four months. "

I suppose he's also lost his job and possibly his home, but 10 years
would have been more appropriate considering the driving off aspect.

The trouble the judges have is that they are supposed to impose
penalties based on the behaviour, not the consequences. Many people
DWDC+A from time to time (fiddling with the stereo etc), but luckily
most don't hit anyone while doing so. If the CPS could prove they
intended to kill or injure, that would be different, but it's very
rare that this is the case - there would have to be a motive such as
a prior altercation, witnesses etc.

No excuse for leaving the victim there though, none at all.

That's the nub of it - driving off to leave a man dying is the action of a
monster (no matter how 'shocked' he must have been).

in message <[email hidden]>, Ian Smith

(') said:

Zog The Undeniable said:

The trouble the judges have is that they are supposed to impose
penalties based on the behaviour, not the consequences.

Not universally (under E&W law at least) - it would presumably be a
relatively simple matter to change the principle for traffic offences,
since the principle of taking into account the consequences exists in
other areas.

You don't have to take into account the actual consequences, provided you
take into account the potential consequences. If everyone who was
prosecuted for DWDC+A was punished as if they had caused the death that
they were fortunate not to cause, you wouldn't have to treat those who
did cause death specially. The problem is that we are grossly too
lenient with all car crime.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; Sending your money to someone just because they've erected
;; a barrier of obscurity and secrets around the tools you
;; need to use your data does not help the economy or spur
;; innovation. - Waffle Iron Slashdot, June 16th, 2002