Text driver faces jail over death

[gentlegreen]

I can't even walk straight on the pavement when I'm texting...so driving???

I try to avoid looking at my speedo when driving.
(it doesn't help that it's a French car and it's always the pointlessly huge tacho that catches my eye)

Is that a 5 year ban after she's let out of our overcrowded prison system on parole after 2 years ?

Ought to be made to wait until she's 40.

 

[agricola]

Four years is quite a long time compared to what most dangerous drivers get. I'm not saying it's too long, but when you compare it to the five years the selby crash driver got and he killed TEN people...

I think that was because of the circumstances - he IIRC fell asleep and there were some questions as to whether the barriering between the road and track was appropriate, though people did at the time question the length of the sentence.

This person on the other hand was speeding, and texting while going through a junction - four years is probably right in the circumstances (the cyclist having a role in his own death).

 

[coccinelle]

I think her punishment was intended as an exemplary one (pour encourager les autres) and I don't think that sort of sentencing attitude is right.

There are really dangerous people out there who do don't get custodial sentences because offences like burglary and mugging have become treated almost as routine by a police force which is now only looking for catching out ordinary citizens to get easy results.

She is probably an ordinary, hard-working person who made one stupid mistake (well, two: speeding and possibly texting...) and all of a sudden there's this red-light runner bang in front of her.

She did a wrong thing but I think the 4 years in prison is a crazy sentence

 

[_angel_]

I think her punishment was intended as an exemplary one (pour encourager les autres) and I don't think that sort of sentencing attitude is right.

There are really dangerous people out there who do don't get custodial sentences because offences like burglary and mugging have become treated almost as routine by a police force which is now only looking for catching out ordinary citizens to get easy results.

She is probably an ordinary, hard-working person who made one stupid mistake (well, two: speeding and possibly texting...) and all of a sudden there's this red-light runner bang in front of her.

She did a wrong thing but I think the 4 years in prison is a crazy sentence

What you said about dangerous people not getting custodial sentences is right. She's only dangerous in a car. If there was some way of ensuring she never drove again I'd be happy enough with that.

 

[scifisam]

What you said about dangerous people not getting custodial sentences is right. She's only dangerous in a car. If there was some way of ensuring she never drove again I'd be happy enough with that.

I agree with that. Well, almost; she disputed that she'd been texting, which probably contributed towards her sentence, but it still shouldn't be four years. That's longer than some truly dangerous people get; if she were banned from driving for longer (twenty years? thirty? forever? she has shown that she is dangerous behind the wheel, after all, and driving is a privilege, not a right) then the risk of her hurting anyone would be pretty much removed.

So perhaps she should have a short prison sentence for lying about texting, which prolonged the trial (and the trauma of the bereaved), but I don't see how four years in jail will help anyone. Yes, it might be two years on parole, but parole is not guaranteed.

The judge's comments also make it very clear that she was given this long a sentence as a deterrent to other drivers; I find that despicable - she should be tried for her offence alone, not for any future offences committed by other people.

I'd like to think her sentence could be reduced at appeal.


One interesting thing about this thread is that nearly everyone agrees that the blame for this incident should be shared between the cyclist and the driver. Everyone's posting that in the usual argumentative fashion (me included), but it seems that nearly all of us are at a consensus on that, which is nice.