Death cyclist fine angers family

[contagious]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/b...ts/7496757.stm

The family of a 17-year-old girl who died after being hit by a cyclist has described the £2,200 fine handed to the man who hit her as "laughable".
Father Mick Bennett said Jason Howard should have faced manslaughter charges and been jailed for several years over Rhiannon Bennett's death in April 2007.
Howard, 36, of Buckingham, was fined on Tuesday after being convicted of dangerous cycling in the town.
The Crown Prosecution Service said the charge was the most appropriate one.
During Howard's trial, Aylesbury magistrates heard he had shouted at Rhiannon to "move because I'm not stopping" before crashing into her.

Diana Bennett calls for a change in the law
Rhiannon died six days after hitting her head on the pavement as a result of the collision in Verney Close, Buckingham.
Following the verdict, Mr Bennett said: "It's laughable - when we first heard about this we thought it would be manslaughter, or perhaps even murder, but this is Britain.
"He is an arrogant, vile little man."
Rhiannon's mother, Diana, said: "Words cannot express how broken-hearted we are as a family.
"My daughter ended up dying for him having a bike ride."
Mrs Bennett told BBC Five Live that the law had let them down.
She said: "He shouted a warning. There's no need to shout a warning. He's on his bicycle, he should have veered round them but even on impact with Rhiannon, he didn't even brake.
"He was on the footpath, where she should have been safe."
'Tragic accident'
A CPS spokesperson said: "A file of evidence from the police was reviewed by a senior CPS prosecutor and, based on that evidence, it was decided the charge of dangerous cycling was the most appropriate.
"Each case is kept under continuous review and following correspondence with Rhiannon's family, the case was looked at before and after the inquest into Rhiannon's death, which returned a verdict of accidental death.

The court heard Howard could have swerved and avoided the collision


"It was decided that the charge of dangerous cycling was the appropriate charge and there was insufficient evidence for more serious charges, such as manslaughter, to be pursued."
Sgt Dominic Mahon, of Thames Valley Police, told the BBC Howard could have been travelling at about 17mph (27km/h) when he struck Rhiannon, "imparting a great deal of force" on her.
Chris Thompson, Howard's solicitor, said: "It was a tragic accident that he will regret for the rest of his days. Jason understands how Rhiannon's family must be feeling at the moment."
Mr Thompson said he had advised Howard not to speak publicly on the matter until after civil proceedings had concluded.
"The family have said they intend to seek damages so we have to assume that a civil claim will follow," he said. Mr Thompson said his client found comments made after the case by Rhiannon's father, Mick Bennett, "very upsetting".

Shocking. The fact he was just fined is ridiculous.

[jrh2002]

The law only allows a £2500 fine and no prison etc :s so if you dont like somebody run them over on your bike lol and the same offence in a car is 5 or 10 years? one of the 2. To be honest some of these cyclists do not care about any of the road rules and dont stop at red lights and ride in the road when they have a cycle lane :s race along the paths like idiots :s i think the laws need altering and using against the really bad ones.

[Hushie]

I dont even get how a bike could kill someone.

[flatface]

I dont even get how a bike could kill someone.

It's weird isn't it

[jrh2002]

I dont even get how a bike could kill someone.

Its pretty local to me so been all over local news.

The idiot was doing a time trial on a £4700.00 bike and shouted move to some girls and instead of stopping or going round them he hit them one of them at full speed (20ish mph they reckon) it was a man and not some little kid so to say hes stupid is an under statement.

Maybe she fell and smashed her head on the curb?

[flatface]

Its pretty local to me so been all over local news.

The idiot was doing a time trial on a £4700.00 bike and shouted move to some girls and instead of stopping or going round them he hit them one of them at full speed (20ish mph they reckon) it was a man and not some little kid so to say hes stupid is an under statement.

Maybe she fell and smashed her head on the curb?

Possibly, maybe thats why he only got a fine

[jrh2002]

Possibly, maybe thats why he only got a fine

A fine was the maximum penalty for dangerous cycling but its 10 years i think for dangerous driving. I have seen cases where there has been a fight and a person gets punched, has fallen and died from hitting their head on the floor that is still classed as murder/manslaughter (unless its self defence of course)

[Hushie]

Its pretty local to me so been all over local news.

The idiot was doing a time trial on a £4700.00 bike and shouted move to some girls and instead of stopping or going round them he hit them one of them at full speed (20ish mph they reckon) it was a man and not some little kid so to say hes stupid is an under statement.

Maybe she fell and smashed her head on the curb?

Oh i get it now thanks

[Neil]

The thing is yea he may of killed her but they should of moved, whether it was a cycle track or not they should of got out of the way, obviously he should of breaked but I see no evidence that he didn't break in that big chunk of text, the fine makes sense because arresting him would be too much, they probably have very little proof of what happened and it was an accident anyway, if she moved, she'd be alive, did she? Obviously not, she didn't deserve to die but she must of been pretty stuck up if he yelled for them to move and she did nothing

[jrh2002]

The thing is yea he may of killed her but they should of moved, whether it was a cycle track or not they should of got out of the way, obviously he should of breaked but I see no evidence that he didn't break in that big chunk of text, the fine makes sense because arresting him would be too much, they probably have very little proof of what happened and it was an accident anyway, if she moved, she'd be alive, did she? Obviously not, she didn't deserve to die but she must of been pretty stuck up if he yelled for them to move and she did nothing

There were lots of independent witnesses (local news had it on all day) and they were just getting off the road from crossing. The court say he never braked or made any attempt to go around them and they did speed up to get out the way. saying that when i get idiots crossing the road slowly thinking they are gangsters i always speed up just slightly and move over a bit and they dont look so hard when they realise im not slowing down for them haha :eusa_danc