Hitting a Cyclist = 9 months ban from driving

General Gibberish Forums The nickyd News Room
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http://www.standard.net.au/story/2219242/i-just-dont-care-texting-p-plate-driver-hits-cyclist/?utm_content=buffer3d11c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

'I just don't care': Texting P-plate driver hits cyclist

By ANDREW THOMSON April 15, 2014, 4 a.m.
 

  • Kimberley Davis, 21, of Grant Street, Port Fairy, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to dangerous driving.

 

 

A P-PLATE driver who used her mobile phone behind the wheel 44 times before running down a cyclist near Koroit has been fined $4500 and lost her licence for nine months.

Kimberley Davis, 21, of Grant Street, Port Fairy, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to dangerous driving. 

She was originally charged with 47 offences covering each time she had used her phone.

The cyclist suffered a spinal fracture which required surgery and placement in a spinal cage at Melbourne‘s Austin Hospital. He was originally told he could be left a paraplegic and spent three months recovering.

He also suffered a broken big toe and lacerations to his head and body.

The court heard that the victim couldn‘t believe that Davis rang triple-0 after the accident but refused to offer him help after she parked 100 metres up the road.

Even more stunning was Davis‘ answers when interviewed by police two days after the accident and asked about using her phone.

“I just don‘t care because I‘ve already been through a lot of bullshit and my car is like pretty expensive and now I have to fix it,” she told a police officer.

“I‘m kind of ■■■■■■ off that the cyclist has hit the side of my car. I don‘t agree that people texting and driving could hit a cyclist. I wasn‘t on my phone when I hit the cyclist.”

Davis had driven from a supermarket in east Warrnambool to just west of Koroit when she hit the cyclist at 7.20pm on September 20 last year on the Penshurst-Warrnambool Road.

The cyclist was on the edge of the road heading west when Davis hit him from behind, despite there being lights on the back and front of his bike.

Records showed Davis used her phone 44 times in her drive from east Warrnambool to Koroit, sending and receiving 22 text messages to seven different phones. 

At 7.18pm she received a text message and 51 seconds later made the call to triple-0 after hitting the rider.

Magistrate John Lesser said there were issues surrounding the case of great community significance, especially drivers using mobile telephones.

He noted that Davis‘ comments were poorly put when she was interviewed by police.

Mr Lesser noted that yesterday a Terang family business was fined $17,500 with more than $3000 costs after a workplace accident and the injuries caused were not as significant as those suffered by the rider. 

The wife of the bike rider was in court for the hearing yesterday and was deeply disappointed Davis did not lose her licence for longer.

 

 

It's a bit lenient isn't it?

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Short step from culpable driving...not sure why she wasn't charged with that. Do you have to kill someone?

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Regardless if it was a cyclist or pedestrian or felow driver, if you have been caught 44 times using a mobile phone and have caused injury to someone while driving and shown lack of remorse, 9 months is very very very leniant.

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Seems like the judge would have liked to imposed a heavier penalty by that last paragraph.

 

 

Mr Lesser noted that yesterday a Terang family business was fined $17,500 with more than $3000 costs after a workplace accident and the injuries caused were not as significant as those suffered by the rider.

Perhaps that's the maximum available?

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Short step from culpable driving...not sure why she wasn't charged with that. Do you have to kill someone?

yes.

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lt isn’t just the careless driving, it’s the deplorable attitude as well. She stops short of blaming the cyclist for the accident, but not by much. She resents his presence as it stops her from doing what she wanted (texting), which she clearly believes she has a right to do while behind the wheel. She has shown complete and utter contempt for the law and callous disregard for the man she has hit. They should have thrown the proverbial book at her, instead of a gaol term, she gets off with a slap on the wrist. The magistrate is also at fault.

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The book - throw it.

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■■■ LIKE I JUST LIKE HIT A GUY AND ALMOST KILLED HIM AND LIKE HE DAMAGED MY CAR. I BETTER CALL THE COPS BUT LIKE FIRST LET ME TAKE A #SELFIE.

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Guess Captain, you had to be there.   Magistrates are strange creatures, they are usually red hot on drivers doing bad things; but maybe like many of us, this Magistrate has been badly treated by a cyclist, and many of them show no care for anyone else on the road.

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Guess Captain, you had to be there.   Magistrates are strange creatures, they are usually red hot on drivers doing bad things; but maybe like many of us, this Magistrate has been badly treated by a cyclist, and many of them show no care for anyone else on the road.

Sorry, I dislike cyclists as much as anyone but I won't run them down if they are obeying the law and I am not.

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Guess Captain, you had to be there.   Magistrates are strange creatures, they are usually red hot on drivers doing bad things; but maybe like many of us, this Magistrate has been badly treated by a cyclist, and many of them show no care for anyone else on the road.

Sorry, I dislike cyclists as much as anyone but I won't run them down if they are obeying the law and I am not.

 

Ditto.

 

And you do not use a car as a weapon.

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She needs a jail term, farken smart ■■■■ b*tch

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Port Fairy sounds nice.

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Port Fairy sounds nice.

It is...albeit a bit cooler than Melbourne. Most liveable town in the world in 2012 or 2013.

 

This sheila sounds a right uppity trollop though.

 

They do tell me the wind coming right off the Southern Ocean can get a tad brisk.

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Port Fairy sounds nice.

It is...albeit a bit cooler than Melbourne. Most liveable town in the world in 2012 or 2013.

 

This sheila sounds a right uppity trollop though.

 

They do tell me the wind coming right off the Southern Ocean can get a tad brisk.

 

it is a stiff wind. 

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■■■ LIKE I JUST LIKE HIT A GUY AND ALMOST KILLED HIM AND LIKE HE DAMAGED MY CAR. I BETTER CALL THE COPS BUT LIKE FIRST LET ME TAKE A #SELFIE.

#YOLO

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■■■ LIKE I JUST LIKE HIT A GUY AND ALMOST KILLED HIM AND LIKE HE DAMAGED MY CAR. I BETTER CALL THE COPS BUT LIKE FIRST LET ME TAKE A #SELFIE.

#YOLO

 

But seriously check out her Facebook page.

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This should be a 9 year ban. Not 9 months. Let her suffer for causing someone so much pain with no remorse. 

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■■■ LIKE I JUST LIKE HIT A GUY AND ALMOST KILLED HIM AND LIKE HE DAMAGED MY CAR. I BETTER CALL THE COPS BUT LIKE FIRST LET ME TAKE A #SELFIE.

#YOLO

 

But seriously check out her Facebook page.

 

Would hit!

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The language she used isn't great.

 

Not that I particularly want to take her side, but I wonder how long her actual statement was to the police. Her statement about not caring any more could have been after a lot of questioning. That the magistrate said her comments were 'poorly put' to me says that overall she may have been more remorseful and that the comments in the article have been selected by the journalist to get the greatest impact.

 

The headline calling her a texting driver implies that she was texting at the instant she hit the cyclist, however the article states only that she received a text message around the time of the accident. No statement that she was using the phone at the time and she herself denied this in her statement. 

 

Parking 100m down the road may have been the safest possible spot for her to stop her car. 

 

Also the statement that she used her phone 44 times seems contradicted by the statement that she sent and received 22 text messages. Some of the received messages could be read receipts. Surely she only used the phone 22 times maximum, maybe fewer if some of these were messages to multiple people. On that basis I don't know how the police could charge her with 47 counts.

 

I'm inclined to think that the magistrate got it right and that there may be more to the story.