Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

wexford
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Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby wexford » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:24 am

Drunk driving and leaving the scene...I hope the culprit is nailed hard for this.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western ... 7438933702

A CYCLIST has been injured in an alleged hit and run near a Kalamunda intersection.

The man, who is in his 40s, was taken to Royal Perth Hospital after the crash with a red Ford Festiva at about 6.45am on Sunday.

Police were at the scene of the crash near the intersection of Kalamunda Road and St Emelies Road.

A 21-year-old woman failed a breath test at her home address and was taken to Midland Police Station where she failed a second breath test.

Police said inquires would continue and charges would be made once a medical assessment was completed on the cyclist.

Anyone with information regarding the crash should called Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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find_bruce
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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby find_bruce » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:06 am

So far the woman has been charged with drink driving & driving without a licence.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-13/k ... ge/6614590" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was surprised that police managed to track her down so quickly, but apparently the car had a flat tyre & the tyre marks led straight to her house.

Hopefully she will also be charged with dangerous driving & leaving the scene of an accident.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby outnabike » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:55 am

Amazing that people consider their own situation more important than the life of a fellow human that they may have killed outright, and left for dead. Completely heartless.
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FXST01
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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby FXST01 » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:42 am

Wouldn't have happened if he paid rego and (insert other anti cycling message here). I blame society and not enough hugs from her parents.
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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby Timeonabike » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:02 pm

Jail time please.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby biker jk » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:23 pm

find_bruce wrote:So far the woman has been charged with drink driving & driving without a licence.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-13/k ... ge/6614590" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was surprised that police managed to track her down so quickly, but apparently the car had a flat tyre & the tyre marks led straight to her house.

Hopefully she will also be charged with dangerous driving & leaving the scene of an accident.
No charges have been laid to-date.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby find_bruce » Mon Jul 13, 2015 3:59 pm

Thanks for picking up the change in the article biker jk. It now bears an editors note :
Editor's note (13/7/2015): An earlier version of this story stated the 21-year-old was facing two charges. No charges have been laid in relation to the incident.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby biker jk » Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:38 pm

find_bruce wrote:Thanks for picking up the change in the article biker jk. It now bears an editors note :
Editor's note (13/7/2015): An earlier version of this story stated the 21-year-old was facing two charges. No charges have been laid in relation to the incident.
I was actually watching Channel 9 news who reported that no charges had been laid, which prompted me to have another look at the article you posted.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby cj7hawk » Mon Jul 13, 2015 4:58 pm

FXST01 wrote:Wouldn't have happened if he paid rego and (insert other anti cycling message here). I blame society and not enough hugs from her parents.
I actually do somewhat blame cyclists for this state of affairs... The problem is that we're too complacent as a group when these kinds of events happen, and because of this there's no political will to change things... Cyclists rarely protest, and there's nothing like Critical Mass here in Perth.

A strong cycling advocacy group is needed, stirring up public sentiment against motorists involved in these incidents and gaining media share for all cyclists. Nalder keeps on saying that an education campaign is what is needed, but incidents like this highlight the issue - that no amount of educational campaigning will stop drunk people from getting behind the wheel and driving dangerously around cyclists. Education also doesn't stop road rage, people who hate cyclists ( because we don't pay rego, etc ) or even stop hoons... If legislation is needed for those other issues, then it's likewise needed to provide a safer environment for cyclists.

An effective advocacy group is needed to tackle safe cycling issues. Until that time, I think that cycling will continue to receive the same standard sub-standard support which is all bike paths and no real changes to keep us safe, and sure, things will still improve even without such a group, but it will be a lot slower and at a much higher cost that it needs to be.

Otherwise we'll see more cases like this: ( http://www.standard.net.au/story/221924 ... s-cyclist/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) - where the driver was texting and hit a cyclist, then blamed the cyclist and said she didn't care about the damage she caused him ( fractured spine ) because she owned an expensive car and now she had to fix it.... 9 months license suspension and a small fine... That's not even a "slap on the wrist" for someone who can afford an "expensive car" ( their words )

David.
Last edited by cj7hawk on Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Robinho
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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby Robinho » Mon Jul 13, 2015 5:08 pm

For me the media have to lead this, stop the negative cyclist beat-ups, don't allow comments on cycling stories, or at least heavily moderate. Provide facts that debunk most anti cycling rhetoric. The more those with dangerous opinions are marginalised the better. Keep providing them ammunition and a platform and the sentiment spreads to more normal folk who start to believe that cyclists should pay rego, shouldn't use roads, break all the rules all the time and that kind of opinion is normal and correct. The media can stop this tide. It has been done elsewhere

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby Lizzy » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:20 pm

Robinho wrote:For me the media have to lead this, stop the negative cyclist beat-ups, don't allow comments on cycling stories, or at least heavily moderate. Provide facts that debunk most anti cycling rhetoric. The more those with dangerous opinions are marginalised the better.
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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby cj7hawk » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:40 pm

Lizzy wrote:
Robinho wrote:For me the media have to lead this, stop the negative cyclist beat-ups, don't allow comments on cycling stories, or at least heavily moderate. Provide facts that debunk most anti cycling rhetoric. The more those with dangerous opinions are marginalised the better.
Preach.
Having spent 8 years as a journalist, I can say that's not going to happen. It's not the role of the media to take a side in this - it's the role of the media to report on it. Seriously, if no one is making it an issue when people are run down by careless motorists, then the media will ( and should ) do nothing.

This is why a strong advocacy group is needed to send out press releases making the job easier for the media - this means identifying the difference between sentences that people get for running cyclists down causing lifelong injuries, and how this compares to no-fault accidents in the workplace with penalties typically hundreds of times higher for relatively minor injuries. To identify the lack of compensation cyclists receive ( unless they're a federal pollie falling of a bike ) and to publicly criticize the lack of action from the government in making the roads safer...

Unless there is a public outcry, even within the small community that is cyclists, then there will be no media coverage. This is how it is and always will be -

Unfortunately, there's no clear advocate of cyclists in WA that takes on this role, or otherwise I would be supporting them - but with enough encouragement from the community, one of the existing advocacy groups might well step up to the plate and do what's needed.

David.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby Robinho » Mon Jul 13, 2015 8:44 pm

The media in the UK did do this, they and the government promoted cycling, stopped giving oxygen to the anti brigade and cycling is flourishing. It's not perfect and they have a long way to go, but the media has a huge part in this, just in their language and style of reporting. They are fuelling the phoney war on the roads for ratings at the expense of lives.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby DuncanS » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:47 pm

I think I see part of the problem here. Even within the industry, the terms media and journalism seem to be used interchangeably.

Media will follow the noise and beat on the same drum for ratings.

Journalists should follow the story and uncover the truths.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby softy » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:58 pm

I am so disappointed what I am reading in this thread, I have told myself to button my lip and truncate what I really want to say!

We are talking about death and serious injury here, :evil:

And we are talking as if it is some human interest story/thing that may warrant discussion in the media.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby cj7hawk » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:07 pm

DuncanS wrote:I think I see part of the problem here. Even within the industry, the terms media and journalism seem to be used interchangeably.

Media will follow the noise and beat on the same drum for ratings.

Journalists should follow the story and uncover the truths.
I think that's an overly optimistic view of journalism. Journalists rarely go looking randomly for "truths" to uncover. Generally, someone feeds them a story and then they just check the facts ( assuming they are a good journo... If a bad one, they just accept whatever is given them. ) Then the editors look for whether it's interesting or not, ethnocentricity and other factors and that changes how much exposure it gets.

Keep in mind that there's also two sides to every story, and we're looking from one perspective - Ask yourself the flip-side too - Are cyclists being hit by cars because they aren't obeying road traffic laws? Does cyclist behavior lead to well-meaning drivers facing jail sentences for running over someone who shouldn't have been there in the first place? That's essentially why that drunk who ran over a kid on his bike got away free. This is what most motorists are thinking, and they are the majority... Remember, the media and journalism is all about man bites dog.

Without an effective voice asserting our side of the story, the same misconceptions will continue to propagate. Most people think cycling is risky and riding on roads is suicidal - and that any cyclist who does so should be prepared for that level of risk and accept whatever happens to them. What needs to change is the perception of road ownership by cars - and most people are against that because it has very real ramifications for them... In a time when road congestion is increasing rapidly and people are asking for traffic calming modifications to roads, calling on them to make more space available to cyclists isn't a popular request.

But that's what needs to change - but journalists alone will not do it - The cycling community needs to push for those changes.

Regards
David

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby cj7hawk » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:16 pm

softy wrote:I am so disappointed what I am reading in this thread, I have told myself to button my lip and truncate what I really want to say!

We are talking about death and serious injury here, :evil:

And we are talking as if it is some human interest story/thing that may warrant discussion in the media.
I don't think anyone is losing sight of that - but it's disappointing that the media never follow up on why so many cyclists are being maimed on the roads... And the mainstream opinion seems to be that if you don't want to be run over, then don't cycle.

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby Thoglette » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:02 am

cj7hawk wrote:It's not the role of the media to take a side in this - it's the role of the media to report on it.
What? But Malcolm says
Malcolm Turnbull wrote: (The ABC) is independent of government, but it has a higher duty, it has a duty of objectivity that the rest of the media does not. They can be as opinionated as they like.
(emphasis mine.)

Oh, maybe you worked for the ABC :)
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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby cj7hawk » Tue Jul 14, 2015 12:03 pm

Thoglette wrote: Oh, maybe you worked for the ABC :)
LoL! No, never the ABC... The Sunday Times for 4 years though. :D

Most journalists do try to be fair and unbiased, but they are still easily swayed by opinion just like anyone else. They also usually struggle for enough stories and copy to make their deadlines - that's never easy.

David

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby nachoman » Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:18 pm

Now a good list of charges have been laid:

"The woman has been charged with no authority to drive (never held), excess 0.08, dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm, fail to stop and render assistance, fail to report incident to Police and dangerous driving.

The woman has been bailed to appear in the Midland Magistrates Court on Wednesday 22 July 2015."

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby Robinho » Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:00 pm

And the cyclist is listed as stable with a fractured skull. Hope stable indicates good chance of full recovery. There is also no way all those changes won't stick, it's just up to the courts to actually hand out a reasonable sentence (not just a driving ban and a $500 fine)

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby wexford » Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:03 pm

Reference for the record:
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western ... =151426948

Wes was in a group, so I gather one of the other riders must have also gotten her rego and passed it along. No shortage of witnesses, surely this would result in a serious sanction?

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby outnabike » Tue Jul 14, 2015 5:22 pm

Robinho wrote:And the cyclist is listed as stable with a fractured skull. Hope stable indicates good chance of full recovery. There is also no way all those changes won't stick, it's just up to the courts to actually hand out a reasonable sentence (not just a driving ban and a $500 fine)
I hope so too.

Sadly my Nephew in law and good mate just had a heart attack in Italy. A week in hospital and finally stable. I just received the message that he died yesterday, 58 years old. We are very distressed right now.
I reckon that when Stable , you may not be out of the woods. I hope our cyclist friend does well. Sorry to go off topic.
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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby cj7hawk » Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:20 pm

nachoman wrote:Now a good list of charges have been laid:

"The woman has been charged with no authority to drive (never held), excess 0.08, dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm, fail to stop and render assistance, fail to report incident to Police and dangerous driving.

The woman has been bailed to appear in the Midland Magistrates Court on Wednesday 22 July 2015."
What does this all mean with respect to third-party insurance, since it clearly does not exist in this case?

David

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Re: Injured cyclist - drunk driver/hit and run

Postby softy » Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:26 pm

I'm sorry,

I don't watch TV, your know why, the poor reporting of the media!

Journalist always claim the moral ground "freedom of the press" they stick they nose where others would be arrested for stalking, harrass politicians in their driveway, use expensive cameras to take pictures inside cars and peoples houses. Nothing is out of the question for a juice story. They have no respect for people, they just make excuses why this behaviour is okay.

The media is a powerful body, they can create major influence, that is why politicians are so careful because they edit the words to bend the meaning. Having such a powerful voice means you have a responsibility to use it correctly.

If you all remember, a lady was run down and killed on Kings park road! I tried to follow up what happened to the driver, but nothing, just a ho hum story not worthy of any jounalist to follow up.

Have you every submitted an article to a professional magazine? Yes, you will know how editors twist things and it doesn't even speak the truth anymore. Just reads nice for the general public. Hey but don't let facts get in the way.

If you want to convince me most jounalist are decent people you will need a bit more than a few posts. Blaming cyclists for the danger and abuse they experience on the road is their own fault due not rally and lobbying is just absurd. It is the fault of the motorists who are putting cyclist lives in danger! Like this lady in this article.

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