Bus Driver Deliberately Hits Cyclits

• Money4Ninero wrote on 2012-02-18 03:09

  The bus driver who, in a moment of road rage, swerved his bus to knock a cyclist off the road will spend the next 17 months in prison for his actions, a court in England has ruled.
  
  Gavin Hill, 29, of Frome in Somerset, England, described his actions as a “moment of madness” while pleading guilty to dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harm in court on Thursday.
  
  A bus driver for 10 years, Hill was driving a Bugler Coaches bus the morning of April 5, 2011, when he drove too close to cyclist Phillip Mead as the two approached the St. James Barton roundabout in Bristol.
  
  At the next traffic light, Mead, 43, pulled up next to Hill’s bus and the two engaged in a heated argument before going their separate ways, according to arguments presented in court.
  
  Cameras monitoring the intersection captured the next moments when Hill accelerated his bus to try to overtake Mead and then sharply swerved to the left to knock Mead off his bike.
  
  Mead, a father-of-two who was cycling to work that morning, was knocked off his bike and suffered a broken leg, fractured wrist and thumb, according to the BBC.
  
  During the sentencing, Judge Mark Horton said the incident “was not an accident,” and told Hill, “You used the bus as a weapon to bully and intimidate Mr. Mead.”
  
  Mead spent two weeks in the hospital undergoing surgeries to repair his injuries and spent months in rehabilitation but says his injuries could have been worse.
  
  “Without my helmet, it could have been a lot worse. I could have been killed,” he told the Daily Mail. “It goes to show how one bit of rage can affect so many people’s lives.”
  
  Despite everything, Mead also expressed sympathy toward Hill.
  
  “I do not feel any anger towards him now,” he told the Daily Mail. “In fact, I feel really sorry for his family.”
  
  In addition to his prison sentence, Hill was fired from his job with Bugler Coaches and disqualified from driving for two-and-a-half years.
  
  He could be freed from jail much earlier than 17 months, however, after Judge Horton ruled that he could be considered for release after serving only half of his sentence.

  
  Source
  
  The fact that he can freed much earlier than 17 months is beyond me.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-02-18 03:11
  They might not've been very nice to each other, but as a cyclist the thought of cars getting close to me is terrifying.
  It freaks me out to cross the street because cars zoom by and I freak out when cars beep at me to move my butt into a lane of speedy oncoming traffic.
  
  I digress. Sure, cyclists often don't want to share the road as much as car drivers think they should, but then again, most car drivers act like they own it, so it's a lose-lose situation.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-02-18 03:19
  Being a cyclist is just as hard as being a pedestrian. I'm afraid to ride my bike on the road. I tend to keep the sidewalks as much as I possibly can. Some of the sidewalks I've rode on have caused me quite some pain though :/
  
  Especially if the curb is too much. So many scratches going down Mount Hope when I used to ride my bike to work.
• Cynic wrote on 2012-02-18 03:19
  I did a paper about road rage in Psychology class back during my Freshman year of Highschool. It is significant enough that it can cause a slip-second of lapse in judgment. That doesn't really make him any less guilty, but it does mean that he isn't a complete ass who meant life-threatening harm to the dude.
• Claudia wrote on 2012-02-18 03:21

  Quote from Kingofrunes;777639:

  Being a cyclist is just as hard as being a pedestrian. I'm afraid to ride my bike on the road. I tend to keep the sidewalks as much as I possibly can. Some of the sidewalks I've rode on have caused me quite some pain though :/
  
  Especially if the curb is too much. So many scratches going down Mount Hope when I used to ride my bike to work.

  
  
  Oh god, yes.
  Apparently it's illegal for cyclists to ride on the sidewalks. Do I care? No, i'd rather stay alive. Unfortunately, a lot of our roads lack sidewalks and it's always a little scary for me to bike home when students, teachers, and people are zooming down the side roads.
  
  Also, as a new driver, i'm terrified of hitting people in the road. As a cyclist, i'm terrified of being hit by people while crossing the road.
  
  u_u.
• Groom wrote on 2012-02-18 03:33
  Whenever I cycle, I always do it on the sidewalks, regardless of the laws. I'd trust myself not to hit people over cars not to hit me any day.
• Sekwaf wrote on 2012-02-18 05:15
  While that was a terrible lapse in sense and he deserves to be punished, I can see letting him out earlier. He seems sincerely repentant, and doesn't really need time to reflect on his actions, as he knows he was completely wrong. The real question is why they're going to let him drive again after only two and a half years. He's obviously prone to road rage, and a car is just not safe in his hands.
• Malogg wrote on 2012-02-18 06:38

  Quote from Sekwaf;777745:

  While that was a terrible lapse in sense and he deserves to be punished, I can see letting him out earlier. He seems sincerely repentant, and doesn't really need time to reflect on his actions, as he knows he was completely wrong. The real question is why they're going to let him drive again after only two and a half years. He's obviously prone to road rage, and a car is just not safe in his hands.

  
  
  That's exactly what I was thinking. He seems sorry, and sounds like a typically nice guy. But there's no way in hell they should ever let him drive again.
• Nithiel wrote on 2012-02-18 14:45
  That'll teach him to ride a bike. Damn hippy.