Woman gets six month ban for biker death

[Matra et Alpine]

By Visordown News

No prison sentence, fined £200, ordered to pay £60 costs and a £15 victim surcharge - is this what we call justice?

A WOMAN who killed a motorcyclist after swerving her car into him whilst reaching for a tissue in her car's passenger door compartment has been banned from driving for just six months. According to reports in today's Telegraph newspaper, Lisa Badham-Moore, 35, veered into oncoming traffic when she took her eye off the road to reach for the tissue.
She ploughed her Vauxhall Astra into Laurence Higgins, 54, who was riding his motorbike, killing him.
Badham-Moore admitted driving without due care and attention at Spalding Magistrates' Court.
After the case Mr Higgins' widow, Kay, 47, who had tried unsuccessfully to have the case taken to the High Court, said she was outraged by the sentence.
She said: "I'm disgusted with both the charge and the sentence because justice hasn't been done.
"Her barrister said she has got to live with this for the rest of her life, but she's not the one living in a house without her husband.
"A lot of people try to portray motorcyclists as being speed freaks, but Laurence had been a motorcyclist for 30 years on and off and had never had an accident. "He was driving very carefully, and that was confirmed by someone he had overtaken just before." Badham-Moore, of Gedney in Lincolnshire, was also fined £200 and ordered to pay £60 costs and a £15 victim surcharge.

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

Argh! Bikers are demonised in the UK as exceeding speed limits, dangerous riding etc etc and some numpty gets away with NOT paying attention whilst in control of a lethal "weapon"

[Gt1Street]

Generaly I agree that the majority of motorcyclists are maniacs on the road but this is certainly a clear case of bad judgement by the juducial system which should have been taken more seriously if not for the severaty of the case itself then just to set an example for drivers

[henk4]

First of all, whatever sentence would have been issued, it would never have repaired the damage done, but I understand your outrage and that of the widow.
A life long ban for stupid driving might have been appropriate though, but has that ever been issued? What do you get for drunken driving and causing an accident?

[drakkie]

Don't rule out the psychological damage to the lady though.. Here the judges take it into consideration.

[Gt1Street]

Originally Posted by drakkie

Don't rule out the psychological damage to the lady though.. Here the judges take it into consideration.

bullcrap, you cannot quantify psychological damage into anything !
and driving without care is the same as driving with the intent of running someone over...

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Gt1Street

bullcrap, you cannot quantify psychological damage into anything !
and driving without care is the same as driving with the intent of running someone over...

we are still allowed to use the navigation equipment while driving, to make mobile phonecalls, to enter a cd in the audio system....people are being offered far too many legal opportunities to loose control. (and get away with it)

[Wouter Melissen]

Originally Posted by drakkie

Don't rule out the psychological damage to the lady though.. Here the judges take it into consideration.

Yeah right.

[Gt1Street]

Originally Posted by henk4

we are still allowed to use the navigation equipment while driving, to make mobile phonecalls, to enter a cd in the audio system....people are being offered far too many legal opportunities to loose control. (and get away with it)

that's why in Israel you are not allowed to even touch your mobile phone unless its on a handfree kit, which means no headsets and you cant send SMS's.
I guess its only time untill they legeslate something about the GPS devices aswell

[charged]

Very very sad, and the sentence is far too lenient but it was a mistake. We have all had instances on the road were we have lost concentration and a accident could have taken place very easily. I must admit i have been guilty of not concetrating 100% all the time

I still think its far too lenient but at least he had 54 good years, imagine how this 3 yr olds parents must feel... Its seems that the courts are handing out very lenient punishments these days sadly.




Truckie walks free over girl's death - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

Truckie walks free over girl's death


January 16, 2008 - 11:54AM


A grieving family has called on authorities to make a simple change to traffic lights at a Sydney intersection where young girl died after being knocked from her mother's arms when hit by a truck.

Three-year-old Jessica de Andrade was killed when a lorry struck her mother as they crossed the road at the intersection of McEvoy Street and Botany Road at Waterloo on July 17 last year.

Both the traffic and pedestrian lights showed green at the same time, and the driver, Marinko Curkovic, proceeded over the intersection, failing to see the girl and her mother on the crossing.

Curkovic, 43, was handed a suspended jail term in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.

The south Penrith father-of-three was freed on the condition that he be of good behaviour for the next nine months, with Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson also disqualifying him from driving for two years.

Still requiring the support of a crutch to walk, Jessica's mother Somsri Phongsuphawech and her husband Rui de Andrade wept as the magistrate recounted their daughter's death.

Mr de Andrade, who held a framed photo of Jessica throughout the hearing, said the law and the roads authority had let his daughter down.

"Tonight Marinko Curkovic will be with his family, while Jessica will not. Today he has had his licence cancelled for two years; my daughter had her life cancelled forever," he told reporters outside court.

"One simple left turn red light while pedestrians were crossing would have saved her life ... how long will we have to wait before the pedestrian crossing where Jessica was so brutally taken from us be rectified?"

Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) spokeswoman Anna Nicholes said the authority was conducting "detailed investigation" at the intersection to identify whether there was a need for road safety improvements.

"Any comments by the court and police in relation to this matter will be taken into consideration," she said in a statement.

According to RTA statistics, Ms Nicholes said there were no other crashes involving a left turn from McEvoy Street into Botany Road, as Curkovic had been attempting.

In court, Mr Henson said Curkovic had failed to pay proper regard to public safety, by either allowing his attention to lapse or failing to keep a proper lookout.

He rejected the truckie's argument that the intersection was a black spot for pedestrian accidents, finding that of the 55 injuries at the site in the four years to 2006, only five related to pedestrians.

However, the magistrate suspended the jail term in recognition of Curkovic's genuine remorse and psychological suffering, as well as his prior good character.

"There is no doubt that the effects of this offence on Jessica's parents, immediate and extended family have been, and will likely remain, catastrophic," Mr Henson said.

"In modern society we are conditioned to believe that the natural order of life means that children do not pass from this earth before their parents."

"No one ... could come to any other conclusion than that neither (Mr de Andrade) nor his wife and family will ever recover completely from their tragic loss."

Curkovic's lawyer William Barber welcomed the suspended sentence as "appropriate" in the circumstances.

"My client is hopeful that the finalisation of this matter today will help to bring closure to the de Andrade family," Mr Barber told reporters.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

If she has psychological damage, thats fine.

She has issues, and she has tissues now, i guess.

It's Just not on. Even people who commit manslaughter get longer than that, and she was inattentive.

I'd be taking this to appeals court immediately.

[henk4]

it is all about the risks we take in venturing out in traffic, not only of being killed, but also to become a killer and I am sure it is nobody's intention to become the latter.

[Gt1Street]

Originally Posted by henk4

it is all about the risks we take in venturing out in traffic, not only of being killed, but also to become a killer and I am sure it is nobody's intention to become the latter.

its probably not the intent of most people to be come the first either

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Gt1Street

its probably not the intent of most people to be come the first either

but it is a risk that much more people actually consider....contrary to the other one.

[Gt1Street]

Originally Posted by henk4

but it is a risk that much more people actually consider....contrary to the other one.

Probably more then the second, but still you'd be amazed how many people dont even acknoladge that option either.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by Gt1Street

Probably more then the second, but still you'd be amazed how many people dont even acknoladge that option either.

well, which is sort of good, because frightened road users are often not the best ones.