Driver turned into path of biker, causing crash
A MOTORCYCLIST was left with serious injuries after a motorist tried to do a U-turn on one of Derby’s busiest roads.
Padma Singh had been driving along Sir Frank Whittle Road on Saturday, March 7, last year, when he got stuck in traffic and attempted to turn around in the carriageway.
In the process the 45-year-old, who was driving a Nissan Micra and had possessed a UK driving licence for two years before the incident, collided with a motorbike which was coming in the opposite direction.
The crash left the male rider with multiple injuries including a broken ankle, broken tibia, fractured fibula and dislocated knee.
Singh, whose listed address was given as the Temple Shri Guru Ravi Dass, in Duncan Road, Normanton, pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court.
Peter Bettany, prosecuting, said when Singh was interviewed by police he admitted he had been behind the wheel.
“He said he had missed his turning, traffic was slow moving so he decided to make a U-turn,” he said.
“He said he had checked in all
The biker would have been hard to see but Mr Singh is not making any excuses.
Sarah Green, defending
SUSTAINING SERIOUS INJURIES
directions and then the motorcycle appeared.”
Sarah Green, mitigating for Singh, who works as a minister of religion at the Sikh temple in Duncan Road, said he had been extremely remorseful about what happened.
“Mr Singh committed a serious mistake on the roads back in March but it was a one-off mistake from him,” she said.
“He tells me that he did check before starting his U-turn but accepts he could not have checked
properly otherwise it wouldn’t have happened. The way the motorbike was being driven would have made it hard to see, although the defendant is extremely anxious to say he is not blaming the motorcyclist.
“He made full admissions and expressed his remorse at police interview. He remains extremely upset that his actions that day caused injuries to the gentleman.”
Magistrates endorsed his driving licence with six points.
As the incident took place within two years of passing his test, this meant his licence was revoked. He was also ordered to pay a £115 fine, £32 victim surcharge and £85 in costs.
They said: “This was a very serious matter. The law requires that we take into account additional factors that aggravate the sentence.
“These are that injury was caused to another party, there was damage to another vehicle and the incident occurred in a busy road where there was a lot of traffic.”