Get harsher on selfish motorists

A YEAR has passed since the introduction of six points for driving whilst using a mobile phone.

Cyclist and father, Lee Martin, 49, is one of many

cyclists/innocents that have been killed by drivers using a mobile phone.

In January 2006, four cyclists were killed when a car with three defective tyres skidded into a 12-strong group from the Rhyl Cycling Club: magistrates decided that the defective tyres did not cause the crash.

For the said “accident”, the driver was fined £180.

With three defective tyres, a car would fail an MOT, and therefore should not have been on the road, and Britain’s worst cycling tragedy would not have happened.

In April 2004, cyclist Ashley Carpenter, 37, was jailed for 16 months for slashing almost 2,000 tyres in revenge attacks on “inconsiderate motorists” after a car nearly knocked him off his bike and another drenched him after driving through a puddle.

In my 60-plus years of cycling, almost 120,000 cyclists have been killed by ‘inconsiderate motorists.’

Also, I’ve been knocked off my bike by ‘inconsiderate motorists’ no fewer than 12 times, and had five cycling pals who’ve been killed.

Last year, cyclist Charlie Aliston, 20, was jailed for 18 months, for knocking over and killing a woman as he sped, at 18mph, through east London on a ‘fixed-wheel’ bike with no front brake.

In order to get the harshest punishment possible for Aliston, the prosecution went to great lengths to show that, had he had a front brake, he could have stopped before hitting the pedestrian.

Given that Britain has almost 50% of its population who can’t afford to drive, aren’t allowed to drive, or indeed don’t want to drive, ie. carbon neutral, we clearly need far tougher penalties for ‘inconsiderate motorists’! ALLAN RAMSAY Radcliffe