I thought I would throw up

Mum is cleared of causing death of cyclist

Published Date: 03 May 2010

A physiotherapist accused of causing the death by dangerous driving of a cyclist through not clearing her windscreen properly has been found not guilty.

Lisa Jackson, 39, was tried on two counts, one of death by dangerous driving and one of death by careless driving.

A jury at Chichester Crown Court delivered not guilty verdicts on both counts.

They took less than an hour to make their decision

The court had heard Mrs Jackson was taking her children to school when the accident happened.

She was turning right from Fishbourne Road East into Clay Lane, Fishbourne, on February 11 last year when she hit 85-year-old George Canterbury.

Mr Canterbury, of Salthill Road, Fishbourne, died four days after the accident after sustaining severe head injuries.

Some eye-witnesses said Mrs Jackson had not cleaned her windscreen properly from the overnight frost.

But the mother-of-three, of Fishbourne Road East, said she had been blinded by sunlight and had not seen him.

She said: 'I felt I had cleared the windscreen sufficiently with the scraper and particularly as the heaters had been on at least five minutes I didn't feel there was any reason to wait any longer.'

There was a gasp of relief as the verdict was read out. Judge Claudia Ackner thanked the jury for its time.

'This has not been an easy case and I thank you very much,' she added.

via portsmouth.co.uk

I'm a cyclist.

Sometimes you read something like this and your head spins and you want to vomit.

Should a new offence be created "Causing death by impatient driving"?

Just after we moved to Horsham someone was killed just by our house, wet road, clear sky, low sun, slight uphill slope, the sun was in the drivers eyes, the windscreen was misted and not fully defrosted and the cyclist was wearing hi-viz so didn't stand out. That driver was found not guilty as well.

Nothing seems to change, drivers kill cyclists but it's no one's fault, no one is guilty of anything.

Posted via web from greg collins' posterous