http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Good person ≠ competent person en Mon, 18 May 2026 21:36:24 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=12046#post-139844 Tue, 14 Jan 2014 16:45:27 +0000 ARobComp 139844@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/the-problem-with-good-people/" rel="nofollow">http://beyondthekerb.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/the-problem-with-good-people/</a></p> <p>An interesting article about the way the courts differentiate between negligence and malice in cases where a good person causes a death (usually of a cyclist) through dangerous or careless cycling.</p> <p><blockquote>"Deborah Lumley-Holmes struck Julian Evans from behind while he “was cycling on a straight stretch of road on a dry, sunny day with clear visibility“, fatally injuring him. She was given a suspended sentence, was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work, and was disqualified from driving for one year.</blockquote>"</p> <p><blockquote>"The first reaction to fatal incompetence should be to simply prevent that incompetence being an issue. Take killers off the roads. There is no moral judgment in this: it is purely a matter of a driver’s qualification and other road users’ safety.</p> <p>Do that first. Then, if there’s a need to make a moral judgment on other aspects of a case – such as fleeing the scene or becoming enraged or exhibiting flagrant disregard for safety – then that becomes something that can be judged in a “normal” criminal context.</p> <p>But a revocation of a licence is simply pragmatic and sanguine. A churchgoer who does not drive is no morally poorer than one who does."</blockquote></p> <p><blockquote>"Being a Good Person – whatever you consider to be the Good Acts that define them as such – does not make you a Competent Person. It does not make you a safe driver. It has absolutely nothing to do with it."</blockquote> </p>