I was in court yesterday as a witness in a car-bike incident. People might be interested in the outcome. Three of us were riding in sequence (spread out) near Portobello Park on a Sunday morning in November 2013. As we complained to the police, a motorist behaved in a highly aggressive and potentially dangerous manner, honking its horn and then deliberately 'buzzing' us by veering towards each of us. Traffic was light, two lanes were available and we were all not far from the curb, so it was really quite bizarre. We had roughly consistent statements, but we had all seen things from different perspectives and events happened in a few seconds. I was impressed that the police filed charges, but a bit surprised that it actually went to trial. We all ended up in JP court yesterday (negligent driving). Sadly, the prosecution failed, for several reasons. The defendant's lawyer seemed to do a good job of creating doubt about what happened. I think as witnesses we were not great (we did not rehearse a common story or take the time to review our statements before coming to court -- and it was a long time ago), so for example one of us said there was no traffic and I directly contradicted this. I only hope the driver will take the warning and improve her behavior. Unfortunately the outcome might tend to make the police reluctant to prosecute similar cases. The officer who was involved with the case (and testifying yesterday) mentioned that helmet cams are being used by the police to prosecute motorists for crimes (such as driving on bike paths), so I suppose that is the only way forward.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
JP Court
(2 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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What can they really expect when it takes over a year to get to court.
Not the police or prosecution fault but ~14 months from incident to court is pathetic.
Posted 10 years ago #
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