What change do you want to make now to address the climate change crisis? Dangerous Drivers who injure or kill cyclist should be treated as an aggravated crime What do you need to make this change? Prosecutors and politicians to have the the courage to do what is right
It's often said that if you want to get away with murder, just run someone over. It's not treated seriously at all - just an "accident". When evidence is shown that drivers have been on their phones when they've killed someone, they get as little as two years in prison, or even escape prison. Dangerous driving needs to be taken seriously and sentenced as such - lifetime driving bans, and prison terms comparable to murder.
More inclined to say that the rule should be any dangerous use of a road by any user is a serious criminal offence .
it already is.
There is something about how the police/prosecution services see cyclists wrt to road collisions . They don't see them as victims in the same way they would see the victim of an assault with a knife or other weapon. That is the point I am making.
Dangerous Drivers can seriously injure cyclists and the prosecution service doesn't even consider the injured party as a victim and often trivialises the offence by not bringing forth charges or not the correct charges and will often accept pleas to lesser charges which they wouldn't do for let's say , domestic abuse.Getting Dangerous Drivers off the roads should be a priority to encourage active travel.
It's not really about cyclists, motor vehicles are potential killing machines and this needs to be appreciated when using them. People that can't use them responsibly cannot be trusted to respect people's lives, and that merits treating as a serious crime. We have grown too used to road deaths and have normalised them and the behaviour that causes them. We need to change so other life-threatening behaviour becomes as unacceptable as drink driving has now become.
An aggravated crime is a crime which takes place as a result of the perpetrator commiting the offence because of a prejudicial view of the victim (e.g. religion, sexuality, gender). Suggesting dangerous driving is aggravated is stupid. Clearly road accidents do not happen because drivers are out to kill cyclists.
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