Interesting comparison

I'm not x-posting this to another place, as there's enough trolling going on there as it is.

Compare the media coverage to the sad death of a teenager hit by a cyclist, with all the usual *generalised* anti-cyclist rhetoric spouted in the press, TV etc. and the much lower amount of media coverage to this sad case where someone else died:-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4301595.ece

"Widow calls for change in law after lorry driver is fined £275 for killing cyclist"

"The widow of a cyclist killed by a lorry criticised the courts toady after the driver was fined only £275 for careless driving.
Glenn Syder, a father of four, died after being struck by Kashmire Nahal's lorry when the motorist pulled out of a busy junction in Havant, Hampshire, last November.

Nahal, 36, from Hayes in Middlesex, pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Magistrates' Court yesterday to careless driving and failing to give way.

He was fined £275, ordered to pay £60 costs and given six penalty points on his licence.

Angela Syder, the victim's widow, described the sentence as “ludicrous” and called on the Government to immediately implement the new charge of causing death by careless driving.

The new law was introduced as part of the Road Safety Bill in 2005 and was given Royal Assent in November 2006, but has not been given a starting date by the Government although it is expected to come into force this August.

The charge would carry a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment. The current charge of careless driving has a maximum sentence of a £2,500 fine.

Mrs Syder, 52, from Fareham, said: “It just doesn't seem right that someone can do this and cause all this devastation and just be given a fine and a few points on his licence.

“I'm extremely upset and angry by the whole process.

“Surely the fine should have been more hefty than it was — the driver hasn't even been banned from driving.

“I thought the sentence was very low, I thought he would get fined somewhere near the maximum and to get off with so little is terrible.

“The Government needs to implement the changes in law that have been agreed about a new offence of causing death by careless driving so that the sentences in cases like this reflect what has actually happened.

Yesterday the family of a teenager fatally injured by a cyclist criticised his “laughable” fine claiming that he should have been tried for manslaughter.

Jason Howard, 36, was fined £2,200 after he was found guilty of dangerous cycling. He hit 17-year-old Rhiannon Bennett, who struck her head on the pavement as she fell and died of her injuries.

Her father, Mick Bennett, condemned Howard as an “arrogant and vile little man” who should have faced manslaughter charges and been jailed for several years.

Referring to the need for the new law of causing death by dangerous driving to come into force, Cathy Keeler, of Brake, the road safety charity, said: “In situations where there is now a law sitting on the statute book, ready to come in, we don't understand why the Government has not set a start date.

“In courts day after day penalties are being imposed which are completely inappropriate for the devastation that has been caused. £275 for a life seems ridiculous.” "

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Relevant Pages

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