Tuesday, 12 February 2008

Yield to Life: not everyone does

The most appalling story I have read this week surely has to be the Spanish case involving a motorist who hit and killed a 17 year-old cyclist and is now suing the cyclist's family for the damage to his car. Amazingly, no criminal charges were laid: it was held that the cyclist and the motorist were equally at fault as the cyclist went through a "Give Way" sign and was not wearing a helmet or reflective tape. On the other hand, the motorist was driving his A8 at 100 mph in a 55 mph zone!

The driver's insurance company gave the family a payment after admitting that the speed he was going probably contributed to the accident.

5 comments:

Will said...

reason number 20 why I ride like a cautious wimp

Unknown said...

The killer suing the poor boy's family was so outrageous that it stirred media and people's reactions. The day of the hearing hundreds gathered outside the tribunal protesting against Tomás Delgado. Finally, neither him nor his lawyer showed up, so all charges were dropped. You would think people should be a bit more sensible. Not this time.

Sprocketboy said...

vzabalza, thanks a lot for the update. It is amazing that anyone would think of doing this. If he had been in another country and hit a cyclist while going double the speed limit he would be spending time in prison.

Ron George said...

Both parties were wrong, one didn't wear a helmet but the other was blatantly unmoral asking for money after killing someone. Wow, whats wrong with this world..

Sprocketboy said...

An A8 weighs 4300 pounds. If that mass is coming at you at 100 mph you can be sure a helmet is not going to do all that much for you. Even if it is a really good one.