Driver avoids prison term for killing cyclist

The car seems to be the only thing you can kill someone with and not commit murder or manslaughter....

What about a civil case for financial compensation?

Wouldn't be justice but would at least it would value a life at more than er... nothing...

disgusting

i read the article on the BBC site, and also noticed an article about 2 men being hit by a car in glasgow that was being treated as attempted murder. seems ironic

WHEN will "Judges/Sheriffs" be educated about life in the real world? Justice is what they are supposed to dispense, not platitudes nor "token chatisements"!
Chauffeured to work, cossetted in old world dignity they have no idea how the ordinary world operates nor the expectations that grieving relatives have! Step on their dignity and you will get a custodial sentence but kill a relative of theirs i cannot believe they would be as indifferent as this "Poor example of Scottish Law"!
As regards the mongrel who kills cyclists and threatens his clients, pass the word as to where he lives and works and treat/fend off all who deal with him with a barge pole! when he can no longer earn a living or be accepted in "society" as a human being then he may learn to reform his ways but others of the same mentality will see what they face if they behave in a similar fashion.
Being a "bumboy in prison" would have been the correct way to solve his anti social behaviour ! Don't count on being safe on the roads as this type of idiot will flout the law having nothing to lose now!

He over speeds, drives on the wrong side of the road and tries it on about lights.

Also threatens people.

At least they could ban them forever.

Another nail in the coffin of decent society.

Driving is a responsibility and a privilege, and should be suspended for those that flout their responsibility.

Ban for life. Let him get a bike and a trailer to ply his trade.

It seems The Law - or more specifically in this case The Judge - is an ass!

i cant believe how stupid and ignorant that judge was he should go to prison himself what being so offensive to cyclists. we need to be safe on the roads and drivers like this don't give a toss whether they run us over or not

i'm disgusted by this i mean who are we protecting here

Killing someone is killing someone - but I do wonder if the judge would have been quite so lenient if it had been say a 6 year old child he'd killed?

Sheriff Craig McSherry sends out the wrong message by not jailing the yob who killed Bryan Taylor. My sympathy goes to the family of Bryan Taylor.
Why always aportion blame on the cyclist?

It seems to me that if you want to kill someone and get away with it, then you should do it from behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.

Unfortunately, the judge does not live in the real world. Imagine what the sentence would have been if the motorist had killed another motorist in head-on while driving on the wrong side of the road. I don't think that would have been called "careless driving". It seems that the definition of careless/dangerous/reckless depends on who you kill ...

"This quite obviously had a terrible outcome for the family of the accused"

What about the outceom for the family of the victim? 'Nuff said? The courts need to dish out some realistic sentencing.

This guy was clearly driving like someone who didn't care - if he didn't care about his driving, then we should assume he takes similarly little care about his liberty and lock him away for a very, very long time

I am beginning to think judges, sheriffs and magistrates who preside over fatal traffic accident cases should not be allowed driving licences themselves. There seems to be far too much empathy and sympathy for the accused. And, if found guilty, far too much concern over the convict's ability to make a living if denied the privilege of driving for more than a year or so. Yes, there is no point bankrupting someone, forcing them into a life of crime, but simply being a plumber or a taxi driver shouldn’t be a licence to mow down cyclists and get away with it. A non-driving judge wouldn’t suffer from the “there but for the grace of god go I” mentality, and wouldn’t feel hypocritical about having speeded themselves, perhaps on the very same stretch of road. As it is, it is like NRA members being the judges on a fatal shooting cases.

Is there anything an individual cyclist or one of the national cycling clubs can do to lobby the Procurator Fiscal to appeal against that sentence.

Farcically lenient.

60mph in a 40mph zone and on the wrong side of the road not reckless? WTF is then?

I may live in London now but I come from Edinburgh and I do know that road where the accident happened. Believe me, 60mph is not an appropriate speed by any means.

In cases where sentencing is too lenient,the Procurator Fiscal can appeal the sentence. But! The charge was for careless driving which I presume the Procurator Fiscal agreed to! I don't think the charge can be changed (though I'm not an expert on Scots Law). To our reading, it is, of course, ludicrous that this is defined as careless driving.

Disgusting

Sickening. I'm betting he'll be out on the same road at the same speed straight after he gets his licence back, not giving a s**t that he killed someone.

It's just not right.

Well, at least we know that doing 20 miles over the speed limit isn't reckless.

FFS.

terrible - the guy sounds like a real jerk too. A prison sentence would have been appropriate given the offence. The judge was wrong.

Disgusting. How can this give any cyclist hope that justice will be done in the event that the worst should happen?