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news
Keith Ancona hits cyclists at Essex bike race (Essex Police).jpgEssex motorist jailed for deliberately driving into racing cyclists (+ video)
A man has been jailed for 14 months after deliberately driving into five cyclists taking part in a bike race in Steeple in October. Keith Ancona had already gone past a road block when he hit the cyclists and drove off at speed afterwards.
The Maldham and Burnham Standard reports that Ancona had been driving his partner and two daughters to a children’s birthday party in his Audi A5.
While travelling along Batts Road, he was asked to wait for a bike race. He drove past a road block and was then stopped by a race marshal.
A heated exchange is said to have drawn the attention of a number of riders who had already finished. The winner stood in front of the car to block him and banged on the bonnet.
Richard Partridge, prosecuting, said: “The driver got back into his car and drove through a group of five cyclists. They were thrown into the air and onto the bonnet of the car, causing property damage in the region of £10,000. The defendant then drove off at high speed past the cyclists.”
Footage of the incident was released by Essex Police.
Man jailed for 14 months at Chelmsford Crown Court, on Thursday, June 15, for dangerous driving following a collision in October 2016. pic.twitter.com/h6XEHIGElh
— Essex Police (@EssexPoliceUK) June 30, 2017
Ancona failed to stop at the scene but handed himself in at Chelmsford police station five days later.
He admitted dangerous driving and causing actual bodily harm and was sentenced to six months in prison for dangerous driving, and an additional eight months for causing actual bodily harm, as well as being disqualified from driving for 22 months.
Judge David Turner said: “I’m not sure what you were thinking. You were in a powerful car with your partner and two children heading to a birthday party.
“You completely lost control. What happened was chilling behaviour. You tore off, knocking down cyclists and damaging a number of bikes.
“There can be no doubt in this case that as you drove off at some speed with no care to marshals or the public, including your young family, you were driving dangerously.”
Investigating officer PC Alan Lamb said: “We had CCTV footage of this incident, which was provided to us by a member of the public – this proved to be an invaluable asset to our investigations and is something we would encourage everyone to send across to us if they have video evidence of an incident.
"If you want to send in video or dash cam footage of a road incident, please email it to driving.complaints [at] essex.pnn.police.uk."
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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49 comments
Correct. Driving should be seen by society as a privilege, not as a right.
Worry not people of Derbyshire, this doesn't apply to you.
All the hallmarks of the Nice attack. High security prison at the least.
The Audi is now without a doubt the wankers car of choice, I see more incidents on my commute involving Audis than any other car. They've even pushed BMW's into second place.
Mercedes are challenging for the tosseriest marque round my way now. BMWs don't even seem to feature; the image became so uncool that only proper petrolheads seem to buy them these days - and proper petrolheads don't use their car as a weapon.
The brands favoured by incompetent drivers seem to be Kia and Nissan. I try to avoid their jacked-up hatchback-fake off-roaders like the plague.
Audi drivers in Essex. They're not all maniacs, for sure, but as far as high risk groups for road rage go I can only think of a few worse, like cabbies in London, and drivers of red Ferraris with the number 5 on the front called Sebastian anywhere.
Courier van drivers, generally Latvian/Brasilian/from somewhere else where a driving licence costs $5,
Surrey hosewives wafting around narrow county lanes at 70 in a 4 ton White Range Rover Vogue SEs,
90 year olds in Honda Jazz's/Nissan Micras who cannot see beyond the end of the bonet and have the reaction times of a pissed-up 3-toed sloth
Terry in a chavved up Corsa/Astra with full road scraping skirts and a galvanised dustbin exhaust.
..are a few that spring to mind.
That's Maldon not Maldham,as in Alex Dowsett's Maldon in Essex part of the country. I'd hate to say typical Audi driver, so I won't,but it does feel fairly typical behaviour for lots of drivers in Essex I've encountered whose patience and ability to drive safely around other road users seems to be merely optional as far as they are concerned.
Why are you sigling out Essex? It's no worse than anywhere else.
I woukd disagree with you. I find drivers in Essex to be significantly more aggressive and entitled than in a lot od other places and get a lot more abuse and close passes when I ride there than when I ride in North Wales, Cheshire or yorkshire (which I do regularly)
I was almost hit on a mini roundabout this morning..by an Audi.
I will then....typical Audi driver...cunt
Am I cunt when I drive my Audi? And am I still a cunt when I put on the lycra and throw a leg over my bike (of which I have more than one)? I imagine I'm also a cunt when I drive my 4x4 which is a problem as some drivers think I'm a cunt when I ride my bike because I don't pay the mythical road tax.
I am a cunt though, but not for any reason that you can think of.
But I'm not a thick cunt.
It depends whether you drive your Audi in a way that other people would call "typical" (I shouldn't need to describe this on a road cycling forum). There is a reason that Audi drivers have been labelled 'the new cocks of the road' but most of us realise that that doesn't mean that every owner of that marque drives like a c..t.
Similarly, drivers of Chelsea tractors give the impression that the inflated size and cost of ownership means they have purchased greater rights to the road than everyone else and that the rest of us should get out of their way (including other, smaller cars). This doesn't seem to happen with Land Rovers or drivers of more modest 4x4s.
If it troubles you sufficiently then you could consider buying a less aspirational marque.
If this twat had deliberately tried to injure a family member of mine I would consider waiting for his release and subsequently ensure that he couldn't walk, let alone drive.
I'd have thought that as cyclists, we'd be more aware and shy away from using sweeping generalisations.
Are Audis aspirational? I'd be aiming a little higher if I were you.
Sweeping generalisation there...
Many Audi drivers seem to think they are, despite the fact that you can park a brand new one on your drive for £200 a month.</car_snob>
People who ride bikes are not a homogenous group with shared values and Dalai Lama-like levels of empathy or insight.
Many people consider them to be. Perhaps it depends on your starting point.
I have no desire to 'aim higher' - by which I guess you mean more expensive. I consider such cars to be a complete waste of money.
At least it's custodial but it's still a lame sentence.
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