Criminal Me

About a month ago I knocked a cyclist off his bike.

I was dropping my daughter off at school, and paused briefly to let some cars and a box van come through a gap between parked cars towards me. The box van was quite scary as it passed- seemed like mere inches from my mirror, and filled up the whoe width of road. As soon as it had passed, I set off into the gap between the parked cars - no need to check mirrirs becasue the bax van was blocking off the whole road. Wrong! A schoolboy cyclist - either very courageous or completely oblivious - had squeezed through the gap and was no trying to occupy the same patch of tarmac as me.

I stopped, picked his bike up, and walked with him to the side of the road. After a few minutes of groaning and rubbing himself he seemed to be getting over it. I offered him my adress - he said 'no'. He now seemed to be over it and walked on to the school with his friends who had gathered around. I drove off and thought nothing more of it.

Till the following Tuesday.

At roughly the same place a police man stopped me " Were you involved in an incident...?" "Yes" etc. Apparently the boy wen tot hospital laetr in the day and had a broken wrist and ligament damage to his leg.

So this Saturday I was interviewed by the Police under caution, with a solicitor present.

I am accused of Careless Driving, of failing to give details, and of failing to report an injury accident.

Careless Driving (Because I didn't check my mirrors).

1. Surely that's 'Driving without due care and attention' (a lesser sin than 'Careless driving')?
2. I was not careless. The mirror check is to see if something is coming - in lieu of that check I had assessed that it was impossible for something to be coming because of the van filling the road. That was a mistake, an error of judgement, but making a mistake is not the same as 'careless'.

Failing to give details

I stopped, I spoke to the boy, I offered him my details, he said 'no'. It's not like I wa trying to run away form my responibilities - I was acting in good faith. The boy's assessment was that he didn't need the details. Was I supposed to staple them to his head?

Failing to report an injury accident

What injury? I knew nothing about the injuries until four days later. I was presented with a boy who was rubbing himself and groaning, but getting over it, telling me he was OK, and walking off. And he was rubbing himslef with the hand they say was broken. The polic man says I should have rung the school to find out how he was, but I don't think that is a requiremnt of the relevant law.

So. In Summary - If I was charged with Driving Without Due care and attention, I would take the hit. BUt I can't accept 'Careless driving' or the other accusations.

The file will go to the CPS, who may get round to looking at it some time next year.

If they decide to prosecute, I will have my day in court!