Cycling UK Forum

Driver found guilty of death by careless driving, only sentenced to 36 weeks (no reduction in sentence for pleading guilty).

http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/driver-jailed-over-death-of-colin-taylor-in-hitcham-1-5450604

Left the scene
Lied to all and sundry
Denied all responsibility throughout the investigation until just before the trial was due to start

Apparently a suspended sentence could not be passed because:

"Sentencing Tuffs at Ipswich Crown Court today (Monday) Judge Goodin said he did not feel able to pass a suspended sentence as the defendant had “cynically” failed to stop after the accident and had driven on."

So that's it get killed by a motorist, who will likely only be charged with careless driving and your life is worth 36 weeks in prison. However if they plead guilty from the start, did not leave the scene and said they were full of remorse, chances are the sentence would be suspended, at least that is what I read from the comment above.

The BBC report is a bit of a white wash IMHO, it includes excuses for the driver not seeing the cyclist, why would the BBC do this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-43541720

From the Southern Daily Echo

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/15787291.Motorist_who_caused_death_of_cyclist_is_spared_prison/?ref=mr&lp=18

in summary...

Driver drove through a giveway at a crossroads at 37 mph and killed a cyclist, was tried for causing death by dangerous driving, found not guilty but then admitted to causing death by careless driving and was sentenced accordingly.

Driver was handed an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and banned from driving for three years. Driver was also told to complete 250 hours of unpaid work and pay prosecution costs of £1,500

In case anyone is interested, there is a relatively cheap charger from Duracell, that has eight individual charging circuits, I have used one for over a year and regularly charge odd numbers of batteries in mixtures of AAA and AA.

Duracell CEFF22 on Amazon link
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Duracell-Rechargeable-CEF22-Multi-Battery-Charger/dp/B001GXVZFY/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1321904209&sr=8-11

I also bought three of these torches as Christmas presents.

I've got an Urban 400-2006 model

It is my work horse commuter bike, the suspension forks do not lock out on mine (SR Suntour NRX-6000), the adjusters are only for stiffening up the spring a bit. No problems in adjusting, you can't really do any harm, wind both adjusters either all the way clockwise or anti clockwise as a starting point then adjust both equally (counting clicks or rotations) pushing down on the handlebars to test resistance.

The tyres that came with the bike were terrible, very thin and punctured all the time, I put Marathon Plus ATBs on them and have not had a puncture since (3000+ miles), though these tyres alone added 2.2 kilogrammes to the weight of the bike.

I regularly do 30-40 mile trips on the Urban 400 as an extra workout it is a lot harder than doing the same trip on the road bike. I manage around 11-12 mph average speed on the hybrid where as I can average 16-17mph on the road bike for similar or less effort. But on the hybrid I can nip off road along bridle paths, canal paths and other routes for a bit of variety.

The hybrid saddle is padded and on a suspension seat post and I do feel the ride a little more in the nether reigons than I do on the road bike, but it is only mild discomfort and this fades to nothing a couple of hours after the ride has finished.

But the hybrid is a go almost anywhere bike, I know some national sustrans routes that I would not want to take a road bike along but the Urban 400 would feel most at home on.

So I would say that it is a reasonable tourer, capable of being fitted with full mudguards, rack and panniers. Not as efficient as a fixed fork but not not terrible.