Derbyshire Road Rage

[blinkered]

This sounds pretty ugly... saw it shared on facebook:
http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Road-rage-victim-s-plea-4x4-driver/story-19669404-detail/story.html#axzz2cCZ7xtO1

[jonbott]

nasty

[Mick F]

Yes, nasty.

A friend of ours some years ago - as a pedestrian - was hit by a 4x4 locally late one night. She was dragged under and left for dead. The driver just left her there. She was found on the road some time later like a bag of rags and was in intensive care for weeks, but thankfully made a full recovery. This is ten years ago now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3933749.stm

The police were involved of course and they "know" who the driver was and the vehicle he was driving and who his passenger was, but they have no proof. There were no witnesses except the passenger in the car, but there were no independent witnesses. The police know who the culprits are through "intelligence" but unless someone owns up and is ready to stand up in court, the police can do nothing. They have no definitive solid evidence at all.

Back to the OP
Do the police know anything about Mark Canning's incident? Were there any witnesses? The Derby Telegraph article doesn't say if anyone saw the incident.

If no-one did, and no-one comes forward. That's the end of it, just like our friend's incident.

[TonyR]

Is Carl Baxter back on the roads now?

The absence of witnesses is not so much of a problem with modern forensics. If they know the suspect they can probably pick up their time and location from their mobile phone records and if there was a collision there is likely to have been paint transfer between the bike and Range Rover. There may even be DNA transfer where the cyclist contacted the car. But the police have got to want to get the conviction before they will bother going to those lengths which is the main problem for cyclists.

[Mick F]

The absence of witnesses is not so much of a problem with modern forensics.

True, but you need a vehicle to impound to check. You need witnesses or other evidence to put the suspect at the scene at the time.

[TonyR]

You need witnesses or other evidence to put the suspect at the scene at the time.

That's where mobile phone records come in and even in-car GPS data plus CCTV footage.

[dougie]

Ditto all comments about this being a nasty incident and good wishes for a good recovery. Certainly hope the offender is tracked down and dealt with appropriately.

I know this is a bit of a sweeping comment (and there will be many exceptions, of course) but I find Range Rovers pretty intimidating on the roads, especially versions with black tinted windows. There's something about some cars, Range Rovers in particular, that makes me feel extra cautious.

[Big T]

How many green Range Rovers can there be?

[Urticaria]

That's where mobile phone records come in and even in-car GPS data plus CCTV footage.

Good point, several thousand mobiles might have been registered with the local base station at the time, but this is one case where a moving target makes him easier to identify, especially since we know which way he was moving. It does sound like it all comes down to will power of the police. I bet they have access to the tools.

Heathrow is trialling a complete data-fusion surveillance system at the moment that tries to correlate all type of suspicious behaviour from the CCTV and various sensors. And the police have already fused together tens of thousands of CCTV cameras nationwide for the purposes of tracking cars. One day soon, if not now, it will be just a few seconds of work to solve an incident like this.

[iviehoff]

I find Range Rovers pretty intimidating on the roads, especially versions with black tinted windows. There's something about some cars, Range Rovers in particular, that makes me feel extra cautious.

It's because you have this subliminal thought that a Range Rover with black tinted windows is just what a gangster would drive - at least on TV crime thrillers.

[Big T]

The guy who got knocked off was on East Midlands news this morning, he looked OK, but has a plaster cast on his hand, so must have broken a bone.

I drove past the scene of this incident yesterday afternoon. It's a busy road so I'm surprised nobody else saw anything. Apparently police have checked a nearby CCTV camera, but it hasn't revealed anything.

[DaveGos]

I find that the majority of aggression I experience on the roads comes from 4 by 4 drivers , to the extent now I have a hate for 4 by 4s that is probably not entirely logical , but they encapsulate everything I hate in motoring ( I drive 20,000 miles a year and cycle about 6- 7000 miles so its not that I hate cars in general)

[Urticaria]

He could have done with my neodymium magnet cycle suit. It only cost £10 in magnets from ebay, supplemented with a few from old hard drives in my gloves. I figure that if receive a knock from a car, I'm better off sticking to the car than crashing out, or landing in a heap in the road to be hit by other cars since it is stopping that hurts. I'm wary of Audis because some of them have aluminium body panels.

[jonbott]

He could have done with my neodymium magnet cycle suit. It only cost £10 in magnets from ebay, supplemented with a few from old hard drives in my gloves. I figure that if receive a knock from a car, I'm better off sticking to the car than crashing out, or landing in a heap in the road to be hit by other cars since it is stopping that hurts. I'm wary of Audis because some of them have aluminium body panels.

thats a good idea I remember back in my yoof me and brother got knocked off our tandem coming off a roundabout,and trying to grab the car as we slid onto the floor

[meic]

In this incident, like many others, I can not understand why the number plate wasnt taken. It is always my first action to get the number plate and start chanting it. Yes i can get it a bit muddled but if the Police were bothered there would be enough to find the correct vehicle.

Shock news for some of you: Not everybody has a mobile phone or leaves it turned on while driving.