According to the CPS, a 5 year custodial sentence is possible for causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, and one key mitigating factor is:
- The actions of the victim or a third party contributed to the commission of the offence
IE if the judge took the testimony of Police officers as true regarding this man speeding, this is probably why she avoided jail.
That said, I think in this instance the decision to perform a U turn in a van (notorious for blind spots) on a busy road at night with a blind bend behind her* could be reasonably construed as dangerous not simply careless.
*If she did it where I think she did it, just after the entrance to a 40MPH zone (from a 60MPH zone) where there is quite a blind bend just before the bus stop layby.
Like it or not, the word of a Police officer will almost always carry more weight than that of a civilian, and in many cases rightly so - particularly where speed is concerned because the average civilian bystander has absolutely no idea how fast vehicles are going and this is has been shown many times in tests. When my father was almost killed other road users were coming out with increadibly inflated speeds 80,90,100 MPH!! When in actual fact the Police crash investigators decided he was doing approximately 45MPH in a 60 zone.
The investigation team should have been able to approximate the bikers speed in their investigation, and I find it very interesting that information is completely omitted from all of the articles I have read so far, other than a parting shot on the BBC website "During the trial, the jury was told Mr Gibson was probably speeding at the time of the crash"
Given it is a 60 down to a 40 and given where I believe the accident happened the blind bend is probably only 100 yards back from the layby, I would hazard a guess that the judge felt there was credibility to the suggestion of the biker not being there when she checked and BAM! being there all of a sudden (due to speeding).
As with many road traffic incidents, I think it is often the result of mistakes by more than 1 party. That is of little consolation to the bikers family, but unfortunately it is true. For example the biker that was killed where a car pulled across him on a junction. The car driver made a monumental mistake, but the biker was not entirely innocent as he was going far too fast for the situation.
I feel sorry for all of those involved because I genuinely believe this Police officer made a genuine error in judgement that was fatally compounded by the additional error in judgement of the biker.
So whilst you cannot put a price on life, there are mitigating circumstances and I believe the damage done to this officers reputation, careeer, finances and future prospects will be enough punishment (along with her own remorse, because I can guarantee she is a decent human being and this incident will be keeping her up at night).
I think the judge has hit the nail on the head, it is a human tragedy for all concerned.
