Terry Hammond, 43, of Boscawen Gardens, Braintree was riding his black Yamaha motorbike in Church Road, Witham, on February 20 when he was overtaken by a white van.
The van cut in sharply in front of the motorbike causing Hammond to brake to avoid a crash.
Hammond caught up to the van and rode on the other side of the road on a blind bend to talk to the van driver through the window.
A white Mercedes van was travelling in the other direction and collided with Hammond head on.
Hammond was filming the footage on his GoPro camera at the time so the whole incident was recorded. He was flown to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge by air ambulance and suffered life-changing injuries.
All entirely due to his own stupidity...
Hammond originally pleaded not guilty at Colchester Magistrates’ Court and was given a date of Wednesday, July 5 to appear at Chelmsford Crown Court where he changed his plea to guilty.
Probably because his lawyer pointed out he'd filmed the entire thing!
He was given a three month community order with a residence condition for three months, disqualified from driving for 12 months with an extended retest to be taken and ordered to pay costs of £50.
Is that all? Did the courts just decide that sooner or later, he'll be writing his own death sentence?
Presumably lots of time in stir and community service are out of the question when he's got "life changing injuries". Presumably not much chance of him getting on a bike again either...
ReplyDeleteI assume took the view that his own stupidity has punished him enough already and taught him a lesson he will never be able to forget. Handing down anything on top of 'life changing' injuries is almost pointless.
ReplyDeletePerson I feel really sorry for is the guy who hit him. No matter he was doing nothing wrong, he still has to live with the shock, trauma and the feelings of guilt-despite being not guilty. I've known similar cases where the totally innocent party has had such a hard time 'getting over' the accident they have stopped driving altogether/started drinking. The "What if"s are a killer: "What if I had been doing 58 not 60?" , "What if i hadn't been thinking about.."
When idiots meet! Feel sorry for the van driver going the other way who hit him, must have ruined his day.
ReplyDeleteThe incident should be made into a public information film (remember them?)and shown at peak time on all channels. Good point TBD, similar to train drivers who are unlucky enough to have some twat jump in front of their train.
ReplyDelete"Presumably not much chance of him getting on a bike again either..."
ReplyDeleteLet's hope so!
"The "What if"s are a killer: "What if I had been doing 58 not 60?" , "What if i hadn't been thinking about..""
"What if that silly bastard had taken more care..?"
"Feel sorry for the van driver going the other way who hit him..."
He's the only one I feel sorry for!
"The incident should be made into a public information film (remember them?)and shown at peak time on all channels. "
Those films don't seem to be seen by the people who need to see them. Or they are beyond help.