The cyclist in
the video below used the footage to secure a sanction against the driver who
performed a left hook on him as he pulled away from the lights.
Using video
evidence like this is in its infancy in the Republic and some of the (few) cases we have covered on
stickybottle have involved cases going to the courts.
However, this one
was much cleaner and faster; the garda issuing a fixed charge notice
after seeing the video.
The incident occurred
on the school run on the morning of September 25th. The cyclist, Alan, was on a
cargo bike with his two children.
As the video
shows, he pulled up to a red light and went ahead of the van into the cycling
box.
However, when the
light went green the van driver attempted to pass and take the immediate left turn, cutting off Alan and his kids on
the bike.
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Rather than
contacting Traffic Watch, he called his local Garda station. He outlined the
incident and the gardai asked him to call in with the video.
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About an hour
later he did so, with a short
pre-prepared statement already written out to make sure the case went on the record immediately.
He showed a garda
the clip and the driver was later contacted and also shown the footage, with a
statement also taken from him.
After a bit of back and forth between all parties, in recent days Alan got the news an FCN and fine - for driving without due care and attention - had just been issued to the driver; roughly one month after the event.
“I've reported
five or six incidents over
the past year, mainly close passes,
that haven't gone anywhere,” Alan told stickybottle.
“I think this incident was so clear cut the gardai were able to pursue it. Cases where
it's the cyclist’s ‘opinion’
that the driver put them at risk don't seem to go far.
“The
footage was the difference between a ‘my
word against his’ scenario, I believe.”
This is a good
example of the value of video footage and acting quickly, as well as bringing a
prepared written statement with you to the Garda station outlining where and
when an incident occurred and exactly what happened.
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