Times of Malta reported the case of a cyclist who was severely injured in a road accident (Motorist Fined €200 After Hitting Cyclist, Breaking His Legs, May 13).
The courts continue to send the wrong message to motor vehicle drivers
The driver, who eventually admitted responsibility for the accident, was awarded a derisory penalty. According to the transcript of court proceedings, the driver of the car was arraigned on charges that included driving without due care and attention, driving in a negligent and dangerous manner, driving without due regard of traffic regulations, causing injuries of a serious nature to a cyclist, driving away from the scene of the accident, failing to give personal particulars and failing to report the incident to the police or local wardens.
The penalty of €200 and a two-week licence suspension, as awarded by the court, is derisory and shows shameful disregard for a severely injured legitimate road user.
Given the seriousness of the charges, fining the driver only €200 and suspending her driving licence for two weeks is disgraceful and an insult to the victim.
In civilised countries, even minor accidents involving vulnerable road users are taken very seriously. In a case like this, even with mitigation through admission of guilt by the driver, the driver would still be very severely penalised, especially so if the victim was left lying in the road.
Even if the €200 fine was paid as compensation to the victim, it would barely get him a replacement bicycle let alone cover the cost of medical treatment.
One may well ask: who will ultimately bear the costs of medical treatment if the victim is unable to sue the driver?
If hospital treatment is at the Government’s expense, then the taxpayer will end up compensating for a driver’s negligence.
In countries where all road users are protected by the law, responsibility for such an accident would probably have meant imprisonment and a two-year licence suspension.
There have been, in the recent past (2008-2012), seven other bicycle accidents caused by motor vehicles. In two of these, the cyclist was killed. These accidents were followed up by the police only because they could not be ignored owing to the severity of the injuries. But little has happened in the meantime.
As things now stand, accidents involving cyclists are largely ignored by the police in the first place, usually on grounds that no serious injury was sustained. In this way, drivers who endanger cyclists or pedestrians in our streets escape criminal proceedings.
In the rare event that a driver is arraigned, the courts tend to adopt a lenient approach towards vehicle drivers, even to the point where the victim is made to feel responsible for the accident.
Typical such cases were reported in the press on December 12, 2008 (Driver Cleared Of Injuring Young Fast Bicycle Rider) and May 7, 2013 (Young Cyclist Told Motorist Who Hit Him: ‘Don’t Worry It’s Not Your Fault’).
In both instances, the cyclist was considered entirely to blame when the facts as reported rather suggested that this was not the case.
The seven pending accidents are only the tip of the iceberg, as they only represent a few cases out of so many other incidents that were simply ignored.
As long as such absurdly lenient penalties continue to be awarded, the courts will continue to send the wrong message to motor vehicle drivers that they can endanger vulnerable road users with impunity.
It is little wonder that conditions on our roads are so dangerous.