Lucas Akins - Mansfield Town

Sorry for the DM link, but just wondering what people's thoughts are on this.

Professional footballer who killed cyclist in crash after giving him 'no time to brake' is jailed https://mol.im/a/14644171 via https://dailym.ai/android

Basically, the guy has been given 14 months in prison for the offence of "Causing Death by Careless or Inconsiderate Driving". He was pulling out of a give way junction slowly, but failed to see a cyclist coming, and said cyclist appears to have smashed into him and lost his life.

The whole thing is bloody tragic, that goes without saying. But I have to be honest here, the concept of the offence of "death by careless or inconsiderate driving" doesn't sit easy with me.

If it was dangerous or reckless driving, then fair enough - a car is a 2 ton lethal weapon when used in a dangerous manner and if someone goes out and wilfully drives like a lunatic then they deserve what's coming to them.

But careless driving driving is just that, careless. It's a minor mistake. One that, unfortunately, in this case, resulted in horrific consequences, but it doesn't change the fact that it was a mistake. The guy didn't set out to do anything wrong, it just happened. It's almost certain that every driver has at some point made a mistake that, if seen by the police, could have been classed as careless driving. We just got away with it, that's all. We should all strive to the highest standard of driving at all times and recognise that what we are doing is dangerous. But mistakes happen. If the cyclist had come out of it with cuts and bruises then the guy would likely have got 3 points and a small fine.

So, I am thinking:

a. Does the guy deserve to be in prison?

b. Do we want to live in a society where you can jailed for a long time for an unintentional mistake?

c. Is it really the best use of limited public funds to jail an otherwise law abiding person who made a mistake. What purpose is it serving?

d. Is it correct that the same offence can have such wildly different punishments depending on the outcome. ie punishing the outcome not the offence.

I have seen some comments on the article where people are calling it manslaughter and saying he should be jailed for life and we are too soft. I genuinely think that is utterly ludicrous. A man died, I get that. But does every death have to result in someone being imprisoned. Or is life sometimes just sh1.t?

Genuinely interested in what others think about it. I'll leave it at that. Cheers.

 

He lied about having looked left and right twice and caused further distress to the family by refusing to accept responsibility for what he'd done until the day of the trial.

 

He's got 14 months for not watching what he was doing while driving and killing someone.
The victim is dead they're not coming back into normality in 14 months they're gone forever.
If you ask me he s got away with a light sentence. Far too many people drive like they are the only people on the road and nobody else matters.

 

As every non-driver knows, if you want to murder somebody just use a car.

I do agree that the outcome shouldn't necessarily affect the sentence, but unfortunately that means I'd just crack down harder on driving offences that don't result in death!

Cars are so ubiquitous that we've forgotten how dangerous they are. You'd get a lot longer than that for operating any other piece of heavy machinery in a manner that led to injury or death.

 

Also it's absolutely wild that lifetime driving bans aren't a thing. Should be standard in situations like this.

 

Echos of Lee Hughes and Luke McCormick.

Both former pro footballers who got sent to prison for driving offences.