Drunk Disqualified Driver Hits Cyclist - The Entrance NSW

[Sydguy]

Disqualified drink driver hits cyclist
January 30, 2011 - 10:18AM

A disqualified driver struck a cyclist while driving on the NSW Central Coast and was found to be over the legal alcohol limit.

The car and bike collided on Tuggerah Parade at The Entrance at 9pm yesterday.

The car continued along the grass and hit a fence, before the driver went to the aid of the cyclist.
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The 30-year-old male cyclist sustained leg injuries and was taken to Gosford Hospital, where he will undergo surgery.

The 31-year-old female driver was arrested after failing a roadside breath test.

Inquiries also revealed she had been disqualified from driving until 2014.

She has been charged with mid-range drink driving and not holding a licence. She was refused bail to face Wyong Local Court on Sunday.

Anyone with information about the crash should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

AAP

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/disqualified- ... 1a9c9.html

[Max]

I suppose we should be glad she at least stopped to help. Good to see she was refused bail. Perhaps a few hours in the lockup will put some sense into her.

I hope the cyclist recovers quickly.

Max

[jules21]

Perhaps a few hours in the lockup will put some sense into her.

they're usually alcoholics. it will take a lot more than that unfortunately.

[wombatK]

Driving while disqualified should mean an automatic lifetime ban. Should never be allowed on the road again. Ever. Even if she sobers up one day.

Otherwise hundreds of disqualified drivers are just going to keep ignoring the law and gambling with every road users' safety.

If she does sober up in the next week or two, I hope someone will tell her how close she came to killing the cyclist - like that other central coast drunken tool did ?

[Drunkmonkey]

Driving while disqualified should mean an automatic lifetime ban. Should never be allowed on the road again. Ever. Even if she sobers up one day.

Otherwise hundreds of disqualified drivers are just going to keep ignoring the law and gambling with every road users' safety.

If she does sober up in the next week or two, I hope someone will tell her how close she came to killing the cyclist - like that other central coast drunken tool did ?

Giving them a lifetime ban wont stop them driving - some people will keep driving no matter what, I know someone who was caught 4 times driving whilst disqualified, they kept driving because they knew nothing could stop them driving (not a disqualification or lifetime ban).

The only thing that will stop them driving is being in jail.

[Phill_B_34]

Driving while disqualified should mean an automatic lifetime ban. Should never be allowed on the road again. Ever. Even if she sobers up one day.

Otherwise hundreds of disqualified drivers are just going to keep ignoring the law and gambling with every road users' safety.

If she does sober up in the next week or two, I hope someone will tell her how close she came to killing the cyclist - like that other central coast drunken tool did ?

Giving them a lifetime ban wont stop them driving - some people will keep driving no matter what, I know someone who was caught 4 times driving whilst disqualified, they kept driving because they knew nothing could stop them driving (not a disqualification or lifetime ban).

The only thing that will stop them driving is being in jail.

If this woman already had a suspended licence and still decided to drive, drunk or not, then a lifetime ban is not a deterrent. Jail is a nice option, but it does cost the community, why not just repo the car she (in this case) is driving (don't care who owns it) and any other vehicle that is registered to the driver, sell them all and turn the money directly over to the health department – that’s where the cash is most needed when these idiots get on the road.

[wombatK]

Giving them a lifetime ban wont stop them driving - some people will keep driving no matter what, I know someone who was caught 4 times driving whilst disqualified, they kept driving because they knew nothing could stop them driving (not a disqualification or lifetime ban).

The only thing that will stop them driving is being in jail.

That's way too expensive. Let's tatoo it on their face "DQ Driver", make it a criminal offence for anyone to attempt lasering it off and offer a $1000 reward to anyone who dobs them in for driving.

That's after we've confiscated and sold the car they were caught in.

If they still can't learn from that, let's just put 'em up against a wall and shoot them. Much cheaper than keeping them in jail.

[Mulger bill]

Giving them a lifetime ban wont stop them driving - some people will keep driving no matter what, I know someone who was caught 4 times driving whilst disqualified, they kept driving because they knew nothing could stop them driving (not a disqualification or lifetime ban).

The only thing that will stop them driving is being in jail.

That's way too expensive. Let's tatoo it on their face "DQ Driver", make it a criminal offence for anyone to attempt lasering it off and offer a $1000 reward to anyone who dobs them in for driving.

That's after we've confiscated and sold the car they were caught in.

If they still can't learn from that, let's just put 'em up against a wall and shoot them. Much cheaper than keeping them in jail.

Harsh.

Reasonable in this sort of case but harsh.

[Zynster]

The reasonable thing would be to take her car off her, AND hit her up for all costs. A disqualified driver should not be allowed to own a car. Lending or selling them one should be an offence as well.

[wombatK]

A disqualified driver should not be allowed to own a car. Lending or selling them one should be an offence as well.

I like where your head is at Zynster.

You'd have to do something to make sure that sellers, including private sellers, could check if a buyer was DQ'd. That suggests an even better idea. Why not publish full details (name, address, photo) of DQ'd drivers on the 'net, where anyone can look them up. And provide a reward to encourage bounty-hunting of them.

Probably a good idea for drink-driving offenders too. Offer a reward to encourage bounty hunters to hang out at dodgy pubs etc.,. frequented by drink drivers and dob them in so police can catch them.

Really is time we got serious about these kind of people, and the habitual re-offenders amongst them, before they actually kill or maim any more innocent victims.

[Comedian]

Perhaps a few hours in the lockup will put some sense into her.

they're usually alcoholics. it will take a lot more than that unfortunately.

This is horrible stuff. I don't think the lockup will help but perhaps causing these horrible injuries to some poor sod minding his own business might be a wakeup for her.

[zero]

I vote for the punishment being handcuffed to a cargo bicycle for 5 years.

[Mustang]

[/quote]
If this woman already had a suspended licence and still decided to drive, drunk or not, then a lifetime ban is not a deterrent. Jail is a nice option, but it does cost the community, why not just repo the car she (in this case) is driving (don't care who owns it) and any other vehicle that is registered to the driver, sell them all and turn the money directly over to the health department – that’s where the cash is most needed when these idiots get on the road.
[/quote]

+1

[The Womble]

I've been hit by two drivers under these circumstances but I was lucky I was driving and the crashes never caused injury.
The ultimate punishment for this "human being"? Tie it to a post below a hotel balcony, hook it up to a beer bong, and force it full of Grappa. Death by alcahol poisoning.
I'm sorry, but for driving drunk and unlicensed this person shows no regards for the lives of others in any way. They should be charged with attempted manslaughter at the very least. The human race is better off without them. Re-introducing capital punishment is begining to look more necessary by the year!

[Zynster]

I vote for the punishment being handcuffed to a cargo bicycle for 5 years.

Hey, don't knock cargo bikes. I think they're rather cool myself.

Any sort of name and shame type solution is just going to encourage vigilanteism. All you have to do is introduce a large fine for selling/lending a car to a DQ driver, and watch how fast car sellers will be demanding to see current licences. This combined with automatic confiscation of their vehicle would mostly stop the problem without hurting anyone. They'd have to steal a car, then they'd be up for a spell in prison.

[Nate]

The reasonable thing would be to take her car off her, AND hit her up for all costs.

Wont work...
It'll be $20 a week for 140 weeks - best of luck seeing it

We saw this in strawburgers? accident where he got doored...

[stryker84]

Well, okay, prior warning, this is a [soapbox] post, but I reckon there's a bigger issue here than just drink driving and driving DQ'd.

Can't condone the driver's actions in the least, but sadly, it's quite symbolic of our culture here of celebrating alcohol and drunkenness.

I don't mind a couple of drinks myself, couple of cold ones at a barbie, or a few glasses of red over dinner is great, but a lot of people that I know have this notion that it's not a good time unless they've had enough alcohol that they're completely off their face. Hang it, I'll go so far to say that some of us on here even might feel the same way on occasion. Personally I don't see what's so great about feeling your skull bursting the morning after, not remembering what you did, and possibly regretting what you don't remember, but hey, just saying that's what our culture is like.

Different people have different tendencies, one of those is a tendency to becoming addicted/dependent on a particular substance. Alcohol is probably one of the most common and legally available addictive substances, together with tobacco, while at the same time being one of the most cognitively impairing. Add to that the requirements that you still continue your daily lives, and of course someone would feel pressured to drive, whether they've had a few or not.

If we were really keen about getting drunks off the street and out of cars, we need to have a huge culture change about the "coolness" of alcohol. At the most basic, they could enforce those public drunkenness laws THAT WE ALREADY HAVE IN PLACE. Too many times, (especially at the big festivals and music events that I won't name), you see the cops stopping obviously drunk people, and the most they do is confiscate their alcohol, smile and send them on their way, and they just stop at the next bottle-o/pub, where half the time the person behind the counter/bar just sells them another drink (or five) regardless of how obviously inebriated they are, and they end up jumping on some poor sod's car, or smashing glasses in a bar somewhere. If they get what the laws say they should get, the whole lot of them, book the guys for being drunk, take away the vendors' liquor licence. ... do that for a few years, and pretty soon we'll have much safer streets, for sure.

But oh wait, we're a "democracy"... and what that really means is that the majority of people, and the wealthy alcohol businesses/lobbies, will find that unpopular, so the government will shy away from doing such "draconian" actions lest they not get re-elected, even if it means promoting a culture of drinking and reckless behaviour. And I'm not even going to start on the theory that they do know what they SHOULD do but the Alcohol Tax lines their pockets so they keep mum anyway.

Anyway, [/soapbox]. And a good morning to you too.

Oh, and on this case? Yeah, throw the book at her, gaol time for a bit, impound all vehicles in her name, but also get her into compulsory rehab. See above, it's not completely her fault that she feels compelled to drive under the influence.

[zero]

I vote for the punishment being handcuffed to a cargo bicycle for 5 years.

Hey, don't knock cargo bikes. I think they're rather cool myself.

Any sort of name and shame type solution is just going to encourage vigilanteism. All you have to do is introduce a large fine for selling/lending a car to a DQ driver, and watch how fast car sellers will be demanding to see current licences. This combined with automatic confiscation of their vehicle would mostly stop the problem without hurting anyone. They'd have to steal a car, then they'd be up for a spell in prison.

This driver is probably facing some sort custodial sentence already. In all honesty periodic detention with an early friday evening curfew would probably be a functional solution for some of these people, at less cost to the community than stuffing them into a proper security level prison for an entire sentence. I think such a penalty should pretty much be automatic for any driving whilst specifically DQ'd offence.

As far as requiring a licence to buy a car goes - unfortunately most bad drivers actually already understand the dodges. The ultimate licence retention device is called the spouse. Crap drivers get their spouses to stat dec themselves into camera detected offences all the time - plenty of drivers out there that have racked up 20 points within 3 years and are still driving. If you remove a car from someone, they'll drive or buy a car through their spouse.

[alf]

Well, okay, prior warning, this is a [soapbox] post,
.
.
.
Anyway, [/soapbox]. And a good morning to you too.

Oh, and on this case? Yeah, throw the book at her, gaol time for a bit, impound all vehicles in her name, but also get her into compulsory rehab. See above, it's not completely her fault that she feels compelled to drive under the influence.

Stryker84 nice to see a reasonable and cogent post on the subject. It is a shame to see so much 'right wing' emotion on these types of issues.

Alcoholism is after all a disease and it is a bit harsh to call for blood.

Unfortunately our society does not seem to be capable of dealing with the root cause of these issues. As you alluded, lobbying by vested interests and short electoral cycles means that generational / cultural issues like this are always going to be hard to resolve.

I need to have a drink now... Where is that cork screw.

[martinjs]

confiscate the car and have her watch it being crushed and pay the cost of it being crushed for a start.

Martin

[gorilla monsoon]

Nothing will change.

The law is getting softer on these sorts of offences, not tougher and she can buy as many cars for cash as she wants through any number of private sellers who will not ask to see a licence or any other form of ID.

She doesn't care about drink-driving because if she did, she would not have been booked the first time.

And if she goes to jail, loses her job, loses her family then everyone else will be responsible for bailing her out as she goes through life on welfare.

This is one of those crimes where the correct punishment is yet to be devised and even if it were, there is no-one in any authority to follow up after the punishment has been effected because the states cannot afford to pay for those sorts of resources.

No, it will all be swept under the carpet until her next offence.

[jules21]

This is one of those crimes where the correct punishment is yet to be devised

while i'm all in favour of punishment, the real solution is proper support. she is likely an alcoholic, which in turn is frequently a symptom of other treatable mental disorders, such as depression. punishing her is a classic case of attacking the symptom, not the cause. you really need to do both, i think.

[gorilla monsoon]

Absolutely agree, but again, our state authorities will plead a lack od resources.

[CrazyVictorian]

This is one of those crimes where the correct punishment is yet to be devised

while i'm all in favour of punishment, the real solution is proper support. she is likely an alcoholic, which in turn is frequently a symptom of other treatable mental disorders, such as depression. punishing her is a classic case of attacking the symptom, not the cause. you really need to do both, i think.

She's the alcholic but who ends up suffering in the long run? That's right the cyclist. Throw the book at her

[jules21]

She's the alcholic but who ends up suffering in the long run? That's right the cyclist. Throw the book at her

actually, who ends up suffering in the long run is the next person who she hits after we've finished throwing the book at her. it's of little comfort for family members of that person to know that she was previously punished for a previous similar incident. the priority should be to curb her behaviour.