What a tool - I'm pleased to see that justice was done and my sympathies go out to the victims. I hope this result gives them some consolation...

Imprisonment just seems a bit of an unfair sentence. Could they not make him drive his car into a crash barrier at 60mph with his seatbelt cut and his airbags disabled...

Good sentence for once. Only wish the justice system over here in the UK was as assertive.

not enough imo. 5 years for delibertly causing harm and damange to a person with your 1ton + machine. it is not acceptable that someone behavies in such a malicous way towards anyone. What did the cyclists do to him? what what i've read over the past months nothing, they were just there. disgusting behaviour!

At least he got charged.

Here is an article from the Tameside Advertiser about a cyclist in Ashton:

The victim of a hit-and-run driver left lying in the middle of a busy main road has won a fight for justice after almost three years.

Engineer Alan Morris was knocked from his bicycle on Park Parade, Ashton as he rode to work. He’s recently won a ’substantial sum’ in compensation after the judge said he did not believe the word of the driver involved.

“I was cycling to work at around 6:20am on the Asda roundabout and noticed a bus approaching,” said Mr Morris, 62, from Ashton. “The bus driver stopped to give way but his face suddenly looked very alarmed. I soon saw why he was looking so worried: A car driving very fast in the rifht hand lane appeared next to the bus. I could tell it was trying to overtake and wasn’t going to stop. I remember feeling helpless as it got nearer, I thought I was going to be killed.”

A white Volvo estate knocked Mr Morris from his bike.

“It seemed to take forever before I hit the ground. Then the car just sped off. I was lying in the middle of the carriageway terrified another vehicle would run over me. I tried to move out of the way but couldn’t stand up. I was helpless” he said.

Other drivers rushed to his aid.

“I cleary heard someone saying ‘forget it, he’s had it.’ It was just awful.”

Mr Morris was treated for cuts and bruises at Tameside Hospital and still suffers pain in his back, neck and chest following the incident on 23rd April 2007.

A witness provided a statement which included part of the Volvo’s registraion number and a few weeks later saw the car again to note the correct registration. Police found the Volvo’s registered keeper who did not have a valid drivers licence.

“Five days after the police had spoken to him about the incident the vehicle was sold” said Polly Fletcher, a road traffic accident specialist with Fentons Solicitors, who represented Mr Morris.

The driver was never charged and a civil case went before Bury County Court in October. He failed to appear and the judge found in Mr Morris’s favour. The driver applied to have the ruling set aside, citing medical reasons for not attending the earlier hearing.

In December the case was back before District Judge Ian Pickup, who dismissed the driver’s account of events and ruled the judgement should stand.

The judge awarded damages to Mr Morris and ordered the defendant to pay costs.

Agree sentence not enough as this guy effectively tried to kill them. Even though he was found guilty of very serious charges he was only given a short sentence of 2 years extended by 3 years to 5 years due to the severity of one of the injured party's injuries. I would have expected in the US for him to get at least 10 maybe 15 years. It's a start though.

Comments by the judge are contradictory,

Judge Scott T Millington called the case a "wake-up call" to motorists and cyclists, and urged the authorities to build more bike lanes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Errrrrrr ....... Maybe so, but FIRST AND FOREMOST drivers cannot drive around running cyclists off the road or knocking them down.

Dr Christopher Thompson sounds like a dangerous, deranged and deluded pyscho. Quite how he ever became a physician is beyond me. Aren't physicians supposed to value and try to preserve life?

The sentence is not nearly enough - but as noted earlier at least this case has gone to trial successfully. I doubt if anything would happen in the UK - Jobysp's notes above are depressing and shows how little the legal (note - it isn't justice) system does for cyclists.

people like the good doctor are usually fond of hurting children and women as well. this man is a coward of cowards! he might learn a lesson or two while in the husgow.

...And on the subject of crap drivers...

Why do motorists hoot at cyclists who ride 2 abreast, but not horse riders, who take up more room? Personally, I try to avoid riding 2 abreast, but I resent motorists getting arsey in one instance and not the other...

Is there any good reason why horse riders need to ride in pairs anyway?

ashipunku...honking at horses kinda freeks them right out !....ton of horse going mentals not really a good idea lol

Unbelievable that the driver was an ER doctor........

ashipunku, i'm an avid cyclist and my girlfriend is a cyclist and horserider. If anything she has had far more grief off motorists whilst riding her horse than I've ever had whilst riding my bike - and she is a competent rider who usually rides alone. So I think it's kind of unfair to say that one group gets preferential treatment over the other. My (long-winded) point is that there are a lot of crap drivers out there who need to show other road users - be they pedestrians, cyclists, horseriders or whatever - a bit more respect. I'm just glad that the arsehole concerned in this story got his comeuppance.

what a wanker! he got what he deserved? hope some dude called bubba befriends him in the showers and teaches him some manners! 4wheelsbad2wheelsgood