with Andrew Dalton, White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors
Q I WAS RIDING my bike to work following a period of heavy rain. For some reason, someone decided to put a bus stop right next to an area that pools deep water after heavy rain. I hit the water at about 20mph and created, I admit, a fair splash of water.
Clearly the people in the bus queue have complained to police because I have received a document asking me to name the rider of my motorcycle; it states an offence of careless and/or inconsiderate driving has been committed. But I don’t see how I can have committed any offence – I rode in a straight line, along a road I had every right to ride along. The water was not my fault.
Police have also sent me a link to some still footage, which seems to have been taken from a security camera from an industrial unit that directly overlooks the bus stop. This isn’t official police footage, so surely it is not allowed in evidence.
I have also heard that other people have been sent similar notices from the same wet day and the same location.
Should I say I was the rider, or should I just ignore this because I haven’t done anything wrong?
A FIRST OF ALL, don’t ignore it – it is an automatic six-point penalty for failing to nominate the driver or rider of a vehicle when requested to by police. The magistrates have heard every excuse in the book for trying to justify not naming a driver or rider, and it is not something they are sympathetic to. You know you are the rider, so name yourself.
I have seen the stills police refer to – and unfortunately they do not put you in a good light. You rode fairly close to the kerb, ignoring the dry patch covering the middle third of the road that you could easily have ridden along and no one would have got splashed. You generated a large wave of water.
I am struggling to think of any good reason why you rode through deep water within splash range of a group of schoolchildren waiting to get on the school bus. While I cannot know your state of mind, it looks to me like you deliberately splashed the bus queue. The whole video is admissible in evidence, so if you name yourself and police offer you a driver improvement course, take it. If you are offered a fixed penalty, take it. You really do not want that video shown to the magistrates, as it really does look like you decided to create a big bow wave to soak schoolchildren waiting for a bus on a cold November morning.
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