The defendant’s car collided with a cyclist as he pulled out of Rue de Samarès to move onto Grande Route de la Côte on the morning of 26 May. The cyclist suffered a fractured arm and grazes to his face.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that the defendant immediately called the police and ambulance and also attended to the cyclist at the scene.
Advocate Giles Emmanuel, defending, said that his client had been fully co-operative and accepted that he had been at fault from the outset. The lawyer said that the defendant ‘had exercised every caution when he was driving’.
Advocate Emmanuel said that three other factors came into play that morning: a ‘low-lying sun’ which made it difficult to see anything from the roadside mirror; the fact that the cyclist was wearing dark clothing; and that at the time of the accident there was an uncut hedge which gave a shorter line of sight to the driver.
The lawyer pointed out that a police officer, when analysing the effectiveness of the roadside mirror, had come to the conclusion that ‘a lone cyclist could easily be missed, especially if he was wearing dark clothing.’
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