The ABC is today reporting that the road death of a 60 year old cyclist at Mullumbimby NSW is a case of murder and Police have charged the 53 year old van driver ( Murder charge over cyclist hit-and-run - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) ).

If this is the case, was it pre-meditated and if so the road was only incidental to the murder.

Should the death be included in the holiday period road toll?

Diana

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Yes, and probably will be - eventually. Presumably after a conviction, or at least after a coronial verdict. Same with suicides.

The problem with suicides is that while investigating police may strongly suspect suicide, in the absence of a note, it is almost impossible to return a verdict of suicide for a road death. The extent to which this distorts both the road death and suicide statistics is pretty much guesswork, but my feeling is that with suicide already well above road deaths, it is probably a major distorting factor.

Fortunately, murder is a lot less common, and possibly easier to prove, although you always have to wonder how many unknown murders are in the road death statistics.

John

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Has to be pre meditated or it is manslaughter i thought?

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If you don't have a sense of humour you probably don't have any sense at all!

You're absolutely correct!

What I was thinking was did this van driver plan and go looking for the cyclist, or did the van driver get upset by the cyclist holding up the traffic on the narrow winding roads around Mullum and in a fit of road rage (premeditate and) mow the cyclist down.

After all premeditate can occur over months of planning or only in the few moments before taking the action that results in the death.

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Wonder if this had anything to do with it, or coincidental.

What traffic?
And this occurred on a road that is fairly straight.

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The difference between the two (murder/manslaughter) is the intent. Murder can be supported by demonstrating the persons knowledge or belief in the result of their actions.

'If' a cyclist is clipped by a wing mirror and they spear off a road and die, you need to establish if the collision was intentional or an act of neglect (negligent driving). If intentional, what was the intent - to scare, teach a lesson, cause the cyclist to lose control?? and then what did the driver believe to be a reasonable outcome of the cyclist losing control? It can be a can of worms.

Also remember that driving a vehicle is a voluntary act, outside of the affects of drugs and alcohol or automatism, like a fit or seizure, and barring a mechanical failure causing the vehicle to become out of control (very very rare), you must be able to explain what happened. That explanation establishes knowledge or intent.

Alcohol and or drugs can affect memory of an incident but do not limit culpability - however this can be interpreted differently by Judicial officers...

Matt.

Much-loved volunteer 'run down from behind' on bike: murder charge

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Murder charge over cyclist hit-and-run - Yahoo!7

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