Court Summons?

[Spinal]

Two quick points... First, I thought I put a not... must have been the shaky hands... anyhow, thats ammended.

Year before last I rented a scooter whilst on holiday in Italy , my first time on two wheels in about 15 years . It seemed very strange that they didn't want to see my driving licence ,a only my passport ! Or do you not need a licence in Italy for a scooter ?

Anyway , my point is that I found Italy to be such a wacky , bizzarre place to drive , certainly out in the countryside , small villages etc . ANYTHING GOES ! Drive on the left , drive on the right , pedestrians walk in the middle of the road , cars , bikes , scooters , pushbikes , people all mix it . People who want to go into a shop just stop and abandon their vehicle and get out ! Everyone just mills around everyone else , yet there are no accidents , no hornblowing , no road rage !!!! How it works I'm not sure but work it does - I never saw any accidents nor even dented cars.

The cities are different - Rome is not so different to any other large city - but out in the country it's a different world.

In italy until last year you didn't need a licence to drive a scooter, now you need a "patentino" (something like a CBT).

Funnily, I first learnt to drive in Gambia (west Africa) and it was MUCH worse than Italy. When I first got my Italian licence I found Italy so much more "organised"... you can immagine my feelings when I got a British Licence (I now hold 3 licences and have thought of collecting them )

Anyhow, as usual, life goes on. I might need to interrupt my holidays early, but thats all part of life. Live and learn
Michele

 

[SimonsMerc]

Two quick points... First, I thought I put a not... must have been the shaky hands... anyhow, thats ammended.

Rofl, rock on - way to confuse everyone!

I for one am pleased that you are pleading not guilty, if you believe you are not guilty. It gets on my nerves when people plead guilty just because they don't want the hassle of standing up for themselves. I hope the court agrees with you - either way, I'm sure it will turn out as best as it can

-simon

 

[glojo]

Not Guilty it is then. Good luck with the court case and I hope everything works out.

John

 

[Flasheart]

It gets on my nerves when people plead guilty just because they don't want the hassle of standing up for themselves. I hope the court agrees with you - either way, I'm sure it will turn out as best as it can

-simon

Equally gets on my tits when people look for every excuse under the sun to claim it wasn't their fault and miss the obvious reason that it was. In the vein of another poster - i have heard nothing to say that the Biker was guilty. But then of course it must be his fault because he isn't a mercedes driver and we know how guilty they are just because they don't drive a car with the hallowed three point star. This seems indicative of every **** board for cars - the owners of cars that the **** board is dedicated to believe that they are gods gift to driving, that everyone else is a sub-species, that they maintain 100% vigilance whilst speeding along. I am man enough to admit there have been occasions when i have suddenly caught something out of the corner of my eye and known it was down to lack of attention and felt lucky that something serious didn't happen. I learn from that experience and move on with the knowledge to try and prevent such behaviour in the future. An example of which would be the underestimation of the physical size of my car when i first got it. I almost clipped a car because of that - i understand now what the cause was, have corrected and now move on. As someone once said motocycles/cars/lorries/buses/forkifts whatever do not just appear from nowhere..... the reason we believe they do is due usually to a lack of scanning and observation. For instance when flying, the aircraft you are going to hit is the one you don't see..... reasonable point. But the reason you don't see if is because relative to you it is coming head on and therefore does not change in aspect, therefore the brain does not acquire it so easily due no motion to detect. Thus one has to improve ones scan and way one scans to pick up such dots. This is a long winded way of saying one can get sucked into events such as making a u-turn where the vision and areas one is looking at narrow to the extent one can not 'see' all that is happening around one. It is true accidents do happen - but they usually happen for a reason. it is clearly wrong for people to assume the driver or the biker were responsible for the accident. However given that the biker has not been charged with an offence that we know of..... it would give rise to the belief that the CPS must have sufficient evidence to believe a charge is answerable.

 

[Flasheart]

p.s. there is a reason I feel so clsoe to the biker, and its not that I ride a bike... its that I have a very weird tendency of getting injured every year. Like clockwork, once a year I'm in hospital getting a cast, getting something stitched, or getting a pair of crutches... I am safe for this year though, in october I fell down the stairs at the underground station trying to catch a train and tore a ligament... so I have until october to try jumping out of an airplane with a plastic bag

If this is the case maybe you should examine why this happens - it does seem that 'accidents' do happen to you, or as one flying instructor put it me 'avoidables'. Could you have avoided falling down the stairs trying to catch the train? Could you have avoided the last time you got crutches, probably, but the real secret is working out how and why?

 

[SimonsMerc]

Equally gets on my tits when people look for every excuse under the sun to claim it wasn't their fault and miss the obvious reason that it was. In the vein of another poster - i have heard nothing to say that the Biker was guilty. But then of course it must be his fault because he isn't a mercedes driver and we know how guilty they are just because they don't drive a car with the hallowed three point star. This seems indicative of every **** board for cars - the owners of cars that the **** board is dedicated to believe that they are gods gift to driving, that everyone else is a sub-species, that they maintain 100% vigilance whilst speeding along. I am man enough to admit there have been occasions when i have suddenly caught something out of the corner of my eye and known it was down to lack of attention and felt lucky that something serious didn't happen. I learn from that experience and move on with the knowledge to try and prevent such behaviour in the future. An example of which would be the underestimation of the physical size of my car when i first got it. I almost clipped a car because of that - i understand now what the cause was, have corrected and now move on. As someone once said motocycles/cars/lorries/buses/forkifts whatever do not just appear from nowhere..... the reason we believe they do is due usually to a lack of scanning and observation. For instance when flying, the aircraft you are going to hit is the one you don't see..... reasonable point. But the reason you don't see if is because relative to you it is coming head on and therefore does not change in aspect, therefore the brain does not acquire it so easily due no motion to detect. Thus one has to improve ones scan and way one scans to pick up such dots. This is a long winded way of saying one can get sucked into events such as making a u-turn where the vision and areas one is looking at narrow to the extent one can not 'see' all that is happening around one. It is true accidents do happen - but they usually happen for a reason. it is clearly wrong for people to assume the driver or the biker were responsible for the accident. However given that the biker has not been charged with an offence that we know of..... it would give rise to the belief that the CPS must have sufficient evidence to believe a charge is answerable.

Erm? Hello? Anyone in there?

I said nothing about assuming the biker was guilty of anything. In fact, I said nothing about whether I believe Spinal is guilty or not (how the hell would I know, it's not an area I specialise in and I don't have enough facts to go on anyway). What I said was:

I for one am pleased that you are pleading not guilty, if you believe you are not guilty.

If he thinks he is not guilty, I firmly believe that he should plead not guilty. If the police think that he is guilty, they will prosecute and try to prove him guilty.

In your bigoted mind, you have crucified him already because he is the car driver and they all hate bikers and lie. In your crazed reality you are convinced that as I am also a car driver (and a Mercedes driver no less), I am part of a conspiracy to help in the lie and cover up. Well.

Up yours.

-simon

 

[GrahamC230K]

Next GTG to be held in Boxing ring. Topic of discussion - bikers! LOL.

You guys, I don't know. You should all be chilled out and unprovacative like me!

 

[219]

Ahem ...

does this forum have the facility to take a poll ?

Perhaps we should now all take a vote as to who caused the collision - the loser can be clapped in irons , have his vehicle crushed and be made to watch this while he gets his flogging ????

 

[GrahamC230K]

Good luck by the way Spinal. Can be a tad frustrating being quizzed by the prosecutuion, but be polite, firm and exact. Recall the sequence of events as if it so clear in your mind - like it were yesterday. Know what the weather was like, the level of daylight etc etc. All so remarlably well and fresh like there is no doubt in your mind.

 

[glojo]

Next GTG to be held in Boxing ring. Topic of discussion - bikers! LOL.

You guys, I don't know. You should all be chilled out and unprovacative like me!

Imagine if we still had the red blobbies!!!!

As an ex Advanced Motor Cycle Instructor I am having a little chuckle and keeping well below the parapets

John

 

[Flasheart]

Up yours.

-simon

Someone needs a hug and a Xanax. You really shouldn't take it all personally, i would like to apologise if you felt it was all aimed at you..... you really shouldn't.

 

[Dieselman]

Good luck by the way Spinal. Can be a tad frustrating being quizzed by the prosecutuion, but be polite, firm and exact. Recall the sequence of events as if it so clear in your mind - like it were yesterday. Know what the weather was like, the level of daylight etc etc. All so remarlably well and fresh like there is no doubt in your mind.

Good comment Graham. Spinal, make sure you don't answer questions with anything like "he must have come from xx road". This sort of answer implies you don't know and are assuming.

 

[glojo]

Good comment Graham. Spinal, make sure you don't answer questions with anything like "he must have come from xx road". This sort of answer implies you don't know and are assuming.

It would be crazy though to guess. If anyone (not just Spinal) does not know the truthful answer to a question then NEVER guess. Be honest and give a very short truthful reply.

John

 

[BearFace]

Someone needs a hug and a Xanax.........

I'd like to pass on the hug and go straight to the Xanax, please.

(BTW, what is a Xanax..?)

 

[grasmere]

(BTW, what is a Xanax..?)

like a palindrome but tastes different

 

[Steve_Perry]

... (BTW, what is a Xanax..?)

The joys of Google

S.

 

[BearFace]

The joys of Google

S.

Googling is just sooooo last year, Steve

Now if someone had just said alprazolam: an antianxiety agent (trade name Xanax) of the benzodiazepine class, I'd have known it immediately. It's the complicated brand names which throw me....

 

[Spinal]

Right, so I was finishing off my form (the statement of means got a tad annoying with me needing to go find bills and whatnots...) and I got a last minute question; do I fill out the Statement of Mitigation of the offence even though I'm pleading not guilty? I called the court service and they told me that I didn't but from what I read this seems a little iffy. Before I call the lawyer again and he starts again with "criminal prosecution" (sheesh, lawyers really need to take a psychology course "how to deal with people who are stressed") I was wondering, does anyone know if I should still fill out the statement of mitigation?
Michele

 

[jdrrco]

Right, so I was finishing off my form (the statement of means got a tad annoying with me needing to go find bills and whatnots...) and I got a last minute question; do I fill out the Statement of Mitigation of the offence even though I'm pleading not guilty? I called the court service and they told me that I didn't but from what I read this seems a little iffy. Before I call the lawyer again and he starts again with "criminal prosecution" (sheesh, lawyers really need to take a psychology course "how to deal with people who are stressed") I was wondering, does anyone know if I should still fill out the statement of mitigation?
Michele

Call the lawyer - that's what he's there for. Perhaps tell him when he answers that you've got to dash out, so it can only be a very quick question!

 

[Alfie]

Right, so I was finishing off my form (the statement of means got a tad annoying with me needing to go find bills and whatnots...) and I got a last minute question; do I fill out the Statement of Mitigation of the offence even though I'm pleading not guilty? I called the court service and they told me that I didn't but from what I read this seems a little iffy. Before I call the lawyer again and he starts again with "criminal prosecution" (sheesh, lawyers really need to take a psychology course "how to deal with people who are stressed") I was wondering, does anyone know if I should still fill out the statement of mitigation?
Michele

Good luck. When is the case due to be heard?