the wheels of justice turn very slowly. last november professor paola ferroni was riding her bike along kings park road when she was stuck from behind by joanne leigh lawrence. professor ferroni was taken to royal perth hospital, but died 4 days later due to the extent of her injuries. ms lawrence pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death and was due to be sentenced in the district court today. the sentencing was adjourned because ms lawrence was involved in another crash on november 11 which also indicated that she was driving dangerously. the prosecutor said ms lawrence sent and received a number of text messages in the six minutes leading up to the crash that killed professor ferroni. article here.
jumping back even further to october last year, brynt mcswain was also struck from behind when riding solo on the road by joseph frances haenga. mr haenga was so drunk in fact that he didn’t even remember the accident. sentencing for this incident was march this year and mr haenga received a 5 yr 6 mth sentence but will be eligible for parole in 3yr and 6 mths. article here.
based on that, it is clear that professor ferroni’s killer will probably be back on the road within 3-4 years.
what i fail to understand is how being behind the wheel of a car somehow reduces your accountability when involved in taking another persons life. on top of that, how being drunk or not concentrating (eg on the phone) also diminishes your responsibility. no one forced the drivers to get drunk or send texts. no one made them get behind the wheel. they made those choices for themselves and then they spun the roulette wheel. unfortunately, it was an innocent person that lost the bet. no one in this day and age can say that they don’t know what happens when people drink and drive. it is rammed down our throats all the time though ads on tv, radio and billboards. to make this more effective, the laws need to reflect the seriousness of the crime. you are old enough and therefore responsible enough to drink, therefore you must also understand the consequences if you drive. taking another persons life whilst behind the wheel drunk or texting, should have an automatic heavy sentence. ask anyone who rides a bike with their helmet slung over the handlebars why they even bother bring the helmet. it is not to protect them from a fall, but to stop them from getting a fine. i am sure that if not wearing a helmet was an enforced $1000 fine, you would not see anyone with a bare head.
sorry for the rant. i will try to be more festive next week.
ride leader sponsor – november’s ride leader sponsors are spr members Lee & Derek Baston, who own Baston & Co. Property, a boutique property management and real estate sales agency located in victoria park, servicing its surrounding suburbs. more info on the previous post.
rules of engagement – please read the previous post if you come out on any of our rides. it is up to all members to enforce these rules.
peter clark memorial – the last road race of the season is on this saturday afternoon. registration closes tonight so get on it. check the previous post for more details.
pink sock ride for beerlinda – one of our members was recently diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. we are holding a fundraiser ride next sunday 6th to help raise money for her post op care. the ride is open to members and non-members, but if you can’t make it, you can also use the registration to make a donation. check out the previous post for more details.
smashfest criterium series – the second race of the 4 race series will be on next saturday with the first race starting at 2pm. saturday afternoon seemed to work well with a lot more people hanging around to watch the races. more info can be found on the previous post, and as usual, we will need a few volunteers to help out on the day.
spr crit champs – as part of the summer crit series, we will also run a spr crit championship. this will again be a points based system given to placings 1 through 10. “a” and “b” grade will be given a difficulty multiplier and a leaderboard will track progress. there are 7 races that we are putting on this year, but your points for the best 4 or 5 races will be used. this allows you to have holidays, miss races and still be in the running. more details on the previous post.
spr annual award nominations – each year the spr social committee run a survey to find people that others in the club think need recognising for their achievements. these people will be rewarded at the christmas breakfast later in the year. if you think that someone has done a good job, check out the previous post and fill in the survey.
spr christmas drinks – save the date. the empire bar. thursday december 10th. more info to come soon.
ride routes – lots of riding to do in the bright sunshine. i love not having daylight savings.
saturday 28th november
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
development group – novice shelley 36.06km spr saturday
transitional – trans shelley 40.59km spr saturday
fast & main groups – hale rd reverse 51.37km spr saturday
sunday 29th november
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
early lap – earlybird 40.93km spr special
all rides start at coode st carpark at 7:00am
short – brktn weir 82.89km spr sunday
long – cann dam 100.13km spr sunday
monday 30th november
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am
main group – south stock 33.76km spr monday
tuesday 1st december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr tuesday 36.37km (river ride)
ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
wednesday 2nd december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30am
spr wednesday 14.22km (uci masters)
ride starts raffles bike path at 5:30am
development group – stock road repeats
thursday 3rd december
ride starts under the narrows (cityside) at 5:30arm
spr thursday 37.26km (cott & freo)
ride starts frasers carpark at 5:45am
development group – interval training kings park
friday 4th december
ride starts under the narrows (sth perth side) at 5:30am