Friday, December 17, 2010

Should've stuck to Dangerous Driving

What almost none of the mainstream media have reported (with the exception of the Metro) is that the vicious nutter who knifed two police officers in Ealing was wanted for recall to prison after being released early. His crime?

Causing death by dangerous driving.

I've not been able to find much trace of reporting of his original offence or conviction on the internet (except for an ITV News tweet),  although I did see it in the print edition of the Standard I think.

That's probably a measure of how little importance is attached to road deaths. Contrast that with the saturation coverage his current offence is getting - not that the coverage isn't deserved. But the media and the judiciary should consider that there is a strong correlation between dangerous driving and other criminality, as this case illustrates. If you fail to treat causing death with a motor vehicle as seriously as causing death with a knife, this is what you are likely to end up with - criminals with no respect for human life free to walk the streets.

Another dangerous driver, Mohammed Ibrahim, has made the headlines in the past few days - again, not because he's a killer of a 12-year-old girl, but because he's an illegal immigrant. I'll let the doughty Freewheeler give you chapter and verse on that one.

When will these criminals ever learn? If they stuck to dangerous driving, they'd still be treated as respected members of society. After all, accidents happen.

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