Van driver not traced
25 11 2007I had a telephone call this morning from Ann, one of our two local police officers, who was apologetic that Grampian Police had not been able to trace the driver of the van that knocked me off the bike last week.
She said they’d done a door knock of all the houses along that stretch of Western Road, checked a number of vans, done a media appeal and talked to people who live, work, walk or play golf along my route.
Unfortunately, the police had not been able to turn up any further leads because, as I’d noted on the day of the accident, no one had been home and no one had been out near the road at the time.
Ann said they’d now have to close the investigation and apologised, but as I said to her I didn’t have much hope of the van being traced as there was relatively little information to go on.
Her concern, and mine, is that this unfortunately means a reckless driver has escaped being brought to book for his actions and is now free to do it again, possibly with much more serious consequences.
But that should not detract from the very professional, courteous and communicative service we had from Grampian Police, and particularly from Ann.
I’d also add that the Other Half and I have considerable experience of interactions with the police in both professional and personal capacities, across half a dozen countries and more than a dozen police forces.
We’ve already passed on our thoughts to Anne’s superiors as she’s shown herself to be an excellent officer and an outstanding representative for Grampian Police.
Grrrrr, that’s annoying. At least you feel they did everything they could.
I’m glad you passed on your positive feedback about the police though. Too many people are ready to complain, but very few think to actively commend excellent service.
do you feel they did all they could, i continue to feel that cyclists are treated as second class road users, if you had been a kid or an old women crossing the street, would this person now be in custody… I think so
What more could they have done?
The police checked white 06 Ford Transits in the area (possibly SV, SU but possibly not), they door knocked people living along that road, did a media appeal in two daily papers and on the local radio station, etc.
The simple fact of the matter is that white Ford Transits are very, very common. If it had been a more unusual make of van, if it had had some sort of company signage, or if I’d got more of the plate as I fell off the bike, then the police probably would have got the driver.
The only issue I had with the investigation was systemic - the onus is on the cyclist to prove they were visible to the motorist. And even then, the police officer that took my statement was diplomatic and tactful.
I was not treated as a second-class citizen, the police officer that investigated was very good (not only doing doing what was expected but exceeding it), and I don’t think my having been an adult, male cyclist had anything to do with the zero result.
Holy Crud! I’m glad you seem to be (mostly) ok. I was hit by a drunk driver on my bicycle many years ago, and had my head cracked open.
I sympathize.
[...] written before about the police officer who handled the investigation into last year’s hit-run incident, so I’ll skip over that and start with a traffic stop [...]