A MOTHER is calling for a change in the law after the cyclist who caused the crash which took her son’s life could only be issued a fine by the courts.
Motorcyclist Callum Clements had the right of way at the Shah of Persia Crossroads in Poole when cyclist Garry Kopanycia-Reynolds pulled across the road and crashed into the 23-year-old.
During a trial in November, a judge ruled Kopanycia-Reynolds, 60, failed to properly check the road was clear at the traffic light junction when he went to turn right on the morning of December 21, 2021.
District Judge Michael Snow found the defendant, of Florence Road, Poole, guilty of riding a cycle on a road without reasonable consideration for others and handed him the maximum penalty available of a £1,000 fine.
Mr Clements’s mother Fiona, who was present at the Poole Magistrates’ Court hearing, is now pressing for similar court sentences to be available for cyclists as those who drive motor vehicles.
“It just feels to me like Callum has been let down, like his life did not matter,” Miss Clements said.
“He was a road user and had it been the other way around it would have been different for him.”
She added: “I promised to Callum after the trial that I was going to do something and this won’t happen to someone else, and it won’t be all for nothing – we can help someone else’s family.
“It is not going to bring their loved ones back, but I think if you have got closure and you have got justice for that person.
“My goal is to make sure this does not happen again because the trauma of the whole thing itself and then it is like you are reliving that trauma and to have nothing at the end of it.
“It is hard to move on because you feel like you are stuck in that anger zone and that is why I want to channel it into delivering change.”
Miss Clements said her son, older brother to Zan, 21, Ben, 20, Max, 19, Harvey, 15, Noah, six, and Luca, six, was “such a big character” and a “wonderful boy”.
“Everyone loved him,” she said. “He had this grin. Nothing is ever going to be the same – Mother’s Day, Christmas.
“I have to keep going for my children but it is something you are never going to get over and it is always going to be there. It is there when I wake up, it is there when I go to bed, it is there all day.”
At present, offences for cyclists who are at fault in crashes differ to those driving motor vehicles.
In 2022, then transport secretary Grant Shapps pledged to introduce a new law in relation to cyclists causing death by dangerous driving, however, there has yet to be a bill put through parliament in relation to any new cycling offences.
While Miss Clements said her son’s crash was “unique”, she said a similar incident could happen in the future.
“People have said to call it ‘Callum’s Law’, which would be great,” Miss Clements said.
“It would mean he didn’t die in vain; he didn’t die for nothing; something came out of it.
“Even if it helped just one other family, it would be worth it.”
She added: “I never imagined going through anything like this. A year and a few months later, it is like yesterday and you are still there.”
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