Cyclist found guilty of riding bike carelessly in fatal crash

Garry Kopanycia-Reynolds failed to properly check the road was clear at a traffic light junction in Poole when he went to turn right, a judge ruled.

Kopanycia-Reynolds, 59, pulled across the road and crashed with motorcyclist Callum Clements at the Shah of Persia crossroads.

Poole Magistrates' Court heard the motorcyclist had the right of way as he was travelling straight on from Longfleet Road onto Ringwood Road.

Mr Clements, 23, died as a result of the injuries he sustained.

Kopanycia-Reynolds, of Florence Road, Poole, who sustained life-changing injuries, denied riding a cycle on a road without reasonable consideration for others.

District Judge Michael Snow found the defendant guilty of the single charge following a trial on November 24.

“When he (the defendant) gets to the junction what is quite clear having viewed the recordings is he doesn’t stop,” Judge Snow said.

“He doesn’t obviously check. He just cycles straight on and at the point he makes that turn Callum is in the junction itself.”

The judge added: “He did not check I am afraid. He just continued straight on.”

Kopanycia-Reynolds was handed the maximum penalty possible for the offence in the form of a £1,000 fine.

Prosecuting, Stuart Ellacott said the incident took place shortly after 7am on December 21 last year.

Mr Ellacott said Mr Clements’s speed prior to impact was in the region 40mph in the road which had a 30mph limit, but this could not be used as a defence to the allegation.

The court was shown video recordings from cameras on a lorry which was travelling a short distance ahead of Kopanycia-Reynolds in Ringwood Road towards the crossroads.

The camera from the front of the vehicle showed the light from Mr Clements’s motorbike coming towards the scene along Longfleet Road, while footage from a rear-facing camera showed the moment the crash took place seconds later.

As the defendant approached the junction he moved across into the offside lane to turn right at the junction. The light was green but the motorcyclist had the right of way.

Mr Ellacott said the road was visible for 150 metres along Longfleet Road and Ringwood Road from the centre of the crossroads.

The prosecutor told the court: “Either the defendant failed to see Mr Clements who was there to be seen over a distance of some 150 metres for a period of some seven seconds or he saw him and decided to risk making the turn following the vehicle in front of him and not pausing and misjudging his ability to make that turn.”

The court heard Kopanycia-Reynolds was a keen cyclist who knew the route he was going on “pretty much off by heart”.

Asked why he made the turn at the crossroads, the defendant said: “I made that turn because I obviously felt that I had the space and time to make that safe manoeuvre.”

He added: “I would not have attempted it unless I would have made it safely.”

Kopanycia-Reynolds said he was “totally” sure it was safe for him to go.

He told the court he had seen lights coming in the opposite direction but they were in the distance.

The judge said he accepted ordinarily that the defendant was a careful and competent cyclist.

But on the day in question his actions fell below these standards.

Judge Snow said what took place on December 21 was an “absolute tragedy”.

The defendant was also ordered to pay £450 costs and a victim surcharge of £190.

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Note: An earlier version of this article said the defendant was fined £2,500. This was the figure given by the judge, however, the court later stated the maximum fine available was in fact £1,000.