Although there is plenty I could say, I have very little to add to what I've already said on the topic of the hit-and-run maniac in Sydney.

1800-JASON

But I'd just like to add my few cents worth on the laughable explanation "Jason" offered on talkback radio last week:

  1. If his engine misfired/stalled as he claims, he would have been in the middle lane, as he accelerated "to kick it back a gear". When you have engine trouble, your first instinct is not to change lanes or to brake heavily—how much more dangerous is it for you if you become stranded across two lanes? No, when your engine fails you coast as far as you can and pull in safely.

  2. He claims to have been stationary for "a good 20 seconds" before the first bike hit him. If that's the case, there is absolutely no way that he had just overtaken the group as he described. Measure it for yourself: 20 seconds is a long time. The cyclists claim to have been travelling at 60 km/h, not unreasonable for an elite pack but let's be conservative and say they were doing 40 km/h: in 20 seconds they would have travelled well in excess of 200 metres—that just does not fit with Jason's claim that he was accelerating to get past the cyclists when his car stalled. Even if he had been several car lengths in front, the whole pack would have still be well past him in 20 seconds.

  3. It might be possible to argue that being in genuine fear of your personal safety may be legitimate grounds for leaving the scene of a collision, but being distrustful or intimidated by the police is nonsense. Why didn't he call the police? And for that matter, why didn't he call an ambulance?

  4. At no point does Jason express any concern or remorse over the injuries to the other road users, but we hear several times that there is no significant damage to his car. Such nice priorities aside, this lack of concern doesn't reasonably fit with someone who has innocently and accidentally caused injury. I'd suggest that it does, however, fit with someone who has deliberately tried to maim other people and is doing a bad job of covering his tracks.

  5. The statement that the driver in front was "more interested in what was going on around him than doing the speed limit" speaks volumes. Every driver should be more interested in what's going on around them than doggedly doing the speed limit—if conditions dictate slowing down then so be it. If Jason was able to be concerned about travelling at or near the speed limit, how does that jell with claims made elsewhere (e.g. by NSW Roads Minister Roozendaal) that the pack was out riding in heavy peak hour traffic? Clearly they were not.

OK, that's all pretty speculative but then I understand that civil actions are settled on the balance of probabilities not beyond a reasonable doubt. Better get a lawyer, Jason. And if your brief thought it was a good idea for you to go on radio, start looking for a good lawyer.

Blog commentary

Many of the responses to this crazy incident in the newspaper trollfests and from various talking heads have been unintentionally comic (and therefore rather tragic), but I'll leave discussion of that topic to other bloggers who sum it up better than I could; among them (in no particular order):

Laugh

Oh yeah, and I fell off my chair laughing when I saw that Alan Odds had been quoted by The Age. Keep up the good work, that man.

Comments

ChrisS

Alans' got a facebook profile! And a facebook group! And he's created a campaigns page too!

I've put in a request for t-shirts.

Treadly and Me

Yep, they can put me down for a t-shirt too. Especially now that he's a media personality.

eccles

Puts being squirted with windscreen water for the third time in a week in perspective...

Treadly and Me

That's just different symptoms of the same psychopathology I'd have thought.

Adrian

"the driver was more interested in what was going on around him than doing the speed limit"... Thats just golden.

I think it would be fun to start up an annual Jason or Huss Award for the most stupid thing said by motorist. It could up be up there the Mal Awards and The Earnie Awards.

Treadly and Me

I'll put my neck out and say we've already got our winner for this year.