uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20081020/tuk-show-off-motorcyclist-jailed-45bed5.html      A dare-devil motorcyclist who posted an online video of himself speeding at over 130mph has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison.   Sandor Ferenci, 28, was seen performing wheelies, skids and racing on the opposite side of the road around Banbury, Oxfordshire. The footage was then put on the video-sharing website YouTube. His sentence was handed down by Judge Terence Maher at Oxford Crown Court. In addition to his custodial sentence, Ferenci was banned from driving for two years and ordered to take an extended driving test. Tried by his own video evidence, he pleaded guilty to two charges of dangerous driving last month. A third count was taken into consideration by the court. Police said the offences were committed on June 10 and 15.   I would assume there was more than has been reported to justify the jail sentence. Can't really say I have any sympathy for him though... his 5 minutes of fame could easily have been: Whole Family Wiped Out by Speeding Motorcyclist on Wrong Side of Road   ...and it would just be more ammunition for the anti-bike brigade to use against us....   As far as I am concerned it is one more  off the road...                                                                                                                                                                              

Hah !!   good !                                                                                                                                                                             

oops, sorry Karey... edited it before your post but I hope your comment is still relative!                                                                                                                                                                              

lol..no probs.. was gonna post  'linky no worky'  but me being a female managed to rectify the mistakes of a male                                                                                                                                                                              

lol...fair enough!!!   Must admit I do have trouble making the links inactive on here after I have cut and pasted them.. but I will persevere..                                                                                                                                                                             

lol.... i expected you to bite back !    I think if you're posting links, you can leave off the http and www.  then the person viewing can add the www ..?!?!   think thats right..sumone willl correct me if I'm wrong.   Back to the post tho..yep indeed this could have been a full on tradegy.. lets hope the new test proves too much for him..and he packs in biking altogether !                                                                                                                                                                               

Blimey! think I got off lightly really after seeing that.                                                                                                                                                                             

Saying that I wasn't putting any one else in danger though.                                                                                                                                                                             

I would suspect there was a lot more to this than just the speeding aspect, oggy.   Ironic that he provided his own video evidence though!                                                                                                                                                                             

I hope this is the start of better sentencing for dangerous riding/driving. Any Anyone doing these kind of stunts on public roads should have a dangerous driving charge including using a phone. If someone dies becouse of there action it should be manslaughter.                                                                                                                                                                              

Probably right there TC, yep you're right there Blues. I did ask for the video of my speeding offence 'cause I wanted to know why they fllowed me for over 8 miles without making me aware they were an unmarked police patrol,never got it though.Wonder what would happen if I got hold of it now & put it on youtube                                                                                                                                                                             

sommats got to be done with the amount of fiddlin about now which takes your eyes an concentration from the rd ,sat navs and phones,maybe being the biggest distractions! a friend said he pulled up alongside someone at some lights an they were watching a portable video player perched on the passenger seat!!he couldnt see what the  film it was! maybe the car chase from 'bullitt!' worst case ive had was a BMW comin around a bend on the wrong side toward me i can see his stupid grinning face now as he was on the phone!!he probably thought he was an ace driver for avoiding me while still talking an laughed about it wiv his mates in the pub that night!

Ok.... so seeing as they used his video on YouTube as evidence to sentence that rider.... if you caught someone on video yourself driving whilst on the phone and putting you in danger (on a helmet cam etc) such as TM's incident above (and assuming the video showed his number plate etc).... would this be admissible?   I am still interested in these front/rear facing black box video & audio recorders that are available now, but not sure how much use the resultant video would be as evidence.   Any lawyers out there?                                                                                                                                                                             

i think it could be used as in cases of vandalism where householdere's have filmed yobbo's  vandalising cars etc!police do appeal for public camera phone video or [photos] footage of incidents an of course use cctv footage as evidence!once confronted with video evidence most change there pleas to guilty! after all he was hung by his own footage so yours or mine cant be much different!!

Personally i'm glad he got done, i know the roads he was on real well, and have ridden them loads.   Makes me shudder to think are paths could so easily have crossed                                                                                                                                                                             

Just seen the video of him... he is rubbish!!   TM - think you are right...might be making a new purchase soon then!                                                                                                                                                                             

actually could be the way to go with your own black box![literally!] police would have a nice video of the jerk that killed you!!                                                                                                                                                                              

Hello there. Just been reading your posts with interest, I agree with the sentence in fact, with regards to any form of dangerous driving, whether on a bike or any other vihicle a mandory custodial sentence should be handed out! Unfortunatly the courts seem to overlook dangerous driving although, given the powers to sentence for up to forteen years, the accused is often as I have studied, a poutry menial sentence. As for example the footballer who killed two young boys on the M6 whilst, been still drunk from the previous evening, who recieved just six years.   Although with fear of contradiction what purpose does custodial sentence serve, the guilty are out in a few years, yet the victims still live with grief for every moment of the rest of thier lives.Futhermore, at the end of the day we the tax payer are keeping irresponsible individuals in the jails. Some form of punishmeent should be sort in line with community sentencing and get our society back to real values of respect and honesty. Has the world gone mad or is just me? Jill                                                                                                                                                                             

Hello Jill (Yammy24) & welcome to the forums!   I think it is a difficult thing to impose a custodial sentence for this as the act covers such a wide area. Should a person be sent to prison for looking at his mobile phone whilst driving? Should a person be sent to prison whilst looking at his phone whilst driving and running over a pedestrian on a zebra crosiing? (these are rhetorical questions for now). Custodial sentences are used to deter others and also to affect punishment. Infallible evidence also needs to be gathered at the time of the offence.   Whilst I was thinking about all this I found a couple of sites which may prove interesting:   brake.org.uk/index.php?p=675 , which has some interesting case histories down at the bottom.   At the other end of the spectrum I also found this, a solicitors specialising in criminal & motoring law (although I guess there are any number of others that offer the same service, this company came up on a Google search about death by dangerous driving):   marymonson.co.uk/dangerous-driving.htm   There is something about their case studies that doesn't sit easy with me...   Now, I am fully aware of the purpose of a defence within the judicial system but I was also disgusted by the actions of the defence whilst I was on jury service on a case of attempted murder. (The accused was eventually sentenced to 17 years and had a list of previous as long as your arm..).                                                                                                                                                                                   

Do custodial sentences work as a deterrant? There has to be some other sollution/deterrant, who knows, it seems the `broken window theory" (if it ever worked) has long gone as an answer to rectifying any theory of social correction. Interesting link, thank you.