So Boxer Amir Khan runs a red light, speeds at 50mph on a road with a 30mph limit and runs over a pedestrian breaking their leg.

But he was just careless. At least according to a jury who cleared him of the offence of dangerous driving and found him guilty of careless driving.^[1]

What on earth were these jurors thinking?

I have nothing against Khan, in fact I quite admire him. He has even been useful to me as an example of a Muslim who follows their faith and is tolerant of others who have faith elsewhere, for instance wishing Christians a Merry Christmas following one of his fights. He doesn’t know it, but Khan has been of great help to me when arguing against Islamphobism and racism. Khan has been a great representation of a modern British Muslim and helped me show the hypocrisy of idiot bigots who have tried to tell me that all Muslims are terrorists and/or evil.

But back to the point.

Careless might have been to miss a red light because you were looking at road signs while lost.

Careless might have been creeping over the speed limit by 4 to 5 mph.

It’s careless to misplace your car keys.

But 20 mph above a limit in a built up area and running a red light is not a loss of concentration, it’s a wilful disregard of the law and downright dangerous. Just ask the person who Kahn run over how careless Kahn’s driving was. They have the broken leg to prove just how dangerous it was. That’s a broken leg and a good deal of luck it wasn’t more serious.

It seems to me that the jury see speeding and dangerous driving as a soft crime. Perhaps even something we all do so maybe it’s even acceptable. And as a jury is made up of our peers, 12 good people pulled in from the Great British public, what does this say about our perception of safety and the right of the motorist to ignore law?

I feel this is a big disappointment. Each and every crime of this nature should be judged dangerous.

I’m sorry Amir, but I feel you should have lost your license. I know you regret what happened and would never knowingly hurt anyone^[2]. But your actions show how you either lack the maturity to posses a driving licence or lack the required intelligence to understand the danger posed by such irresponsible behaviour on our streets.

I just hope the jury of the next idiot on our roads aren’t apologists for this car dependant society we live in.

Gazza

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