.motoring convictions
For a long time cyclists have complained in the UK about the leniency shown to drivers when involved in fatal or dangerous incidents. While the law behind the decisions makes it hard for the courts to obtain convictions which would meet with general approval, with the subsequent feeling that the life of a cyclist (or indeed pedestrian) isn't worth much, there does seem to have been a shift recently in Scotland.

In two recent cases involving pedestrians who were killed drivers have faced murder charges. Those charges weren't secured as convictions, with guilty pleas accepted for culpable homicide instead (roughly equivalent to manslaughter in England), but the intention seems to be a move towards these crimes being considered serious enough to warrant ultimate sanction, and even at the lesser charge entails the carrying of a hefty prison sentence.

More recently a driver who, it was alleged and found, had driven into a cyclist deliberately was subject to the force of the law. A driver had been driving on a short street in Edinburgh, beeping at a number of cyclists ahead of him. One stopped to speak to him, and was promptly deliberately driven into, being knocked onto the pavement.

Injuries weren't serious, and neither was damage to the bike, but the intent was enough to convince the court that a custodial sentence was warranted. While we're never going to gloat about someone having their liberty taken from them, it's nice to see the courts taking a serious view of the damage and injury that can be caused and acting accordingly.