No jail time for the driver who killed a cyclist on the Claremont Access

Guy McPhee has been sentenced to a fine, a driving ban and community service for careless driving in the December 2015 death of cyclist Jay Keddy.

In court today, McPhee, 57,  turned to face Jay Keddy’s wife and kids as he tearfully apologized.

“We think of you every day. You are in our hearts,” he told them he thinks constantly of the collision. “It was the worst day of my life.”

Keddy’s death affected a lot of people, his wife Ingrid told court. She brought an array of sympathy cards from his kindergarten students.

“That night my husband was taken away from me by sheer carelessness,” she said Keddy should be walking his daughter down the aisle soon, instead he won’t be there.

Crown Nancy Flynn asked for jail time as well as a suspended licence. McPhee’s lawyer Dean Paquette asked for a fine. The Justice of the Peace decided on community service, which McPhee does anyway, the maximum fine of $2,000, and a four-month driving ban.

The Justice of the Peace said in her decision that this case has caused a lot of discussion in the community, and that she hopes the roads get safer for cyclists. The Justice of the Peace found McPhee guilty, because he had about 20 seconds to see the cyclist in front of him and it was his responsibility to be looking.

But Paquette says the circumstances are unusual. It was getting dark, cyclists are rare on the Claremont access, McPhee had just come through a construction zone and was checking to change lanes as Keddy’s bike swerved to avoid a sewer grate. McPhee wasn’t sure what he had hit, he called police from home and was later informed he’d killed a man.