Michael Dougan, 32, was driving a construction vehicle on June 6, 2006 when his side mirror clipped OPP Sgt. Gregory Stobbart, who had been on a training ride.

An avid cyclist and triathlete, the 44-year-old later died at Hamilton General Hospital.

Last year, justice of the peace Barry Quinn found Dougan guilty of careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act, suspended his driver’s licence for one year, placed him on two years’ probation and ordered him to do 100 hours of community service work.

Quinn found Dougan to be a “risk taker,” noting he had committed another Highway Traffic Act offence of following too closely about two months after the fatal crash.

He decided, however, not to send him to jail or to impose a fine in view of the fact that he hadn’t paid traffic fines in the past.

At the time of the fatal collision, Dougan had accumulated a total of $14,000 in fines over 10 years for driving infractions. He had five convictions for driving with a suspended licence and two convictions for driving with no insurance.

Last Friday, lawyer Saman Wickramasinghe argued before Justice Stephen Brown in Ontario Court that Dougan’s conviction should be overturned because Quinn hadn’t sufficiently explained his reasons for finding him guilty and had misapprehended the evidence.

He said it wasn’t permissible for the justice of the peace to conclude his client was driving carelessly just because there was a fatal accident, unless he analyzed the driver’s conduct before the collision.

“The Crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the conduct amounted to careless driving.”

He referred to evidence of Crown witnesses who testified Dougan was driving within the speed limit and in a prudent manner. A female motorist following Dougan’s truck testified she’d seen his vehicle fishtail and that his side mirror came within two to six feet of Stobbart when she last saw the bicycle and truck on the road in front of her.

Because nobody actually saw the impact, Wickramasinghe argued the court wasn’t allowed to speculate on how the collision occurred. But Assistant Crown attorney Maureen McGuigan countered that Stobbart’s injuries indicated that he was struck directly from behind and that Dougan’s vehicle hadn’t swerved before impact.

She said this indicated he hadn’t seen the cyclist and wasn’t paying proper attention.

“There is no evidence — zero evidence — the cyclist was moving towards the centre of the road.”

McGuigan asked the judge to uphold Quinn’s conviction and filed a counter appeal asking Brown to increase Dougan’s penalty to include a short jail sentence.

The judge adjourned the decision until December 12 in Milton court.