Update: Spectator Fined €1700 for Causing Massive Pileup on Stage 1 of the Tour De France

 Exactly

 The French court decided not to ruin her life with exorbitant fines. One person cannot be financially responsible for those bikes and riders - being held accountable in that manner would be a life sentence to struggle and debt. They gave this person an opportunity to grow from their mistake. It seems much more appropriate for major corporate sponsors to shoulder the damages that are inconsequential to them but insurmountable to the 1 person who caused the crash.

 @GotchaJimmy: Then don't cause a crash and you won't be held liable. Way too lenient. Stupidity should not be an excuse.

 This is the criminal case. Unclear if the riders and others who had property damage and injuries can still pursue civil damage claims, if they want to. That's how it would work in the US, but France has a very different legal system so I don't know.

 Spectators causing (near) crashes at the TdF is part of the event, sadly. It just went a bit more wrong here than most of the other (near) collisions. But it wasn't like we haven't seen this coming hence it is quite daft to act the damage and injury is all to blame on this single person. There are more instances responsible for rider safety. Year after year I've seen people wave big green hands and whatnot in the way of riders, people holding phones and cameras across the fences... You know things can go wrong. If you don't change anything, it is just a matter of when, not if. Which other sport do you have where riders ride at such speeds which such limited protection this close to spectators without any fence or buffer zone? Maybe urban DH races (though at least these aren't mass races and with more protection), does it happen in ice speed skating? I know the sport of road cycling likes the vibe of having people race this close to the public, but they need to realize that does imply that we'll going to keep seeing crashes like these. Sometimes fewer casualties, but be prepared for more too.

Just did the math though and I think she has to pay 1701 euro. So everyone who considers 1700 too little can relax now.

 Any fine she'd receive in the US would be paltry compared to the civil lawsuits everyone down to the team Soigneur would slap down.

 WWJD

 Those poor roided out roidies in what was a respectable sport...Bring back Lance!

 @GotchaJimmy: I get your perspective but if that’s the case, there are MANY, MANY gun crimes in the US, that occurred from stupidity. The fact a child can shoot themselves or others because a parent stupidly left something lying around isn’t seen as a lesson learnt situation.
If you look at it in another way, someone drink driving and plowing down a family isn’t a silly mistake. We could still have career and life changing injuries to come out of this, never mind damaged equipment etc.

 Then again there were 10 idiots who gave you down votes, but not surprised when the majority rule.

 If it's a punishment based on the person's ability to pay then it's probably fair. Yes, it wont cover the damage caused but you can't levy punishments which leave people ruined - that's would just be retribution. The real issue is how do we stop this in the future? There are plenty more people out there to do silly things.

 @2-1RacingUK: To look at your gun analogy in particular, the reason why gun ownership in the US is so controversial is because basic controls to stop people doing stupid things are routinely blocked by gun lobby groups. The risk is high, yet little is done to protect the innocent except saying that we need to rely on individual liberty to feel safe. In the TDF there is a risk associated with the stupidity of spectators which needs to be managed. As far as I can see, that risk isn't being managed properly. The problem with common sense is that it isn't that common, so if nothing changes this will happen again.

 @peterknightuk: yeah but is that a bad thing? Look at all the publicity it’s got for le tour. People are interested in it because of this! And let’s be honest - most crashes are caused by riders. If we remove the riders because they might cause crashes we won’t have a race anymore. It’s either that, or make them all ride bikes with Perspex boxes around them!

 @jaame: Interesting perspective. Yes, there will always be risk associated with ... well, everything! I guess it's down to the governing body to decide what risk is acceptable. It would be interesting to hear from the riders what risk they think is acceptable. (Group B rally is an example of a similar problem).

 @GotchaJimmy: You're just making stuff up and then commenting on it... that there are just the two choices of a slap on the wrist or a life sentence of struggle and debt. I think it could be a lot more painful without ruining her whole life... and should be.

 @peterknightuk: agreed. They’ve deterred not one single spectator on this action.

Hey let’s be honest, they’ve likely set up a gofundme page to pay for her mistake.

 @jaame: "Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out..."

 Totally agree. Don't forget she already had two major fines which is more than enough: being France's most wanted person for a day, and a life sentence of YouTube best fails ever compilation.

 The fine is less than a single carbon wheelset destroyed in the pileup.

 I'm curious what the spike in TV ratings for the tour were this year after this incident made the rounds

 You're too much of a bleeding heart or an artist. Idiots with good intention are the most dangerous in life. Only thing that is worth is if they are alsohard-working.

 Just another slap on the wrist for the "absent minded" perp. I wonder if she were "absent mindedly" texting while driving and plowed into your loved one if you would still be so lenient on this poor, misunderstood woman? Yep, some of you would.

 @DBone95: Justice focuses primarily on intentions and not on consequences. Emotions and vengeance are not good conselors when seeking justice.

 @GotchaJimmy:
Sorry, but I think she should be held responsible for the actual damages she caused at a minimum. That should include damage to bikes, and hospital bills of the riders harmed as well. Its called responsibility…..

 @NCKingsting: Just an accident. Sure, pay for tha damage that she caused if necessary. That's it. There was no intent.

 @NCKingsting: Hospital paid for as part of taxes. Bikes provided to the team for free as part of the marketing budget. WHat do you want her to pay for?

 I am sure she feels very bad and is regretful of her decision to do this. I think the fact that she turned herself in shows that she feels very bad about it. So if the athletes and teams invoice her for the broken parts and personal injuries, I am sure she would understand and would not mind. There is no need for overly penalizing her. She just needs to pay for all the damage she has caused and not a cent more.

 @BikeTrials: 1) She turned herself in only after fleeing the scene and seeing her face splashed all over the world. A remorseful person who "felt very bad about it" would have stayed on scene and tried to help and take responsibility for their stupidity. 2) "She just needs to pay for all the damage she has caused and not a cent more." Pretty sure she caused more than €1700 worth of damage. 3) It really doesn't matter anyway because the next screen addicted, self absorbed moron is lurking just around the corner to hurt other people by doing whatever the f*ck they want to do, whenever the f*ck they want to do it.

 @Jo-rides:

 @NCKingsting: This isn't the USA, riders won't have to pay 'hospital bills'. They also won't have to cover damages to bikes, the sponsors will provide them

 @DBone95: I know it does not show over the texts, but I was being sarcastic. Lol. The teams and athletes should invoice her for every amount.

 @BikeTrials: Ahh, yes I missed the sarcastic font! My bad.

 I'd rather take a prison sentence.

 That's the difference between roadies and off road bikers haha

 I agree, sneaking off is the equivalent of a hit and run. If she stayed and said I messed up and I feel sick about it, the punishment is just. But sneaking off, I say put her in jail couple months. Suing people of that age usually isnt an option since they dont have much in the way of assets.

 @thenotoriousmic: Try hitting the tarmac at 45 km/hr with nothing but lycra on. Someones career could've ended that day, or worse.

 @krka73: Just like every day on the tour?

 @GotchaJimmy: Indeed. But when it's due to the negligence of a spectator, there's no reason not to address it.

 @krka73: Fair!

 @nojzilla: anyone who believes in any "clean sport" is deluding themselves to one degree or another.

 @thenotoriousmic: Seems kind of weird to call cycling pointless on a cycling website. Many folks' livelihoods revolve around the cycling industry and anytime your actions can cause irrevocable harm to others you should be held accountable for those actions.

 @krka73: they ain't on meat an two veg that's for sure!

 $20,000 worth of bikes were damaged. Those bikes may cost the averge ounter $10,000 each but they sure don't cost that for the teams to replace. I would imagine everything that was damaged was provided free of charge. The cost would be on the brands, as in cost price that they paid their manufacturing partners to make those bikes. That cost would have been part of the marketing budget for the brands for the year. In other words, no additional cost incurred due to that crash. The cost of fixing up the athletes. One would think they had full time trainers, physios and doctors on the teams as salaried employees. Again, no extra cost. Perhaps having to ay for scans and a few nights in hospital beds but again, for European based riders in European hospitals this one is also a question mark.
Then the talk of putting her in jail. Ha ha ha! Create a considerable cost and pass it on to the tax payer - great idea genius!
I don't know the numbers for France, but I know that in the UK (which is next to France) the average salary is 33k and the average cost to house one prisoner for one year is 34k. In light of this, we should be trying to keep the prison population to a minimum. It should be reserved for the abslute scum of society, not just used for anyone who has been a bit naughty or careless. There are other ways to pay a ebt to scoiety or be rehabilitated than custodial sentences.

 @thenotoriousmic: would love to see someone throw you off your bike mid ride and then calmly explain to you how you being angry is pointless because you were just on a bike ride. Im sure you'd agree.

 @jaame: Never said anything about deserving prison, only that the fine is really not enough to scare anyone from doing it again. Community service would have been an excellent punishment...that shit sucks more than a fine and it isn't as harsh as a prison sentence.

 @IsaacO: I agree on that. That would be the way to go for sure.

 @IsaacO: there’s a difference between being angry and being made example off because you inconvenienced a stupid bike ride and I’m not just talking about the tour of France all biking in general considering what we’re currently dealing with it’s really not that important.

 @thenotoriousmic: What's this hyperbole about? It's not a matter of this fine or being "hung drawn and quartered". And she was a lot more than "a bit" stupid. Like someone who went there to spectate didn't know there was a huge mass of riders about to arrive, filling the road from side to side! I think something that would be a deterrent and make people be careful around the racers would be a good idea.

 @MichaelLinehan: She wasn't even looking in that direction. The cyclist who hit her has to take a percentage of the responsibility, given that he was looking and heading towards her. Why is it only her fault when she was standing still and somone ran into her from behind?

 eh, who's to say those individual riders don't also have a claim against her for damages

 Are you implying that some TDF riders are privateers?

 @AyJayDoubleyou: I would not know, I'm really not into road biking.

 @okidou: The worst rider in the tdf is going to be making a 6 figure salary. Despite how it might appear a 3 week stage race is very much a team event so even if there was a magical privateer good/fit enough to ride with them it would be pointless.

 maybe she borrowed €1 from the judge to buy a sparkling water

 The €1 is a symbolic amount the French riders union asked.

 #allyourherosarejiuced