Seconds away from misery

[don simon]

Originally Posted by AlexD333

Totally agree, however some leniency should be given for his immediate honesty no?

Why not just lie like most others would

We can all be apologetic after we've been caught.
Call me harsh.

[rustic]

Who in their right mind, would drive fast when tired, just to get there quicker...?
Throw the book at him, he could have killed his family, and other innocent people, he has also affected other families who have taken all reasonable precautions for a safe journey.

At the moment, the only cost to him, will be a loss of his no claims.
Sorry this is not enough of a deterrent.
It was a situation that could have caused death, ie Manslaughter.
So to me, to drive in that condition, would be asking for trouble, so attempted murder is more the charge that he deserves.
But for car "so called accidents" he will probably get away with it.

My wife travels on that road regularly,
Ban him.

Alex... had he tried to lie, what would he say....
The steering wheel disconnected... and I had no control of the vehicle...
Hmm... that can happen ... so who was the last one to mess with the steering? lets go after them.
The police would have the car checked for faults following the crash, also his mobile phone conversations etc.
Dangerous driving is a minimum charge that I hope will stick, with a ban too.

[briggie]

the question is ...... will he do it again after this lesson ?

[perelaar]

We have a twice-daily 30 miles highway commute towards Brussels. Every day I see accidents, 90% at least caused by people not paying attention. Most of them are texting or otherwise playing with their phones. In fact we count with about one accident involving our car per year.

To say the least, we are not the only ones on that highway - and still every single day some idiot drives into the back of another car, or swipes a motorbike aside. People don't learn unless they are directly and personally hurt.
As for me, did my share of stupid things, but after a family member died in a car accident all that stopped...

[rustic]

Originally Posted by briggie

the question is ...... will he do it again after this lesson ?

He got away with it once... so why not.
He may have done it before, who knows... the only certain way is to ban him.

Mind you these young TWOCs seemed to get away with it, steal a car, put other lives in danger... and walk away with 100 hours community service, have their licence endorsed... but they often don't have one ...

At least the guy on the motorway was insured... or I assume he was...

Society is too lenient with bad drivers in the UK.

Now, if we as normal motorists stop for a few minutes over our allocated parking time, or stray into a Bus lane, whilst coming out of a side junction, or creap over 32mph in a 30 mph zone, then we can expect to pay dearly, far more than the driver on the M42 or a TWOC driver.

The best one, is if you are at Birmingham airport, and you just pull up along side the carriage way, and a passenger gets out, and then you drive off, having barely stopped for 8 seconds, then expect a parking charge notice to arrive in the post...
Might be cheaper to plough into a load of slow cars and then your passenger can get out when you exchange address and insurance details lol.

[Lazy-Ferret]

To me he is no better than a Drunk or Drug driver. He knowingly drove at high speed with total disregard to both his family and other road users knowing he was not up to the task.

Not only that, but one of the first things your insurance TOC's says, is you are never to admit responsibility for an accident, so technically he invalidated his insurance the moment he said that.

What people do not realise is the knock on effect of their stupidity. For example, people like us, like our cars to be "Special", we add things, and tweak things to make them better, or more geared up for us. Those things are not covered by insurance. For example, the man hours that went into making the rear door shelf, fitting the roof vent, adding the extra lights and all the associated wiring, adding electrical outlets, adding all the bits associated to the extra battery, upgrading the suspension... the list goes on and on. When the insurance company look at our vehicles, they see a bulk standard car only worth the low end of the Parkers guide, and that is all they are going to pay out.

Then there is the case of the caravan, not only do all the things above apply, but when the woman hit our caravan, we did not have the money to replace it straight away, and the insurance company took over a year to pay out. That lost us many holidays, as we use our van practically every other weekend. It turns out, things like the food in the van is not covered, even though it was mostly all ruined. What insurance companies also do not take into account, is things like say, a favourite jumper, is worth what ever you paid for it, to you, because that is what it will cost to replace it, if you can, but to the insurgence company, it will be worth less than half. Things you do not have receipts for are worth even less, so the bargain you picked up on Ebay, that will never be repeated, are all lost completely.

As far as I am concerned, "Sorry" is just a word, and he will never be able to prove if he is really sorry or not, and to be honest, I doubt he will be, as he luckily did not loose much from this accident, especially compared to what the innocent caravanner lost.

[rustic]

I agree with LF's post, re what time and effort you put into a car.
I have put hundreds of hours into my Mav to keep it pristine for Twenty years, and many cans of waxoyl.

Without that forethought and planning, I could have spent hundreds £ on welding and panel replacement.
OK over this time, I have probably benefited by the hard work put in especially in the early years.

What is a 20 year old Maverick worth? To an insurance company, probably £500, to me to find a similar car in that condition, first of all will be impossible, and to find a car that starts every time, first time every time for 20 years...
Impossible.
Getting one close, would cost a few thousand, even then, the rot would have set in...
Now over those 20 years I have paid insurance, never made a claim, took defensive action regularly to avoid accidents.
Also parked in places to reduce the car door knocks, what else can you do?

Life isn't fair...

Now... don't get me talking about hire craft on the Norfolk Broads, they just ram your pride and joy and laugh... They all have collision damage waiver, so it doesn't matter to them if they damage your boat a little, or a lot, and nearly all of them will drive off anyway, hoping to get away with the carnage.
In the early days of hiring, you paid a deposit, and as long as there were no claims, you got all of it back.
With the current situation, having a collision damage waiver benefits the hire companies, as this is additional income that they pocket.

Rant over... for now lol...

[bry]

In my humble opinion idiots like this guy,should be removed from the Gene pool...

[firebobby]

The idiot hasn't lost anything really, he said his car was a lease car, so would not be cherished.
There were plenty of personal effects strewn across the motorway from the caravan, so yes plenty of items and memories ruin I dare say.
Just thankful he missed us.

[rustic]

I bet all his friends and family are saying to his face how lucky he was...
But thinking What an idiot, thank god my kids weren't in his car...
Oh and by the way... never offer to give me or my family a lift.

[johnb5177]

When I first ventured out on the roads, first a bike, then motorcycle, then car.....a family friend, who was an early version of `Traffic` cops, told me.....don't worry about you, worry about the idiots in front, behind, and to the sides.

So true then, and more so now with so much more traffic on the roads.

I always think that cars, bikes and guns are perfectly safe.......until you put them in the hands of an idiot.

I hope this moron gets banned, and charged with driving without due care and attention, or dangerous driving, as he has admitted to driving whilst drowsy and tired.

I feel for the poor souls whose life has just been changed for ever.......it does not go away.......