Old school friend of mine goes to prison for death by dangerous driving

Dave2150 · 16 May 2007 at 18:15

MrLOL said:
how many people have pulled off un-safe overtakes and got yelled abuse, and rightly so ?

i do agree with some of your posts, that calling him a "lunatic" is somewhat excessive

but for gods sake theres no need to pull stunts like that. Just be patient and wait till its safe.

and it quite obviously wasnt safe, as the accused had an accident at that very junction before, so knew how dangerous it was

like so many others, he got impatient and pulled out when it wasnt safe.

Dude, why are you posting the same thing twice? :confused:

The_Dark_Side · 16 May 2007 at 18:55

Adz said:
There must be other circumstances we're not aware of..

without exception EVERY single thread like this one needs to have the above said by someone.
deciding the courts were wrong without having all the evidence at hand is a fools errand.

Simon · 16 May 2007 at 19:01

The_Dark_Side said:
without exception EVERY single thread like this one needs to have the above said by someone.
deciding the courts were wrong without having all the evidence at hand is a fools errand.

Agreed.

ShakenNstirred · 16 May 2007 at 19:02

Jez said:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=391927

Read it in the bucks free this morning, i see there is also this thread on pistonheads about it.

Shocked to see that this has happened, and how easily it could happen to any one of us.

Has made me reflect on my attitude to driving somewhat, having seen this happen to someone who i have known for years. Drive carefully peeps :/

maybe it will make you think about your driving while drink mate?

Jez · 16 May 2007 at 19:03

ShakenNstirred said:
maybe it will make you think about your driving while drink mate?

Think someone missed the joke in the last thread.

The_Dark_Side · 16 May 2007 at 19:04

Simon said:
Agreed.

careful, agreeing with me is a slippery slope...you might end up doing it more often.
now don't do it again and i'll expect 500 lines on my desk by 9 tonight

MikeHunt79 · 16 May 2007 at 19:09

Wooldridge, who was returning home from work before the crash around 5.45pm, was also disqualified from driving for three years.

Hmm, I doubt this helped his cause. Still, it doesn't sound like it was 100% his fault. It's a tough one to call IMO.

ShakenNstirred · 16 May 2007 at 19:10

Jez said:
Think someone missed the joke in the last thread.

drink driving isnt a joke, when you have lost a friend though it mate

Jez · 16 May 2007 at 19:10

MikeHunt79 said:
Hmm, I doubt this helped his cause. Still, it doesn't sound like it was 100% his fault. It's a tough one to call IMO.

Read up, the ban was as a result of this, on top of the prison sentance.

Conanius · 16 May 2007 at 19:11

right.

My take

overtaking 3 cars as an issue.....

Scenario - Fiesta 1.8 Diesel - Dangerous
Scenario - Powerful sporty car, e.g. VX220 Turbo/ Mitsu Evo/ Scoob STi - Safe

powerful well balanced good handling cars can fly past 3 cars in the time it may take that wheezing little car to get past one. not dangerous.

Someone pulling out on him from a junction and him plowing into them, regardless of speed - > fault of the one who pulled out.... how the hell can he control what other road users do. that could have happened to anyone, driving in any way.... to sentance him for that (Death by Dangerous driving charge SHOULD NOT take into account driving 'dangerously' 10 miles further up the road !! it'd be like saying im guilty of shop lifting because I parked my car on double yellow lines)

If I was him, i'd be appealing !!! !

Jez · 16 May 2007 at 19:15

ShakenNstirred said:
drink driving isnt a joke, when you have lost a friend though it mate

My sympathies on the loss of your friend (and i dont mean that sarcastically), but you still missed the point by implying in here that i drink drive.

Sagalout · 16 May 2007 at 19:18

He overtook at a junction. Thats incredibly stupid and dangerous. It caused a death. Therefore 'causing death by dangerous driving' seems about right I'd have thought.

If you kill someone due to your own impatience/stupidity/lack of judgement you have to take the serious consequences.

mark66 · 16 May 2007 at 19:20

[TW]Fox said:
...From reading that article it doesn't even look like the overtake and the accident were related - as it says one of the drivers he overtook stopped and shouted at him. You don't tend to stop and shout at the scene of a fatal accident so this was presumably beforehand?

He did not die at the scene, he died two weeks later in hospital.

Simon · 16 May 2007 at 19:29

Sagalout said:
He overtook at a junction. Thats incredibly stupid and dangerous. It caused a death. Therefore 'causing death by dangerous driving' seems about right I'd have thought.

If you kill someone due to your own impatience/stupidity/lack of judgement you have to take the serious consequences.

The junction of the crash was 10miles from the place he overtook according to what has been said.

Sounds like there were too many 'witnesses' who were annoying about being overtaken.

The_Dark_Side · 16 May 2007 at 19:31

Conanius said:
Scenario - Fiesta 1.8 Diesel - Dangerous
Scenario - Powerful sporty car, e.g. VX220 Turbo/ Mitsu Evo/ Scoob STi - SafeR!

edited.
overtaking is by definition a risky manoevure, and having more power doesn't mean squat if the peanut inside your skull has told you to attempt it at a bad place/time on the road.

mark66 · 16 May 2007 at 19:47

Some more details from the my local paper:

...raced past two cars and a motorcycle at a notorious crossroads in High Wycombe before smashing into the back of a car...

...the defendant decided to overtake before the junction. There was a motorbike and two cars travelling at 60mph but this man, who knew the junction was dangerous, decided to overtake anyway. Unfortunately Philip Daniels was waiting at the junction to turn right and as he did so the defendant was overtaking and straddling the middle of the road. There was an almighty crash.

[TW]Fox · 16 May 2007 at 20:11

If thats true, I agree with the sentance.

Jonny ///M · 16 May 2007 at 21:02

Conanius said:
right.

My take

overtaking 3 cars as an issue.....

Scenario - Fiesta 1.8 Diesel - Dangerous
Scenario - Powerful sporty car, e.g. VX220 Turbo/ Mitsu Evo/ Scoob STi - Safe

powerful well balanced good handling cars can fly past 3 cars in the time it may take that wheezing little car to get past one. not dangerous.

Someone pulling out on him from a junction and him plowing into them, regardless of speed - > fault of the one who pulled out.... how the hell can he control what other road users do. that could have happened to anyone, driving in any way.... to sentance him for that (Death by Dangerous driving charge SHOULD NOT take into account driving 'dangerously' 10 miles further up the road !! it'd be like saying im guilty of shop lifting because I parked my car on double yellow lines)

If I was him, i'd be appealing !!! !

This is what i think. The guy pulled out at a give way juction, if the guy hit him while overtaking another can then clearly there wasnt enough room for him to savely pull out.

mark66 · 16 May 2007 at 21:31

No, that's not what the more detailed article states. The victim was stationary in the middle of the road, waiting to turn right. The defendant came up the road behind him, overtook two cars and ploughed into the back of the guy waiting to turn right.

Personally I think his 2 year sentence is perfectly reasonable . Its something we all have to take responsibility for. The rules and speed limits are very clear, if we decide to exceed and break those rules and in the doing so we take someones life away, we must accept the consequences.

If this guy had been doing 60 like everyone else then the victim would be alive today. The lad decided that 60 was too slow for him, overtook at speed approaching a junction and in doing so killed someone. IMHO he has to go to prison for justice to be served.

Zip · 16 May 2007 at 21:36

mark66 said:
If this guy had been doing 60 like everyone else then the victim would be alive today. The lad decided that 60 was too slow for him, overtook at speed approaching a junction and in doing so killed someone. IMHO he has to go to prison for justice to be served.

Is there anywhere that says the cars he overtook were doing 60?

They could have been doing 50.

And IMO its much safer to get as past and back into the right lane as quick as possible, Passing someone and sticking to the speed limit is over exposing your self in the wrong lane for too long