There is always one twat...

SteveR_100Milers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/glou ... 285394.stm

Morons behind machinery, again. When will people think and use some sense FFS. There really can be no mitigating circumstances in this situation, can there? really?

alfablue

Well, on the face of it, it was an unwise overtaking manoeuvre and as such it would seem logical to lay the blame with the Peugeot driver, but we know nothing of the circumstances yet.

Maybe unlikely, but for instance, what if the Passat was driving without lights for example? What if the Passat was driving extremely fast and way in excess of the speed limit? What if the overtaken car had suddenly pulled out of a lay by without signalling, right in front of the Peugeot? Just three of many possible scenarios which would change our perspective.

Our natural inclination to see this as simply reckless driving by the Peugeot driver may well be proven to be correct, but lets just wait till the inquest. Reading a news item the day after the incident whilst investigations are still ongoing is no basis for us to judge.

I was unfortunate to witness a 5 fatality accident involving two cars on Mothers Day some years ago, one car hit the other as it crossed a fast A road. The simple conclusion was that the car simply pulled out recklessly in front of the oncoming vehicle. After the investigation it was revealed that the car on the A road was travelling at excess speed, the junction was poorly laid out and there were blind spots from the give way line, but I suppose the most damning thing was the driver of the car pulling out was 14 years old! None of this was known to us at the time. The junction has now been completely redesigned, as a staggered layout, traffic lights installed, 50mph speed limit set, and there are speed cameras on the A road. Such an accident should now be virtually impossible in that spot. I am not saying there is no blame attributable to the driver, how could I when the driver was underage, but there certainly were other circumstances that conspired to make an accident in this spot more likely.

Tourist Tony

I think the history of the overtaking driver would tend to suggest where the blame is most likely to lie.....

alfablue

Tourist Tony wrote:

I think the history of the overtaking driver would tend to suggest where the blame is most likely to lie.....

Yes, I've just heard that on the news, and it does seem to add to the "picture" - still not too keen on assumptions though.

Nigel-YZ1

BBC News this morning showed a short clip of the scene. Single white lines, bends and stuff. Didn't look like the kind of stretch I'd want to overtake on.

I agree with alfablue, there are news reports, then there are facts.

redvee

From what I've read on the matter the convicted DD was nicked on another stretch of the same road in the past. His 15 yr old aughter who passed away was with child.

vitesse169

The bottom line is he was a twat, driving like a twat, is a dead twat but unfortunately has killed a bunch of innocent people & ruined many, many more lives....

meagain

I rather suspect that vitesse has the truth of the matter.