Earlier in the year I mentioned a young girl speeding down a hill in the icy weather and being unable to negotiate the bend. In Scotland most drivers understand the problems of icy conditions. She hit a car killing the front seat passenger - fortunately the 3 children of the driver were not in the car she hit or the carnage could have been even worse. Her defence was that there was an intermittant fault on the clutch, which was backed up by some of her family. The Procurator Fiscal has now decided not to continue with any charges.
Surely the car should not have been on the road? If it had not, no one would have died. How exactly would a clutch not working have led to her speeding down the hill? Would this have been dropped in England?
I am bemused that some one driving a car with a known fault, killing someone, is not prosecuted with, at least, driving a car unfit to be on the road.
|
Hi deepwith. How do you know she was speeding, and if so at what speed ? Very sad case for all involved. Cheers, Graham.
|
|
I know the driver of the 'hit' car - a very sensible and calm person. She may not have been over the limit, but was travelling far too fast for the icy conditions and got to the bend to find she could not negotiate it. Witnesses stated she was travelling too fast for the road and apparently the girl said as much to the policeman, who was looking after the dying passenger.
|
.. She hit a car killing the front seat passenger ..
you mean she hit a car in which the front seat passenger died.
if she killed the passenger, then this statement would not follow: "Procurator Fiscal has now decided not to continue with any charges".
so it is not true to use even these qualified words: "allegedly killed".
do you have a link to this story so we can read the facts of the case?
|
I think we all know what Deepwith means - the passenger was killed as a result of the speeding driver hitting the car (s)he was in.
I would hope that there would be a prosecution in England, and I'm surprised that there wasn't one on Scotland. Never mind the clutch fault - the driver was apparently going too fast for the icy conditions, so that she couldn't brake in time without skidding. That's surely at least careless driving, if not dangerous.
Maybe there's something we don't know - so if you know of a link to a report, that would certainly be interesting.
|
I think we all know what Deepwith means - the passenger was killed as a result of the speeding driver hitting the car (s)he was in.
i.m.o. - I think she means - the passenger died as a result of alleged speeding driver hitting the car (s)he was in.
in england, innocent until proven guilty. in scotland, i think there is an additional intermediate "not proven guilty" option when case goes to court.
in this case, it would seem the law officers have decided the accident does not merit further action.
|
|
|
|
What was the intermittent clutch fault?
In theory a clutch fault shouldn't make much difference to a driver who is not panicked by the situation (gears can still be disengaged with minimal skill) , but keeping a cool head in such situations while sliding down a hill is easier said than done.
|
It?s difficult to imagine what clutch fault could cause the car to go too fast for the conditions. However, how often do we hear of cars with potentially serious problems that really bug the owner, yet the dealer can?t find anything wrong?
I note that the car wasn?t ?speeding? ? ie wasn?t over the limit. A guy was killed up the road from me (so in England) as he pulled out of side road into the path of a van doing 50MPH. Police said the *max* visibility the van driver could have had was 35metres, but that the van driver had one nothing wrong as he wasn?t exceeded the speed limit.
I can only assume that this is the inevitable result of the speed camera culture ? stick to the limits and you're untouchable.
|
Exactly. You can be speeding at any speed in which you cant stop the vehicle in the distance you can see etc.
But speed limits and scameras take no account of weather conditions, visibility etc etc.
An accident at 10 mph in ice is driver error through driving at an inappropriate speed.
Don't know the facts of the case but sounds like poor judgement by the legal sysytem imo.
|
|
|
|
