Level crossing chase

[Yew]

Remeber the episode on top gear where the crosing awareness people plowed through an espace?

 

[fairysdad]

At least during the chase, the stolen car's driver had the sense to put his hazard warning lights on

 

[HST Power]

I know his leg was not taking off, I was pointing to the fact his shoe on his trailing leg was took clean off, maybe he should have lost a leg, as harsh as it sounds, would learn them a lesson

A very painful lesson!!

I bet he won't be stupid enough to try it again!

 

[ainsworth74]

Remeber the episode on top gear where the crosing awareness people plowed through an espace?

You mean this clip here? It is a rather spectacular piece of footage and makes the point quite well.

 

[HST Power]

You mean this clip here? It is a rather spectacular piece of footage and makes the point quite well.

Indeed. Jeremy Clarkson made some very good points.

 

[OxtedL]

I for one no longer drive without high visibility clothing on

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Indeed. Jeremy Clarkson made some very good points.

Very true. I always wear two hard hats now.

 

[jon0844]

The problem with the law is it can't usually punish for what might have happened, so while the idiot in this video could have caused mass carnage and deaths (not just on the railway crossing, imagine losing it by a bus stop or something) that didn't happen.

I'm not sure I know what to feel about this. If you do something that could be seen as incredibly dangerous, should you get a much harsher punishment by default?

Take the person who threw the fire extinguisher off of Millbank Tower. It was a miracle he didn't kill someone, so should he have received a much longer sentence?

 

[Bald Rick]

I know his leg was not taking off, I was pointing to the fact his shoe on his trailing leg was took clean off, maybe he should have lost a leg, as harsh as it sounds, would learn them a lesson

This was a few years ago at Rainham in Essex. The bloke involved ended up with a badly broken ankle.

True story - when Plod turned up, they assessed that the miscreant must have been injured, so checked local hospitals for someone with a leg injury and bereft of half his footwear. He was duly located, whereupon Plod went to the patient's cubicle in A&E with said trainer, and opened the conversation with "Cinderella I presume?"

 

[HST Power]

Very true. I always wear two hard hats now.

I was thinking more about the problem of the elderly on the roads!!

 

[sprinterguy]

I for one no longer drive without high visibility clothing on

It's a well known fact that donning a high vis jacket instantly makes the wearer invincible against all perils. Basic safety 101 that, which I've learned from both Travel West Midlands and Lafarges' logistics department!

 

[paulb1973]

Vicious!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
In fact, it would be futile in many regards since top-end artificial hands now are almost as good as the original ones (apparently).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Back on the original topic though, apparently a certain Mr Clarke reckons that long sentences might be a waste of money and harden the offenders up more. He has a point, but I don't agree 100%.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8455298/Kenneth-Clarke-prison-is-a-waste-of-taxpayers-money.html

Perhaps Clarke has a point there (a Tory demanding less people in prison!). I have a untested theory: harsher more brutal prisons = harsher more brutal people. The UK has one of the highest rates of imprisonment anywhere in Europe. The actual number isn't much different from Germany - but they have a total population 20 million higher than ours!

Crickey, the prison estate costs the country £3.7 billion - to lock-up 85,000 people (perhaps against a population of 61m that isn't so bad). While not in any way connected - how many rail lines or new carriages could be built with that amount of money?!

Didn't a lorry driver get 15 months fairly recently?...for driving his lorry onto a rail line, colliding with and de-railing an NX Class 156 DMU in East Anglia. He wasn't running away from the police and appeared to admit guilt very quickly. That seemed rather harsh initially, when I saw the result.

 

[HST Power]

Didn't a lorry driver get 15 months fairly recently?...for driving his lorry onto a rail line, colliding with and de-railing an NX Class 156 DMU in East Anglia. He wasn't running away from the police and appeared to admit guilt very quickly. That seemed rather harsh initially, when I saw the result.

Lorry driving is a totally different kettle of fish. From what I know, it's a tough life. You hear all sorts of stories of drivers crashing on the motorway. In a lot of cases, it's because they can't afford to pull in for a rest as if they arrive at the depot late they lose pay. But you even get trucking companies fiddling with the truck systems to make it look like drivers have been on the road for far less time than they actually have been, enabling the driver to keep going for longer.

I agree the sentence was somewhat overly harsh.

 

[Bald Rick]

Didn't a lorry driver get 15 months fairly recently?...for driving his lorry onto a rail line, colliding with and de-railing an NX Class 156 DMU in East Anglia. He wasn't running away from the police and appeared to admit guilt very quickly. That seemed rather harsh initially, when I saw the result.

Harsh? For wilfully abusing a level crossing in:

a) leaving the gates open so that he could get back across from where he had been without bothering to get out of the cab
b) deliberately choosing not to use the phone (as mandated by signs at the crossing, and the procedures for the company he was contracted to) despite knowing he had to and understanding the process as demonstrated by his (recorded) previous use of said crossing correctly
c) notwithstanding the above, not looking up the track as he approached the crossing to see a train a couple of hundred yards away coming towards him at 50mph

With the predictable result that 20+ people were injured, many hospitalised, and one very, very nearly died.

His admission of guilt in the face of overwhelming evidence against him almost certainly saved him from a longer term at Her Majesty's hotel.

I would think that an HGV driver on a regular road who ignored a STOP sign, drove across a main road without looking and crashed into a bus would be treated similarly.

 

[paulb1973]

Harsh? For wilfully abusing a level crossing in:

a) leaving the gates open so that he could get back across from where he had been without bothering to get out of the cab
b) deliberately choosing not to use the phone (as mandated by signs at the crossing, and the procedures for the company he was contracted to) despite knowing he had to and understanding the process as demonstrated by his (recorded) previous use of said crossing correctly
c) notwithstanding the above, not looking up the track as he approached the crossing to see a train a couple of hundred yards away coming towards him at 50mph

With the predictable result that 20+ people were injured, many hospitalised, and one very, very nearly died.

His admission of guilt in the face of overwhelming evidence against him almost certainly saved him from a longer term at Her Majesty's hotel.

I would think that an HGV driver on a regular road who ignored a STOP sign, drove across a main road without looking and crashed into a bus would be treated similarly.

I confess I didn't have all the case details to hand - was just reading from the press. Nothing can excuse his actions and to plead guilty was very much the right decision it would seem. I thinking more with the length of sentence, 15 months when I first heard it seemed rather long, not that he will serve anything like that (half of the given sentence for those serving 4 years or under I believe, possibly less than that for this gentleman). I can't imagine he intended to cause an accident - perhaps he was under pressure from work - perhaps it was laziness.

 

[66526]

There's not many people out there who intend to cause an incident. However, if you drive while unfit or don't follow procedures like at that crossing and something happens, it is your own fault.

 

[HST Power]

Read a story in the paper today about people deliberately crashing into each other to claim money on insurance. They'd claimed over £400,000 since 2006.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Read a story in the paper today about people deliberately crashing into each other to claim money on insurance. They'd claimed over £400,000 since 2006.

Happens all the time. It's one of the most common insurance frauds.