Park Royal car accident - driver charged

[bramling]

Lots of people drive at 100mph+ and don’t crash and don’t kill anybody. I’d go so far as to say most people who drive on the roads at 100mph+ don’t crash and don’t kill anybody.

People drive at those speeds all the time, yet this accident is particularly noteworthy because of its scale.

It’s one thing driving at that sort of speed on something like a motorway, especially if empty. However this speed was utterly and completely inappropriate at the location concerned, to the point of being entirely reckless.

And for all the drama of the crash, if the victim had been wearing a seatbelt (which is her responsibility, not the driver’s), then there’s a good chances she’d not have died either,

None of that would have helped the Tesla driver, of course. He avoided death by a whisker that night.

Driving like that is reckless, but I don’t like the idea of attributing malice or even intent to such recklessness. Can’t it be enough to punish recklessness?

I’d say the whole thing was pretty malicious to be honest. The guy clearly didn’t give a stuff about anyone else - both his passengers, and anyone else who might have become involved through no fault of their own. Even had the accident not occurred he was still a liability.

Just let him suffer to the maximum extent possible, he deserves no less IMO. The whole thing is a disgrace, it’s as simple as that.

 

[Mojo]

What I don’t understand which doesn’t seem to have been picked up on, is this road has average speed cameras, so if he was driving at that speed, he would have been caught and issued a summons. Whilst average speed cameras would have been unlikely to have recorded his speed at 110mph; he probably would still have got a summons under current guidance.

Did he have fake / obscured plates or perhaps knew that between his entry point and exit point he wasn’t going to pass two sets of cameras?

 

[zwk500]

Lots of people drive at 100mph+ and don’t crash and don’t kill anybody. I’d go so far as to say most people who drive on the roads at 100mph+ don’t crash and don’t kill anybody.

But when they do crash, those crashes tend to be far worse for everybody involved. But the important thing is not so much about the speeds but the relative speeds. I was involved in an accident where both vehicles were travelling at 50-60mph but in the same direction, so the speeds were only 5mph different or so. I had zero injuries (just shock). But 100mph vs 0mph concrete blocks isn't going to end as well.

Driving like that is reckless, but I don’t like the idea of attributing malice or even intent to such recklessness. Can’t it be enough to punish recklessness?

How else would you describe putting your right foot down for long enough to reach that speed other than intentional? It's not like it ran away from him on a hill. He was deliberately reckless with clear disregard for life. It should have been treated as manslaughter.

 

[LOL The Irony]

To put it in context, this guy has got a longer sentence than the Gary Hart did for causing the Great Heck train crash which killed ten people. He wasn’t drunk, but was driving when dangerously fatigued.

Gary Hart was also working at the time of the accident, this guy had left a club and was doing 110mph at the time of his accident. As much as a see you next tuesday hart is, he made an error in judgment and thought it was a good idea to transverse the pennines with no sleep. Our driver here had previous offences for the exact same crime. The only comparisons between the two are that a car wound up on tracks and people died.

 

[E27007]

The Park Royal Driver, not long before the terrible accident, received a driving ban, for 95 mph in a 50 limit, he was only 21 years at that time, How did a young driver find a company willing to insure him for the powerful car he drove to excess and destruction?

 

[zwk500]

The Park Royal Driver, not long before the terrible accident, received a driving ban, for 95 mph in a 50 limit, he was only 21 years at that time, How did a young driver find a company willing to insure him for the powerful car he drove to excess and destruction?

Money. Very few insurers will refuse outright, they'll just quote what they feel is a dissuasive price. Although if you are on as a named driver on somebody else's policy you can find much cheaper quotes.

 

[jfollows]

The Park Royal Driver, not long before the terrible accident, received a driving ban, for 95 mph in a 50 limit, he was only 21 years at that time, How did a young driver find a company willing to insure him for the powerful car he drove to excess and destruction?

Money - as said already - but I don't think it's the role of the insurance companies to pass judgement on peoples' age and driving capabilities, other than on their driving records as documented and divulged. I've always found it a little strange when insurance companies refuse to insure people (as sometimes gets reported, accurately or otherwise) - for whatever risk - because I thought they were supposed to have competent staff who could assess the risk and charge a premium accordingly. Having insurance companies say "we don't insure that kind of car" is fair enough, they might specialise in insuring little old ladies pootling around towns or whatever, I didn't expect every company to be able to insure me driving my US import back in the day, but otherwise they should be in the business of quoting a price for insurance for anyone driving anything.

 

[Bikeman78]

I don't agree that the speed limit shown means nothing wrt safety. The speed limit is whatever somebody who has a responsibility for safety has set it to.

Given the state of the roads, the speed limit in Cardiff should probably be 10 mph!

 

[philthetube]

Let's say the driver had ended up paralysed from the neck down - do you still think he should have gone to prison for 14 years?

It would be pointless imprisoning him at all, unable to reoffend, why waste the cash.

 

[Chris M]

It would be pointless imprisoning him at all, unable to reoffend, why waste the cash.

Most likely they would receive a suspended sentence.

 

[AndrewP]

I know the A40 well from when I lived in London and often stay in the Park Plaza hotel opposite where this tragic accident happened.

The A40 is one of those roads where regular users know where the cameras are and where they need to slow to avoid them and I have seen some excessive speeds on that road (not as extreme as in this case but still crazy)

The scars of the crash are still very clear as the fence by the Tesla garage has not been repaired and there is visible damage to the waiting shelter on the east bound platform at Park Royal station.

When you look out of the hotel window it is a harrowing sight - my sympathies to those involved and affected by this

 

[AndyPJG]

Sentence increased at Court of Appeal:-
Rida Kazem: 'Show off' killer driver has sentence increased
A driver jailed for killing a mother while "showing off" at speeds of up to 110mph in his car has had his sentence increased by the Court of Appeal.
Rida Kazem, 24 lost control of his Range Rover on the A40 in west London last August, ploughing it into a Tesla garage and then onto Tube tracks.
Passenger Yagmur Ozden, 33, was killed.
In May, Kazem was jailed for seven-and-a-half years. But the but the term has now been increased to nine years as it was found to be "unduly lenient".
Kazem, of Greenford, west London, pleaded guilty in February to causing to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Another passenger, Zamarod Arif, then aged 26, was seriously injured in the crash, which happened near Park Royal.
The driver of the Tesla, hit by Kazem's car, was also hurt, with 25 fragments of glass needing to be removed from his eyes.
Kazem later had his left leg amputated below the knee after being thrown from his vehicle.
He had been driving the two women home from a night out in the early hours of 22 August last year.
His £18,000 Range Rover Sport SVR, hit a top speed of 110mph (177 km/h) on the 40mph-limit A40 westbound before hitting a curb.
Footage played in court at his sentencing showed the airborne vehicle crash across a pavement, through a fence and into a lower-level car park.
....more

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66467741