Driver jailed for caravan crash

[Andy_374315069]

Taken from BBC news....

Driver jailed for caravan crash

A lorry driver has been jailed for three years after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how Colin Boulton, 49, from Ancholme Avenue in Immingham, crashed into a stationary car and caravan on 14 October 2006.

The crash killed Graham, 59, and Sheila Bodycott, 56, from Bestwood Park View, Nottingham, who had stopped on the A46 near Newark to change a tyre.

Their daughter, Christina, survived the crash with minor injuries.

Family tragedy

She said after the sentence: "Seeing the accident is going to be with me for the rest of my life, it's not something I'll ever be able to forget.

"Losing your parents is bad enough but no child should ever have to see it happen. I never thought my last images of them would be seeing them lying dead on the road."

Pc Darren Lawson, the family liaison officer, said: "Graham wore a high visibility jacket, the hazard warning lights were on and they had pulled over as far as they could on the verge, as there was no lay-by on that part of the road.

"But for whatever reason, the lorry driver didn't see them. Several seconds of carelessness has resulted in a family being torn apart."

 

[Lutz]

As sad as the piece of news is and as distressing for the daughter, but where does the caravan enter into the picture?

 

[Damian]

Quote "crashed into a stationary car and caravan on 14 October 2006."

There I think

 

[Lutz]

Oh, I see, but the fact that a caravan was involved was therefore rather incidental.

 

[Jazman]

"Incidental"

Cripes, and a caravan is a big thing not to see especially attached to a tow car and approached from behind I guess and that's forgetting the hazards and high viz gear.

 

[BeemerMal]

The "incidental" point being made by Lutz is the caravan is purely incidental to what actually happened. The size of the caravan is totally irrelivant.

The cause of the accident, that resulted in the death of two people, was proven to be poor driving by the lorry driver who was not concentrating on the road or maybe he fell asleep momentarily.

Incidents like this one is a lesson we could all learn from and that is if we breakdown or have a puncture, and we cannot get to a "place of safety", then get everyone clear of the vehicle and wait for assistance. Maybe easier said than done but that is what the police recommend.

 

[Rubix]

Me thinks they should paint caravans flourescent orange, that may help.

 

[Darce]

Anyone see that program last night after "Doc Martin" - one of these "Police Camera" things where drivers are caught on film.

A couple of specific ones made the hair on my back of my neck stand on end!

Two separate foreign Artic drivers eating at the wheel whilst driving along the motorway.

One was eating a Yogurt and you saw him drift across the lanes and nearly hit a bus that was overtaking in the outer lane.

And the second one was a driver eating spaghetti out of a saucepan! - They had it all on tape from the Police helicopter that managed to get a shot from above and to one side showing the saucepan on the guys lap as he was driving.

He drew attention to himself by the erratic path his lorry was driving.

I think they said his version of "Meals on Wheels" earned him an 8 week jail sentence.

I am very sad for the couple killed whilst changing a tyre - but with idiots like the ones shown on TV last night I believe we are far more at risk in such situations than I ever dreamed

 

[RogerP]

"Me thinks they should paint caravans flourescent orange, that may help."

Sadly not , you'd be surprised at the number of RAC , AA and Highways Agency patrols that are killed or seriously injured every year.

Emergency vehicles have so much visibility kit on them you'd think they'd be visible from space. Yet lorries still plough into them.

 

[rayc]

To take up Roger's point regarding visibilty. There is a case reported in my local paper of a restaurant owner who drove into the back of a Highways Authority flat bed lorry that was displaying a huge flashing keep right sign on a dual carriageway. The accident happened at night in good visibility whilst the lorry was protecting a seperate Highways Agency vehicle which was maintaining street lamps. The passenger in the car died instantly.

 

[Willy_5041515]

I worry about the knowledge foreign drivers of artics. have of UK regulations. I was nearly side swiped on the M1 by a foreign registered artic. whose driver had a map spread across his steering wheel. The other day I nearly copped it when a Hungarian registered artic. came off the M1 slip road at Junction 20 and failed to slow down. He entered the roundabout at around 50 mph just as I was about to cross the exit. There is bound to be an upsurge in serious accidents involving these vehicles due to lack of training and LH drive. I now look at the registration plate on all artics. before overtaking.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

We live at the top of a very steep winding narrow hill with a blind summit and only yesterday a driver was to be seen texting as he prepared to take the descent

Others have been observed eating a round of toast etec etc

The grandson of our next door neighbour lives over a mile away yet he arrived the other day with a mug of hot tea in his hand while driving his Transit van.

There are a lot of idiots out there

 

[Lutz]

I can assure you that the regulations regarding not doing anything else other than concentrating on driving, are pretty much the same everywhere, Willy. There was a film shot taken by the German police and shown on TV not long ago where a driver could be seen with a mobile phone in one hand, a sandwich in the other and steering with his knees. And the TV on the dashboard was switched on as well!

 

[Guest]

I disagree Lutz. The majority of Central or Eastern European drivers have little idea of road traffic laws, and have even less of any knowledge of the UK system. They all work under the premise that they won't be caught, and when they are, will be allowed to go home scot free.

The only answer is to confiscate the vehicles without refund. Then the Companies who are prepetrating this mayhem may just get the message.

 

[Willy_5041515]

I agree with both Lutz and Scotch Lad. There are also lots of British drivers who should not be allowed behind the wheel of any vehicle, let alone an artic. However, the attitude of the ever increasing number of foreign drivers to our laws and the fact that they have their steering wheel on the "wrong" side, will inevitably increase the number of major accidents on our roads. We need to be aware of this and, when possible, take extra care when these vehicles are in our vicinity.

 

[michael_5111967]

I agee with comments made, but Scotch Lad turn the picture around, what about when us English drivers who take to continental roads with our outfits or cars, our steering wheels are then on the wrong side! how many times, hopefully how ever carefull, have you done something and then thought,that was a close one! but lots of us Brits still go abroad for our Hols, my point is do all English drivers who go abroad take time to find out or know about all rules & laws specific to the Country their driving in? Of course not! i'm sure some of the cultures of English drivers have been picked up from the continent over the years. I think driving standards have dropped well below a critical level over here. On another worrying point about foreign trucks over here on our roads is that our trucks have to be MOT'd once a Year even from new, while in some European countries their trucks do not have to have our equivelent of an MOT until the truck is five years old, now that a worrying thought!

 

[Colin_374329018]

It only takes one person to change a wheel - why were mother and/or daughter not 300 metres up the road signaling to warn of the hazzard ahead? I do feel sorry for them but the first thing to consider at a breakdown or accident is your own safety. Every one of us should learn from this.

 

[Bazz1]

Another killer of HGV and other road users is Sleep Apnea, apparantlly a bad case is when you wake 30/ hour but dont know about it untill you get up next day and start work. A friend of mine has been diagnosed with this and he was waking up 117 times/ hr. The specialist asked why he was'nt dead! As he works for himself, there was no one to take over from him, and he ended up not starting work untill sometimes after 1pm. Bazz.

 

[ColinA]

Bazz I suffer from sleep apnea but It does not always make me wake up. What happens is I stop breathing for varying periods of time. My own opinion is that my snoring subconciously makes me worry about keeping my wife awake so I stop snoring by stopping breathing for short periods. I have been doing it for 20 years and unfortunately it disturbs my wifes sleep more than my own.

Colin.

 

[Geist]

Colin A wrote: " I suffer from sleep apnea2

Me too - it started after subscribing to PC forum and reading some of the threads

 

[Geist]

Scotch Lad wrote: "The only answer is to confiscate the vehicles without refund. Then the Companies who are prepetrating this mayhem may just get the message"

Absolutely and wholeheartedly agree!! - they know that they are safe from on the spot fines, and they are a menace to everyone in their path.

Our police are also to blame - I was once chatting to an officer manning a mobile speed camera that was set up on an urban dual-carriageway with a 40mph limit.

A huge German registered truck thundered past at what must have been nearly 70mph - and he ignored it. I asked why he didn't nab the truck - and he shrugged, and replied that it was a waste of time because "he'd be back home (in Germany) tomorrow"

Which meant, of course, 'why waste my time on foreign drivers who won't produce any speeding fine revenue'

Yet that truck was a hundred times more lethal than the (UK registered) cars and vans he *did* nick.

 

[ColinA]

Geist wrote "Me too - it started after subscribing to PC forum and reading some of the threads "

Dont then.

Colin.

 

[Geist]

colin a wrote: Geist wrote "Me too - it started after subscribing to PC forum and reading some of the threads "

Dont then⇦br/>

Sorry, what are we talking about? - I must have nodded off.....

 

[ProfJohnL]

I disagree Lutz. The majority of Central or Eastern European drivers have little idea of road traffic laws, and have even less of any knowledge of the UK system. They all work under the premise that they won't be caught, and when they are, will be allowed to go home scot free.

The only answer is to confiscate the vehicles without refund. Then the Companies who are prepetrating this mayhem may just get the message.

Hi Scoth lad,

To be fair Lutz pointed oout thet similar regulations are in force around Europe. He did not say that all drivers understood them, though of course they should!