M1 Minibus "Accident"

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TheInsanity1234
Posts: 544
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:03 pm

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby TheInsanity1234 » Sun Mar 18, 2018 11:08 pm

dvenman wrote:And there's me thinking that the drunk lorry driver was rightly convicted of death by dangerous, the one who slammed into the back of the minivan should also have been convicted of death by dangerous, and the minivan driver could have (yes, wonderful hindsight) helped himself enormously by either moving onto the hard shoulder or anticipating much earlier what was going on and moving into lane 2 - in which case probably the only fatality would have been the lorry driver on the phone.

But no, I'm now thinking about battery life. Check https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/H ... b%252B47e1

The joys of the advanced driving discussions! We end up having discussions about advanced mobile phone use :P

As an update, you'll all be pleased to know that I drove almost 175 miles this weekend in total, and not once did I touch my mobile phone at all during any of the journeys driven on Friday or today.
EDIT: Just adding that it wasn't even out of sight! I threw it on to the passenger seat along with all my other junk I store on the front passenger seat while driving. Every time I got the urge to pick it up while I wasn't pulled over, I had some grumpy old man's voice in the back of my head saying "don't even think aboug it you shit"
Last edited by TheInsanity1234 on Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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dvenman
Posts: 261
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Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby dvenman » Mon Mar 19, 2018 8:20 am

TheInsanity1234 wrote:not once did I touch my mobile phone at all during any of the journeys driven on Friday or today.


Can't find a "thumbs up" emoji, so this'll have to do.

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Strangely Brown
Posts: 1018
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 8:06 pm
Location: Sussex

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby Strangely Brown » Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:06 pm

TheInsanity1234 wrote:As an update, you'll all be pleased to know that I drove almost 175 miles this weekend in total, and not once did I touch my mobile phone at all during any of the journeys driven on Friday or today.
EDIT: Just adding that it wasn't even out of sight! I threw it on to the passenger seat along with all my other junk I store on the front passenger seat while driving. Every time I got the urge to pick it up while I wasn't pulled over, I had some grumpy old man's voice in the back of my head saying "don't even think aboug it you shit"


Whoohoo!

If the grumpy old man was a reference to me then I am more than happy to live with the outcome. :D

If not, why not. I've earned it dammit!

TheInsanity1234
Posts: 544
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:03 pm

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby TheInsanity1234 » Mon Mar 19, 2018 4:54 pm

Strangely Brown wrote:Woohoo!

If the grumpy old man was a reference to me then I am more than happy to live with the outcome. :D

If not, why not. I've earned it dammit!

It was indeed ;) It's just annoying as I know full well it's a dangerous habit, but I needed to be told off by someone else before I'd actually motivate myself to do anything :oops:

Triquet
Posts: 526
Joined: Tue Sep 29, 2015 7:32 pm
Location: Occupied North Berkshire

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby Triquet » Mon Mar 19, 2018 6:04 pm

:cheers: Young fellow is doing good ...

waremark
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Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:23 am

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby waremark » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:39 pm

So sentencing reported today. The stopped lorry driver, guilty of death by dangerous with every possible aggravating factor, got 14 years, which I think is the maximum for the offence. The second lorry driver, the one who had been carrying on a mobile phone call for about an hour and who went into the back of the minibus which was stopped with its hazard lights flashing, got 40 months for death by careless after being acquitted of the more serious offence of death by dangerous. He had not started to brake. The judge said that he should have been able to see the stopped minibus for 9 to 11 seconds and that he was distracted by using the phone. He also said: "It would be wrong of me not to take the opportunity to urge the public to download the app that deactivates your phone when you are on the move."

40 months inside (or whatever it will be reduced to for good behaviour) is a life-changing sentence. Personally, I find it hard to believe that the mobile phone use will have been a major part of his not reacting to the stopped vehicles. Autobraking might have saved most of those lives.

martine
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Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby martine » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:57 pm

waremark wrote:...Personally, I find it hard to believe that the mobile phone use will have been a major part of his not reacting to the stopped vehicles

So you're going against what the court thought...what do you think caused him to crash into the back of a stationary vehicle?
Martin - Bristol Advanced Motorists: IMI National Observer, Group Secretary, Masters (dist), DSA: ADI, Fleet, RoSPA (Dip)

waremark
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Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:23 am

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby waremark » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:05 pm

martine wrote:
waremark wrote:...Personally, I find it hard to believe that the mobile phone use will have been a major part of his not reacting to the stopped vehicles

So you're going against what the court thought...what do you think caused him to crash into the back of a stationary vehicle?

Yes. Tiredness, monotony, general lack of concentration. If anything, I think talking on the phone keeps me awake. Of course I accept that talking on the phone (in common with many other things done lawfully while driving) distracts to some extent, but making the difference between a typical unprompted response time of 1 second and 9 seconds? No.

fungus
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Location: Dorset

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby fungus » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:06 pm

If not the mobile phone convesation, then what?

The minibus had hazard warning lights flashing and the judge said that he should have been able to see the the stopped minibus for 9-11 seconds, which at a limited maximum speed of 56mph means that he travelled between 711 and 869ft without noticing the minibus. These figures have been calculated using 1.5 ft per second per mph travelled. Actual distance travelled per second is actually 1.466 recurring, so my calculation gives a figure slightly more.

Autobraking might well have saved lives, but the fact remains that the driver was driving and simply not paying attention.

Nigel.

TheInsanity1234
Posts: 544
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:03 pm

Re: M1 Minibus "Accident"

Postby TheInsanity1234 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 7:53 pm

The only way I can imagine the driver to have managed to miss the minibus for that length of time would be because he was looking at the phone or fiddling with a satnav while carrying on the conversation...

What was the nature of the phonecall? I could understand if he was trying to get in touch with his route manager to try and discuss alternative routes and thus would have been fiddling with the satnav as he was going.


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