Page 3 | Passenger causing car crash- what would happen?

Cucumber1234 · 2023-04-22T15:22:19+00:00

NC and being vague. If a passenger in a car, was accussed of causing a car crash. What would happen? I guess they'd be arrested but what would they be arrested for? What could happen and how serious would it be?

henchhen · 22/04/2023 21:15

CreamTeaThievery · 22/04/2023 21:08

They both sound like idiots, were they both drunk? It is not safe to grab the steering wheel! I am imagining a couple driving home after a night out, passenger wants driver to pull over because they are scared and don’t want driver to drive drunk. Since passenger is also drunk they think the best way to make driver stop is by grabbing the wheel?

regardless the driver is responsible for driving whilst drunk and should be punished fully. I hope they get banned!

The passenger didn't grab the steering wheel - the driver is just trying to blame them

Aslanplustwo · 22/04/2023 21:27

Cucumber1234 · 22/04/2023 19:05

No one injured. Driver was drunk. Hit another vehicle. Driver intends on blaming passenger.

Well the driver is going to be in trouble either way aren't they? Is it likely much notice will be taken of what a drunk driver says?

Ellmau · 22/04/2023 21:41

Unless the passenger spiked drivers's drink, drunk driver is entirely to blame. Pretty sure both police and insurers will agree.

I hope P doesn't live with D. If she does she needs to move out to somewhere safe, and then make a statement to the police.

AmandaHoldensLips · 22/04/2023 21:45

Have the police attended in any way? Have they seen / spoken to either the driver or the passenger immediately following the accident?

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 22/04/2023 21:54

FixTheBone · 22/04/2023 20:58

It's actually a really interesting ethical / legal question if you follow the logic.

The reason you can't drive drunk is because alcohol impairs your cognitive and motor function. If you are cognitively impaired (other than through drink or drugs) that would be a legal mitigation from being responsible for your actions (I. E. If you had dementia). On that scenario you could argue that the unimpaired passenger would be the person best placed to affect the decisions or actions of the driver, potentially better placed than the driver themselves...

The law isn't always logical though.

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Like this case - vanishingly rare prosecution though. Possibly unique.

Can't see any reporting of appeal so assume the conviction wasn't overturned.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/passenger-guilty-of-death-by-dangerous-driving-1889087.html%3famp

Passenger guilty of death by dangerous driving

Millionaire businessman jailed for failing to tell his partner to slow down

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/passenger-guilty-of-death-by-dangerous-driving-1889087.html%3famp

KitKatLove · 22/04/2023 22:09

Cucumber1234 · 22/04/2023 20:45

Driver says passenger grabbed the wheel. Driver fled after crash. Passenger was trapped in car. Passenger got out, crying at side of the road. Driver has 24hrs to present themselves to police.

Driver then found passenger, was very aggressive, known to be abusive. Passenger is safe but very upset and scared.

Definitly not me!

Did the police speak with the passenger? Do the officers know that it’s a possible drink driver? Doesn't add up. The police would either go to the address of the registered keeper or the vehicle would be recovered and the owner would be sent a s172.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 22/04/2023 22:35

Passenger needs to tell the Police about the threats and that the driver was drunk. And where he(?) is.

Will still get done for leaving the scene of an accident, probably for attempting to pervert the course of justice, coercive control (making allegations to the police is given as a specific example in many sources), careless driving, failing to present, etc, etc.

Oh, and handily enough if they don't actually officially live together, the Law changed on 5th April to include people who don't live together under the banner of coercive control. So if the driver is one of those who 'just stays a couple of nights a week' or claims to be living at their Mum's, tough shit, they're aren't wriggling out of it that way anymore.

Badbudgeter · 22/04/2023 22:56

I don’t think the police are likely to take the word of a person who fled the scene of an accident abandoning his trapped passenger. I’m assuming they attended at the time and spoke to the passenger.

Id strongly advise they don’t change their statement and report the subsequent behaviour to the police. If they try and take the blame I suspect they’d be charged with perverting the course of justice.

CindersAgain · 23/04/2023 07:38

So what happens when they can’t prove someone was drunk, because they fled?

daretodenim · 23/04/2023 08:03

CindersAgain · 23/04/2023 07:38

So what happens when they can’t prove someone was drunk, because they fled?

I thought this too.

I guess they'd be charged with fleeing the accident and dangerous/reckless driving?

The passenger really needs to tell the police everything though because it's highly likely the driver will still try to pin it - somehow - on her.

QuintanaRoo · 23/04/2023 08:09

CindersAgain · 23/04/2023 07:38

So what happens when they can’t prove someone was drunk, because they fled?

I know someone who did this and got away with it. He crashed just into a hedge though not another car and scarpered. Police were looking for him (DD’s ex boyfriend) and were pretty certain he’d been drunk as Dd told them he’d been drinking (she was not in the car). He turns up 24 hours later to the police, says sorry, he hadn’t been drinking and swerved to avoid a deer and went to a friends house for a Kip. No further action.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 23/04/2023 08:09

CindersAgain · 23/04/2023 07:38

So what happens when they can’t prove someone was drunk, because they fled?

I suspect they'd be charged with leaving the scene of an accident and/or dangerous driving?

QuintanaRoo · 23/04/2023 08:11

Depending on time elapsed they can do a blood test and even if under the limit do a back calculation to see how much their blood alcohol would have been at the time. This is what a police officer friend told me. But if the driver says oh actually I drank some alcohol when I got home to calm my nerves after the accident then it makes it pretty impossible. And of course after a certain time frame there would be no alcohol detected anyway.

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 23/04/2023 08:13

I know someone who did this and got away with it. He crashed just into a hedge though not another car and scarpered. Police were looking for him (DD’s ex boyfriend) and were pretty certain he’d been drunk as Dd told them he’d been drinking (she was not in the car). He turns up 24 hours later to the police, says sorry, he hadn’t been drinking and swerved to avoid a deer and went to a friends house for a Kip. No further action.

The fact that it was "just" a hedge makes a huge difference though.

determinedtomakethiswork · 23/04/2023 08:50

It sounds as if the driver is the type to blame anyone but themselves.

catherinemeg · 21/03/2024 20:42

My father grabbed the steering wheel when I was driving on the motorway, what a fright he gave me. Fortunately it was fairly quiet. I was taking him to a hospital appointment. I pulled over on to the hard shoulder and gave him hell. Back onto the motorway and his next trick was grabbing my hand to stop me changing gear. Pulled over again and told him to get into the back and if he distracted me again it would be the last time he'd ever be in my car. He then thought it would be funny to poke me in the neck with a newspaper.
Fortunately we got to the hospital safely. When he saw the doctor instead of driving him home I put him on the bus. He wasn't happy at all but I told him this was a consequence of his unacceptable behaviour.
That was the last time he was ever in my car.
It wasn't suffering from dementia or a similar condition, he always was a law unto himself. I certainly was not going to give him another opportunity to cause an accident.