When will the parents of the children killed in the Wimbledon crash get an answer?

[GotMooMilk]

Sorry for the daily fail link. This story really resonated with me at the time as I used to work at St Georges and lived close to Wimbledon. It's been ages and those poor parents still have no answers.

What do you think happened? Before people say it's horrible to speculate and none of my business- I know but my kids are similar age and I feel heartbroken for them and you'd be desperate for some kind of closure.

Heartbreaking footage shows Wimbledon crash victim Selena Lau, eight, playing the piano at an end-of-term tea party before Land Rover smashed into grounds of school killing her and another classmate | Daily Mail Online

Medical tests can indicate whether or not a person has had previous fits and, to a second point above, can prove that she did have a fit at the time she was driving

Until these cars are outlawed, that is totally irrelevant. Should no-one ever get into a large vehicle in case they have a seizure out of the blue? That would be a bit problematic for bus, van and lorry drivers.

Agreed. A neighbour has a giant Audi E-tron. It so wide it doesn’t fit within the parking bays on the street. I’m sure it’s lovely to drive and is very comfortable but I have no idea what terrain it’s designed for. It’s far too slick for rural areas and far too large for London.

I dread to think of the damage it could cause by hitting someone.

Not really. At the mass level, more huge vehicles on the road creates a more dangerous situation than fewer huge vehicles on the road. Lorries are somewhat more restricted in where they can go (I think) and the drivers are more heavily checked out. Buses are big but their size has to be balanced against the fact that they take other vehicles off the road. Bigger private vehicles just means..... more car, basically.

Bus and lorry and taxi drivers etc are subject to regular medical checks, for starters

Buses and lorries are subject to using the appropriate roads and their drivers are also appropriately trained and licensed. Where I live ( around the corner from this awful collision) mega cars outnumber buses and lorries massively. Lorries and buses are necessary. These behemoths are not.

The road this enormous Landrover was travelling on is absolutely tiny and barely suitable for any motor vehicles, let alone one of this size.

Bus and Lorry drivers undergo regular medicals.... and are trained to be safe competent drivers of such heavy vehicles.

I work in Cheltenham and the new Defenders have replaced the Evoque as the school run car of choice (along with the Audi Q7 tanks) but fuck me, the majority of the drivers are a menace to themselves let alone other road users.

Absolutely spot on.

These ludicrous vehicles that are but ''ego extensions'' do serious damage to other people.

It has been said that less competent drivers prefer them as they feel that they are in a tank.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/08/15/restrict-twice-as-deadly-suvs-in-u-k-cities-urge-transport-data-scientists/

I was next to the big (8 seater?) Defender in traffic today, it’s literally a tank!

Indeed. You’d wonder why this lady felt the need to drive such a car given she was probably only using it for local private school runs and activity drop offs. But then as a banker’s wife she has a certain image to maintain.

It is extremely difficult to ascertain whether someone has had a one-off seizure, after the fact. Medically speaking. It is vanishingly unlikely it can be proven to be thus, and I doubt the case would be being reopened if it could be shown to be objectively and empirically the case.

Something doesn't add up. I hope those poor families find peace, answers, and justice.

It is extremely difficult to ascertain whether someone has had a one-off seizure, after the fact.

I wonder if going forward lots of people in RTAs will blame it on seizures.

Yes, in my view there's a degree of culpability just for choosing to get behind the wheel of an unnecessarily large (and therefore destructive) vehicle

Yes. Even if the incident was genuinely caused by a medical episode that could not have been predicted, it might not have been nearly as bad if she had eg been driving a Ford Fiesta.

I really do wish that the government would get to grips with problems relating to cars in this country:

SUVs too big and too polluting
Too bright headlights
Massive screens that distract the driver.

All need to be dealt with.

That stat about a child being 14 times more likely to die is shocking. I hate SUVs even more now!

Exactly. And a big problem is that people in part feel pressured to get bigger vehicles and "sit up higher" because of all the other people in oversized vehicles - it ends up becoming an arms race. In situations like this, government intervention is really the only answer.

Is it the driver or the car?
I have noticed Audi and Range Rover drivers are often poorly behaved and less observant around here.
But Volvo and Lexus drivers - also large vehicles - are driven sedately often by older people.

There's little excuse for poor driving in a LR - they include a half day at their LR experiences and these are amazing. DH bought one 6 years ago as we live rurally on a hill, and we got sick of having to park in the village and walk up in snow/ice. The training day was invaluable especially for the sand/snow settings and hill descent. The car has enough programming to drive itself, you just have to steer it. And that seems a challenge to many, it seems.

They may well get some answers with the news that the woman has been arrested by the Met this morning. At last.

I’m looking for posts to discuss…the only one put up was deleted

It’s a live case now. Probably best not to discuss it. Finally the police are doing their job… even though they’ve had to be forced to do so by the grieving parents.

This space for us to discuss how we feel about things going on our lives and in the world!!

https://www.moorebarlow.com/services/personal/injury/major-trauma/wimbledon-school-tragedy/

thanks goodness there is a law firm with the resources and expertise able to match those deployed by Mrs Freemantle and her banker husband. They have gone to enormous effort to seek some proper answers in this, on behalf of the parents and other families affected.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89e1kynjjko

These poor parents.

This is a very upsetting update
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15731159/Eleven-Met-Officers-probed-Wimbledon-crash-killed-schoolgirls.html

How on earth can police officers think differently about the death of two girls because of their race or background? What world do we live in?

I used to think the police came from a good place but the Sarah Everard and the two sisters killed in the North London park changed my mind. Understand that there will be bad eggs in every group or workforce but the Met and other forces protect the sick in their midst in the name of banter or misplaced loyalty. How experienced police officers can be racist/sexist/criminals without others knowing and colluding is beyond belief.