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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To hope Ant

162 replies

Theresasmayshoes11 · 21/03/2018 09:28

Gets the help he needs and gets his life back on track. Glad no one was hurt in the incident and hope to see him back on the TV with Dec as soon as he’s better. To not sneer and be gleeful at the implosion of another human being or so glad that a ‘national treasure’ has shown himself to be fragile.

OP posts:
daisychain01 · 21/03/2018 12:57

As a multimillionaire, what possessed him to get behind the wheel when he had consumed alcohol, when he has more resource that most of us to order a taxi. I mean he could afford a whole fleet of limos the amount he earns a year.

It's unbelievable, and doesn't merit anyone's sympathy whatsoever, for being that stupid.

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 21/03/2018 12:57

Theres been whisperings about him being gay for years as well.

And if you want homophobic sniggering, ITV Saturday night LE is the place to find it. It has, in general, the political suss of a northern workingmen's club circa 1973.

italiancortado · 21/03/2018 12:58

Theres been whisperings about him being gay for years as well.

They must have been really quiet whispers then, I have never heard anyone speculate over Ants sexuality.

daisychain01 · 21/03/2018 13:00

It's gratifying that drink driving is now so stigmatised in our society that the reaction is negative towards this public figure.

Thank goodness he is being vilified, it shows we're heading in the right direction and will make the roads safer in the long term, because people don't grab their car keys the way they used to, without a thought to poor innocent people whose lives are destroyed.

expatinscotland · 21/03/2018 13:00

Get a life!

He's some random you don't even know.

TossDaily · 21/03/2018 13:01

I feel more sorry for 'and Dec'.

TossDaily · 21/03/2018 13:02

Mind you, at least people know which one he is now, so...swings and roundabouts...

Morphene · 21/03/2018 13:04

Well I've personally never driven drunk, I don't own a smart phone and I've not been more than 2 mph over the speed limit since I bought a car with a satnav 8 years ago. I've never had a speeding ticket at any point.

The stats appear to suggest that 'driver distraction' is now the biggest cause of fatalities in the UK. This includes more than just smartphone zombies, and indeed includes satnav zombies.

I think its defensible to say that mobile phones cause more fatalities than speeding...and certainly than drunk driving.

Clearly you shouldn't do any of them.

Bluelady · 21/03/2018 13:06

He hasn't been charged with anything yet. I'm quite horrified at how many people are vilifying him for something we don't even know he's done.

If it turns out he was over the limit, I'll join in the condemnation but this is all a bit premature. If he was drunk, the police are taking a hell of a long time to charge him.

montenotte · 21/03/2018 13:09

I've just seen the pictures in the daily fail online - i drive up that road a few times a week. To have that sort of crash on that bit of road is quite scandalous. It wasn't just a bump but a full on head on smash around a bend. Bloody hell, he must have been off his head / driving like a complete and utter lunatic through a residential area.

I've lost all sympathy i once had.

italiancortado · 21/03/2018 13:11

He hasn't been charged with anything yet. I'm quite horrified at how many people are vilifying him for something we don't even know he's done.

He was over the legal limit when he was breathalysed at the road side in the immediate aftermath.

Weebo · 21/03/2018 13:12

OP YANBU to think some people appear to be very entertained by what has happened despite how horrified they keep telling anyone who will listen they are.

And apparently, he's gay now too?

It's the online equivalent of neighbors gathering for an outraged chinwag after something awful happens in the street.

Bluelady · 21/03/2018 13:13

What part of "he hasn't been charged" do you fail to understand?

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 21/03/2018 13:13

I think its defensible to say that mobile phones cause more fatalities than speeding...and certainly than drunk driving.

Yes, but that in part might just reflect the number of people doing it. More people die in the UK from horse-riding than cliff diving, but that doesn't make it more dangerous to ride a horse than to jump off a cliff. Something which is slightly more dangerous than the "doing nothing" case but is done very frequently will obviously record more deaths than something which is rare but carries a high incidence of harm. As an extreme example: which is more dangerous, walking upstairs to bed, or playing Russian Roulette? Well, how many deaths per year in the UK from each cause...?

The usual measure would be fatalities per mile, or fatalities per incident (ie, per occasion someone drives drunk). On that measure, the relatively low numbers of deaths from drunk driving is because we have successfully made it socially unacceptable so the level of it is much lower that it historically was. That doesn't make it safe when it happens, it just means a very dangerous thing is happening less frequently. If we reduce the number of people playing Russian Roulette the number of deaths will fall, but it's still a 1 in 6 chance of death for the person playing it, no matter how few many people are actually so doing.

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 21/03/2018 13:16

What part of "he hasn't been charged" do you fail to understand?

You know what? If someone failed a roadside breathtest, I don't give a shit if they manage to weasel out of it on a technicality or not.

If you're a sensible driver, rather than someone who speeds at 127mph and gets banned, then you won't (a) be in an accident involving hitting a car at high speed head on and (b) won't after that's happened fail a breath test. Because you won't have the accident, and you won't have been drinking. If he gets off on a technicality, then that's his undeserved good fortune: he was still drunk and had an accident. The only people who claim roadside breathtests "aren't accurate" are drunks' lawyers.

ilovegin112 · 21/03/2018 13:17

If he was completely not at fault (drink driving part) surely itv, his solicitor or even he would have made a statement stating the fact asking to be left alone and to stop speculation

italiancortado · 21/03/2018 13:18

What part of "he hasn't been charged" do you fail to understand?

What part of 'over the limit' do you not understand Hmm

Mydoghatesthebath · 21/03/2018 13:19

So he’s now gay? Wtaf!

And he hasn’t been charged with anything.

But keep mud slinging. Wish I was perfect

Bluelady · 21/03/2018 13:20

To prove someone is drunk, they have to take two breath tests, the second one at the police station, only the second test is legally admissible. That's the law. There's no "weaselling" involved if a second breath test is clear.

Belindabelle · 21/03/2018 13:21

He is at the police station now. Probably being charged.

CuboidalSlipshoddy · 21/03/2018 13:22

There's no "weaselling" involved if a second breath test is clear.

Whatever you say. Would you be happy to travel in a car with someone who's failed a few roadside breathtests?

Anyway, here's Ant's attitude to road safety:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2385533.stm

Clearly the first driving ban didn't get his attention.

Morphene · 21/03/2018 13:22

cuboidal yes you are certainly right...however do you really think mobile phone use is more common than speeding?

When driving down an average 40 mile section of the A1 I would say about 50% of drivers are over the speed limit and I only see a few people on phones.

So if we are talking about 'middle class speeding' as someone put it earlier in the thread then its far more common even than phone use.

If we are talking doing 100 through a 30 zone in a stolen car then I'd agree that's rarer.

But then there aren't going to be many people here on this thread that regularly go for a joy ride.

The point is that the super dangerous thing its most likely people on this thread have done is use a mobile phone will driving.

Followed by doing 40 in a 30 zone because they are late for yoga...

gryffen · 21/03/2018 13:24

Hope he gets the help but I don't feel sorry for him - he knew what he was doing and drove while under the influence - something that's alarmingly common amongst celebs these days.

Morphene · 21/03/2018 13:25

The more important point I was trying to get across is STOP USING PHONES WHILE DRIVING, BECAUSE ITS EVERY BIT AS BAD A DRUNK DRIVING.

PortiaCastis · 21/03/2018 13:26

Why all the excuses for some little drunken knob who was driving over the limit and could have killed the family in the other car. As it is the family's car is written off and their small child is traumatised, there are no excuses for drunk driving none whatsover and I hope the little runt gets put in jail.
Addicts can't help themselves but they can make a choice not to get behind a wheel when pissed

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