The driver in the Wimbledon school accident won't be charged?

[RiverF]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw4448xx4keo

It sounds like a unavoidable and unforeseeable medical incident led to the tragedy, but the families wanted justice.

I can't begin to imagine their pain, but this is the right decision?

Of course, but PP had said it wasn't possible that the solicitors could influence medial evidence, and we know that not to be the case, so it's not unreasonable that the families might be skeptical about it.

Tragically a first seizure could happen to any of us at any time. Nothing can be done about it.

It’s not my area of expertise but grand mal seizures are a bit like earthquakes, I’d imagine - there would be aftershocks that could be picked up by EEG. And she may well have had an established pattern of seizure activity since the incident that has given clear neurological evidence.

It's not as simple as people with epilepsy cant drive.

You don't know you are epileptic until you have a seizure or you are being investigated for something and have an EEG.

Then there are rules about when and how you can drive. I have a friend with epilepsy, she is well controlled on medication but when she had a seizure (and she wasn't driving at the time, but was involved in a car crash as a passenger) she lost her licence for two years.

Two years with no seizures and she was able to drive again.

I would imagine since the incident the driver will have had some medical investigations. Its a long time since I have had anything to do with neurophysiology (I trained in Cardio-respiratory alongside neuro techs) but some things can show on an EEG that indicate epilepsy even when not having a siezure.

That’s harsh. It was a freak accident. She didn’t end those children’s lives, she was unconscious. If anything epilepsy ended their lives.

While under police investigation she'd have had to submit to independent medical experts for assessments, including brain scans which would have showed she had a seizure. They wouldn't just take her word on it!

I can't agree with the view that because other, necessary, large vehicles are on the roads, SUVs should be there too. If you halve (or whatever %) the number of these vehicles on the road you halve the risk.

Also many of those large vehicles require specialist driving tests.

You may have a faster heart rate / lower blood pressure after a seizure but it's very temporary. They're called tonic clonics now.

There's no way they would have diagnosed her with epilepsy at the scene or immediately afterwards.

What is it you’re trying to do. This was a tragic accident, caused by a medical episode, which is clearly visible to neurologists. It’s no different to her having a heart attack or any other event which leaves her unconscious.

As hard as it is to accept sometimes this is literally just the case, awful for everyone involved

But there are so many non domestic vehicles on the road, especially 9-5 - you'd not be solving this problem by banning SUVs.

There really aren't that many lorries on a 9-5 in London's suburbs like Wimbledon. Only on a-roads and m25, and places like Wandsworth where they have a recycling plant and lots of construction.

And if lorries are acknowledged as fatal in collisions then that only shows that it is ridiculous for suck huge private vehicles to be driven.

There's no alternative to lorries, but there is to tank BMWs and range rovers. All it takes is buying a different car.

This is a good point. Although again, I think this would have satisfied the families. Surely you’d prefer a death to be a tragic accident than someone’s fault so you’d want that. The fact they’re not happy is a massive red flag. I say that with experience of knowing two families who have lost a loved one due to someone’s fault and who have not been satisfied with the outcome.

Of course it's the right decision. No crime has been committed.

Thank you for this. Apologies the report I read last night didn't clarify.

@sunburnandsangria but we NEED things like bin lorries as they're large for a purpose. SUVs serve 0 civic purpose and are only large so the owner can show off their status. Bin lorries are also likely to be driven with multiple people in the cab who could intervene, whereas SUV often merely contains parent going to aforementioned Waitrose

@Bookmark1111 what are these 'brain scans' you're referring to? MRIs very rarely provide evidence of epilepsy. Diagnosis happens primarily due to medical history i.e when there has been more than one seizure.

I've been epileptic for over 30 years and on medication for that entire time. My diagnosis is entirely down to my history of seizures and the information provided by people who've seen me have a seizure.

There was a query that I’d had a seizure and they referred me to neurology. I had some sort of test where they flashed lights at me etc whilst scanning my brain.

So I expect that the investigation took so long because she was having various assessments and tests

I think people who aren't familiar with epilepsy think diagnosis is much more clear cut. People can be diagnosed without medical evidence other than self reported seizures.

Yes and that's for a specific type of epilepsy - it's basically looking into a strobe light so more likely photosensitive epilepsy.

It's absolutely the right decision not to charge her. She had a serious medical episode and will need to come to terms with now having a debilitating lifelong condition alongside knowing it lead to the deaths of two children. Locking her up would be a miscarriage of justice. Accidents unfortunately do happen as a result of people falling ill at the wheel and while I have endless sympathy for the parents, demanding she is prosecuted is wrong.

Exactly and in fact, most of the time without medical evidence.

I've been epileptic for over 30 years and on medication for that entire time. My diagnosis is entirely down to my history of seizures and the information provided by people who've seen me have a seizure.

My diagnosis was down to the number of seizures I'd had, information from an eyewitness and the results from an EEG.

Also not true.
My Dd has tonic clonic seizures that last les than a minute. Afterwards she is dazed and disoriented for about 30 minutes and then she is normally asleep for a bit and then she is fine.
She does not remember the seizure or the 20 minutes afterwards.
The most likely answer to all this speculation is that the poor woman has continued to have seizures over the last year. Thus a diagnosis of epilepsy. This is private medical information and not for a load of gossip vultures on the internet.

From that report of course it is the right decision.

The driver had no idea she could ever have an epileptic fit. She isn’t culpable.

But in a case where the police are investigating a person with a view to determining whether charges should be brought, it would involve them undergoing comprehensive medical tests. The police would have their own medical expert examine her and she would almost certainly get her own done on the advice of her legal reps. You see in it in trials all the time – medical expert for the prosecution and a separate one for the defence.