This has made me angry, it has everything to do with his 'status' that's for sure.

[TheDevilWearsPrimark]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/7939988.stm

Sorry, I thought we were talking about how it was being reported in the press.

You know, the bit where you said you were going off to look at google and see the reports

Oh well.

Carry on driving as carelessly and dangerously as you like folks. You won't be punished unless you actually kill someone.

And it's political correctness gorn mad that we don't apply the same principle to drunk driving isn't it. Because we should only ever be punished for driving like fuckwits if there's actually a consequence to that driving.

No wonder 3000 people a year are killed on our roads.

More people die falling off chairs than on the roads.

I think we are really lucky that so few are injured on the roads considering the volume of traffic.

I just didn't want to get to the day where someone was stopped for 40 minutes for laughing in the car at a joke on the radio.

I have actually read up on it and actually, am 'the press'.

I was questioning you directly, but you opted out. Never mind.

I know you're the press, we usually agree on everything.

I must have missed the bit where you asked me a question.

I brought in the bit about race because of the way it is being reported - that is all - I thought it was interesting.

"He couldn't have avoided him"

Couldn't he? Even if he'd been observing the legal stopping distance?

And where does the figure come from, that more than 3000 people a year die from falling off chairs? What on earth are they doing on them? What sort of chairs?

Hell yes, shouldn't there be a mass manufacturers recall

(laughing my ass off here ta Herb etc)

He was doing 60, well within the legal stopping distance.

I picked the ridiculous stat from an insurance website

Just to make my point that 3000 killed is pretty 'good' considering the traffic

What do you mean 60 is a legal stopping distance?

60 is a speed, not a stopping distance.

I am not surprised that stat came from a motor insurance website.

Just to make my point that 3000 killed is pretty 'good' considering the traffic

Thank fook I take trains everywhere if that is a drivers attitude.

But Laurie, 3000 mostly needless deaths a year isn't "good".

The presence of traffic on the road doesn't mean the necessity for accidents. Most accidents are caused by human error, not mechanical failure, and we make mistakes because we are encouraged to have a cavalier attitude to driving.

It also ignores the much larger amount of injuries caused in car accidents.

I guess this chap was "unlucky" as if it hadn't been for the other car crashing then his texting would not have been known about (presumably it came up in the investigation of the crash). Texting whilst driving is obviously incredibly stupid and irresponsible, but I'm surprised it was a custodial sentence in the first case as it was unrelated to the crash. Drunk drivers are rarely jailed are they (if they didn't harm anyone else that is) wouldn't a fine, removal of license and perhaps community service be more normal - I wonder what the details of the case were. I don't think it is particularly reasonable to expect someone to be able to avoid a car crashed across two lanes of a motorway at night. It is completely not what you would be expecting (assuming that there weren't hazard lights etc). Looking at other reports I see the poor chap who was killed returned to his car to pick up his phone. Given that the car was in the fast lane that really was a stupid thing to do (you are not supposed to stay in your car even on the hard shoulder). Still very sad for his poor family.

Well, I'm profoundly grateful that when dh crashed his car in the fast lane of the M1 all the other drivers managed to avoid him. Even though he span round and was facing the wrong way and the car was a write-off (sp?).

Admittedly it was daylight, but it was rush hour, pouring rain and a very busy junction. The police discovered oil on the carriageway, left by another vehicle. His guardian angel must have been looking after him - but the other drivers deserve my thanks.

(It was the night before our wedding - dh was on his way to the hotel. I have NEVER been so glad to see him in my life. Sure added an extra frisson to the day - and put all the minor disasters like my dress not being ready into context.)

My point being, if just one of those other drivers had been texting, it's very unlikely dh would be here now.

God that would have been just so awful if things had worked out differently. I don't know how long ago you got married, but volume of traffic is probably the biggest contributor to accidents. Plus cultural stuff too, I guess. When we lived in New York City I really did fear for my life when we were on the bigger/faster roads. Everyone drove very fast bumper to bumper, and weaving was apparently quite normal behaviour. I was surprised how few accidents we saw.

The sentance was far too light in the first place. I can't believe it has been suspended.

Yet another thing that reinforces the idea that somehow it is fine to do things in a car even though they are utterly dnagerous.

Someone earlier said "you have to kill someone with a car to go to prison" - not so. A man here was recently fined £50 after running over a woman who was crossing a pedestrain crossing on the green man. He was wearing the wrong prescription contact lenses.

Why is it when people in cars kill people it's "an accident" and just a part of every day life? 10 people are killed or seriously injured by cars on the streets of London every single day and everyone just shrugs and sees it as "just one of those things". If it was anything else wiping out that amount of people of all ages going about their daily business there would be outrage. Look at what happens when there is a train crash - and yet that amount of people die every single day anyway and no-one bats an eyelid.

I don't text or phone while driving. I don't drive through red lights on pedestrian crossings. I don't drive over crossings without lights while people are crossing. I try to leave reasonable stopping distances.

I am very much in the minority though. People love the convenience of the car so much that they are willing to totally overlook the human cost.

Lauriefairycake

You think it is normal to use a phone while driving and acceptable that thousands of people lose their lives on our roads every year?

People like you are the problem.

I have never, ever, ever used my phone to call or text or answer a call whilst driving because I don't think it's OK to put other people's lives at risk.

Your examples of people being stopped while laughing are the equivalent of stories about Christmas being banned by local councils - they are arrant bullshit that you are using to distract from what you are essentially saying, which is that thousands of lives a year must be sacrificed for the convenience of transport by car and that we must allow people to drive as dangerously as they choose, regardless of the risks they pose to others.

If someone you love is every seriously hurt or killed in a car accident I hope you'll not bother grieving for them since it their death was obviously worth it so that people could drive around not paying attention to the road.

Edam - like you I am too profoundly grateful that when my car was knocked spinning across the M25 by a lorry pulling out without looking and mine ended up facing the wrong way that miraculously other drivers were alert and paying attendtion and stopped before they crashed into me - if anyone had been speeding/too close/texting I would have died 5 years ago and my children would be orphans. So needless to say I am when I see anyone using the phone.
In this case I know he was not rtextign at the tiem, but if the dfact that earlier texts can be used as evidence, maybe his example will help sometone to think twice and avoid a needless death.