Terrified for my son, driving related

[Bahhhhhumbug]

My son was driving on the motorway to see us when he crashed his car, writing it off by driving into a barrier on the hard shoulder. He's honestly not sure what happened but thinks he may have fallen asleep. He only remembers the impact and what happened after. The police attended and got him to the service station and his car was towed away by his insurance company. He said the police were very caring etc and he wasn't breathalysed or drugs tested and no mention was made of him being charged or possibly charged with anything.
He has now bern advised by letter l think as only just heard this from him that they are investigating him for dangerous driving.
Nobody including him was injured and he was alone in the car and no other cars involved.
He is genuinely he says and he is an honest lad (hence telling police he may gave fallen asleep) not sure whether he sneezed(had a very heavy cold),blacked out skidded or what.
He is beside himself,as going through an awful accrimonious divorce involving access to his child, (which admitedly is affecting him being able to sleep well)has just been told he may be being made redundant and have to move out of his temporary accommodation. I am so worried about him and l am fairly sure he would not survive prison and could not do his job without driving or travel to see his child.
Can anyone tell me how likely in above circumstances he is to lose his licence or worse be jailed Sorry its so long.

Genuinely - where are you getting this from? Are you a lawyer?

The sentencing guidelines have a starting point of community order in cases where nobody was injured.

My stepdad (retired traffic cop) drummed this into me when I was 17. He said other than identifying yourself and obviously discussing any medical assistance required don’t say another word until you have a solicitor present.

Sorry but you’re wrong. It is always a disqualification upon conviction. Minimum 12m.

Apologies I wasn't asserting I was right, it was a query why the sentencing guidelines said starting point community order if it was disqualification, but I've just seen the additional 'obligatory' bit at the top of the SG page.

OP it sounds really stressful time for all of you. Just keep talking with him & checking in, this horrible period will pass.

If he told the police he might have fallen asleep then he’s admitted dangerous driving. Obviously a stupid thing to say. Get a lawyer if they prosecute.

No worries. Yeah, it’s two parts of the same sentence. One depends on the severity of the offence, the other (the ban) is standard for all convictions. 👍🏼

I’m in Australia but a young man of my acquaintance fell asleep and had an accident with death and injury involved. Police of course investigated but no charges were laid as for the 24 hours previously he had done everything right. No drinking or drugs, slept properly, drove to the rules, you name it.

Just the most horrendous bad luck and the police were cognisant of that.

I’m really sorry to be saying this but you’re explaining how everything in his life is falling apart and he doesn’t know how to get through it all… is there any chance at all that for a moment, he lost control of himself and deliberately crashed the car into the barrier? Our brains do block that sort of thing out; that kind of moment of madness. Is there any way at all he could be suicidal? Or having fleeting, intrusive thoughts along those lines?

He wouldn’t remember falling asleep but he would remember the drive up to that point and whether or not he was yawning, heavy lidded eyes, feeling exhausted. He’d know if he fell asleep.

He says he wasn’t breathalysed? That’s extremely surprising doesn’t sound right but I’m not police so maybe someone can confirm whether that is likely.

Just curious - how do you know it was a loss of conciousness rather than falling asleep? Were you still unconscious when help arrived? I suppose I didn’t realise someone could lose consciousness and there be no medical reason found other than stress. It’s a bit worrying.

A man crashed into my stationary car having spent the night drinking heavily in the pub. No one injured but my car was a write off. He got a 6 month ban.

There's no way he wasn't breathalysed, which makes me wonder if he's telling you the whole story.

"Just leave him to sort it out and don't fuss about it" is spectacularly unhelpful and unsympathetic advice to someone who is clearly very worried about her son.

It’s hard to remember as it was long ago now and I was in my early 20s at the time but I was on my way to work and l’m fairly sure someone was there when I came round.

The hospital thought it was to do with my heart and I had loads of tests done but they couldn’t find anything. As I’ve got older and going through my pregnancies I’ve had low blood pressure in both, triggering fainting episodes at certain things, like the sight of blood. From googling this a bit more, I’ve learnt that extreme stress can case your heart rate and blood pressure to drop causing loss of consciousness so I wonder if that is what happened when I crashed the car.

Maybe a trip to the GP would support things. Undiagnosed epilepsy?

I'm really surprised they didn't breathalyse or test for drugs.

He probably shouldn't have said he may have fallen asleep as it could be a category B offence going by the guide @JoanOgden provided, but too late now. If he was on a motorway they'll probably look at camera footage to pick him up at other intervals (traffic cams everywhere on motorways) to see how his driving was. Possibly a camera may have even picked up the accident.

I wouldn't say a custodial sentence is out of the question, depending on what they find, but a ban could be imposed.

There is no way he wasn't breathalysed. It's standard in a road accident like this. Are you sure he is telling you the full story OP?

That is absolutely disgusting!
So she will be back behind the wheel driving around and your mum and partner will no doubt still be suffering!
The justice system is a joke.
Dangerous drivers should have a life time ban

I was hit by a speeding driver (going close to 40 in a 30 zone, I was stationary) and the Police breathalysed both of us while waiting for my ambulance, even though there was no way could possibly have been to blame. It seems extremely unlikely that your son wasn't breathalysed.

Had he taken any cold meds? Some of those can cause drowsiness. More than that, look up the stats about sneezing - ie how far your car travels while your eyes are closed as you sneeze. That’s the reason why people with bad colds or hayfever shouldn’t drive. You’re basically driving blind for seconds at a time.

He’s guessing he fell asleep. He shouldn’t be guessing anything, he should be ruling out other causes and not be driving until he’s sure he’s safe to do so.

My son had an accident, nobody injurer. He overtook at a place that wasn't safe to overtake, a moment of impatience and bad judgement. Then swerved and lost control.

His car was written off and he was taken to hospital for observation. Passed the alcohol tests etc. Previous to this he had a clean licence for 8 years.

A year after the accident it went to court, he lost his licence for 18 months and got 500 hours community service which he did on Saturdays. He had a harsh sentencing from the magistrate.

At a similar time, someone out of their head on drugs and with no licence or insurance crashed into someone's house. They got a £300 fine and banned from driving for a year.

It all depends on the magistrate.

Your son is highly unlikely to be imprisoned, particularly with no drink or drug involvement besides there is no room in prison. But be prepared that he will lose his licence and maybe get some community service.

He should get medically checked out though in case there is a reason for what happened.

Unfortunately he was naieve and probably said too much to the 'caring' police. He needs to also wise up, and learn that 'less is more' and in future you at least try to say nothing that incriminates you more than you need to.

I was in an accident a few months ago. Kids in the car, clipped the car in front because it inexplicably stopped. Both cars written off. Never been given an explanation (ie was the elderly driver ill, was there a flat or engine failure) - in stead my insurers accepted I was liable because despite trying to evade it (and this was witnessed as was his sudden slowing) it was deemed a rear end collision. I was breathalyzed immediately. There have been no legal ramifications and it has all been dealt with by the insurers.

I am finding it hard to believe that your DS is actually being investigated, unless there is something he has not admitted to you, such as the onboard computer or nearly by CCTV indicates he was speeding massively? If they did not carry out drug/alcohol tests at the time, if there are no witnesses or 3rd parties, they cannot build a case outside what the car’s computer or roadside CCTV footage tells them - and I think they would have to explicitly state that the car evidence shows that he was speeding and that this is the basis of the investigation? It only goes to court, for speeding, if the speed was over a certain range (11 or 21mph?) and, I assume if CCTV shows evidence of dangerous driving (undertaking, excessive speed, wandering across lanes without control etc).

Am not sure they would investigate to this level, however, if they can’t be bothered to test at the time and there are no 3rd parties?

I suspect that your DS has not been totally candid with you? I’d advise him to see a solicitor.

From experience, the less said to the police in these circumstances the better. Advise your son to get a lawyer experienced in traffic offences and try not to worry, he won't be going to prison for this. No one has been injured thankfully and there are no drink/ drugs involved. I feel sorry for your son, hopefully, this might come to nothing. Definitely get him to consult a lawyer though.

I’m certain he would have been breathalysed, as others have said. I wonder if you’re not getting the full story?