Incident Croydon tram
Discussion
scenario8 said:
It says "He was one of the better drivers on the south London tram system, the court was told."That itself is quite worrying.
poo at Paul's said:
SydneyBridge said:
I know it is a big fine, but what an absolute joke...
The utter joke is that the operator is rightly fined, but the actual driver, the one was in charge of driving it when it crashed, gets away scott free, despite there being no evidence of mechanical failure etc etc. . A total farce.
I was surprised by the driver's acquittal, but I wonder if the charge required proof of recklessness? Rather than being a binary offence like speeding on the road. In which case his high speed probably counted in his favour.
If he had been travelling at say 20% above the limit, that might easily be taken to imply recklessness- ie knowingly exceeding the limit and taking an excessive risk, but not expecting any serious consequences.
However my understanding of what happened is that he approached the bend at a speed that made derailment or overturning more or less a certainty, from which it would be inferred that he was telling the truth when he said he had got confused about where he was on the line, making this a genuine accident from his perspective. The only other inference being that he did it on purpose, like Moorgate man, but there is absolutely no suggestion of that as far as I know.
If he had been travelling at say 20% above the limit, that might easily be taken to imply recklessness- ie knowingly exceeding the limit and taking an excessive risk, but not expecting any serious consequences.
However my understanding of what happened is that he approached the bend at a speed that made derailment or overturning more or less a certainty, from which it would be inferred that he was telling the truth when he said he had got confused about where he was on the line, making this a genuine accident from his perspective. The only other inference being that he did it on purpose, like Moorgate man, but there is absolutely no suggestion of that as far as I know.
I wasn't offering an excuse, just pondering on a possible explanation.
It isn't always possible to draw parallels between different modes of transport- a tram or train driver operates almost entirely in an environment completely provided by his employer and/or related contractors, whereas you or I driving a car make far more of our own choices, whether it is about maintenance, style of driving or compliance with the paper side- licencing, insurance etc. Therefor we have a wider responsibility and as you say cannot offer 'I was tired' or 'I was lost' as excuses.
It isn't always possible to draw parallels between different modes of transport- a tram or train driver operates almost entirely in an environment completely provided by his employer and/or related contractors, whereas you or I driving a car make far more of our own choices, whether it is about maintenance, style of driving or compliance with the paper side- licencing, insurance etc. Therefor we have a wider responsibility and as you say cannot offer 'I was tired' or 'I was lost' as excuses.
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