Death by Dangerous Driving Conviction

[courty]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-53...

The sentence seems to underline the responsibility that every road user, or at least every motor vehicle driver has.
A very sad event.
I wonder if the sentence would have been harsher if she had been intentional in her actions, or had a history of driving without insurance etc etc.

[Shuvi McTupya]

Not sure, but the story could do with some proof reading. It appears that the end result was that the judge sentenced his own wife to prison and then a five yr driving ban!

[courty]

She had a brain faze and was being dappy.
Unfortunately she was driving a car at the time and killed somebody, so has a prison sentence.
I wonder if the sentence would have been harsher if she had deliberately been dangerously overtaking?

[over_the_hill]

courty said:

She had a brain faze and was being dappy.
Unfortunately she was driving a car at the time and killed somebody, so has a prison sentence.
I wonder if the sentence would have been harsher if she had deliberately been dangerously overtaking?

The article didn't mention overtaking, just that she thought she was on a DC. That being the case why was she in the
second lane and not in lane 1.

[ralphrj]

over_the_hill said:

The article didn't mention overtaking, just that she thought she was on a DC. That being the case why was she in the
second lane and not in lane 1.

Also, when she saw a car heading straight towards her what action did she take to avoid a collision?

The article is a bit light on details.

[anonymous-user]

I really don't want to cause trouble with this so I will keep it brief.

To hit someone head on, mistaking the road for a dual carriageway, she must have been lane hogging in the rhs lane.

Also why did she not drive to avoid hitting the other car head on?

A sad event for all.

[anonymous-user]

That's not a disorientating road at all. There's long double white lines, move over arrows and chevron areas before the lanes switch. She wasn't clued up. Simple as.

[FHCNICK]

Tragic loss for the victims family.

I don't know the road so cannot comment on the particulars but reading that report it did make me think what the outcome would have been (both in terms of sentence and sensitivity of reporting) had the guilty party been a 19 year old lad in a Golf GTi for example.

[Mandat]

over_the_hill said:

The article didn't mention overtaking, just that she thought she was on a DC. That being the case why was she in the
second lane and not in lane 1.

The "keep left unless overtaking" rule was never more appropriate than in this situation.

[Durzel]

flashbang said:

That's not a disorientating road at all. There's long double white lines, move over arrows and chevron areas before the lanes switch. She wasn't clued up. Simple as.

Was going to say, I’ve driven this road many times and it’s not remotely disorientating nor are you unsighted for any of it really.

Where would you be driving on a road with no vehicles heading in the opposite direction? I can only think of a motorway slip road, beyond that I’m drawing a blank. This seems like a pretty fundamental failure in driving ability.

Also, 26 months (13 with good behaviour) doesn’t seem very long measured against someone’s life. I can only presume the young children are a big factor here.

[928]

I'm not familiar with that exact spot but have travelled along that bit of A36 and wondered in I'd missed it turn into a DC at some point. However if you're not sure, it's a dark January night and you see an oncoming car surely you'd take some action as you would surely have a reasonable view of oncoming traffic?

Seems to have overtaken and not pulled back in, a massive lack of attention to not move back over and not see oncoming traffic until too late.

"Whitwell, who was driving a white Volkswagen Touran, was travelling eastbound and had overtaken traffic, meaning she was on the wrong side of the carriageway."

Wilts Police

[sunbeam alpine]

Durzel said:

Also, 26 months (13 with good behaviour) doesn’t seem very long measured against someone’s life. I can only presume the young children are a big factor here.

Someone with no previous convictions compared with the relatively light sentences handed down to frequent offenders?

I see this a bit like "There but for the grace of god..." I know I've made some bad mistakes in my driving career, fortunately without such serious consequences.

[blueg33]

sunbeam alpine said:

Durzel said:

Also, 26 months (13 with good behaviour) doesn’t seem very long measured against someone’s life. I can only presume the young children are a big factor here.

Someone with no previous convictions compared with the relatively light sentences handed down to frequent offenders?

I see this a bit like "There but for the grace of god..." I know I've made some bad mistakes in my driving career, fortunately without such serious consequences.

Driving the wrong way up a DC is more than a bad mistake!

[Psycho Warren]

Basically wasnt paying attention or is so bad at driving she didnt know what she was doing. Both cases deserved the lengthy ban. Im not convinced we sentance long enough for death by cases anyway so 26 months is a bit weak IMO.

[sunbeam alpine]

blueg33 said:

sunbeam alpine said:

Durzel said:

Also, 26 months (13 with good behaviour) doesn’t seem very long measured against someone’s life. I can only presume the young children are a big factor here.

Someone with no previous convictions compared with the relatively light sentences handed down to frequent offenders?

I see this a bit like "There but for the grace of god..." I know I've made some bad mistakes in my driving career, fortunately without such serious consequences.

Driving the wrong way up a DC is more than a bad mistake!

I read it as a section of road alternating between 1 & 2 lanes with no central reservation - that's a big difference.

[V8RX7]

These types of cases are always hard to sentence IMO, it wasn't a deliberate reckless act yet the consequences were horrific for the victim / their family etc

I'd suggest a lifetime driving ban would have been more appropriate

AFAIK we don't have that as a possibility - why not ?

If my family member was killed I'd get more comfort knowing it wasn't going to happen again and prison really isn't the place for the driver in these circumstances

[Camelot1971]

flashbang said:

That's not a disorientating road at all. There's long double white lines, move over arrows and chevron areas before the lanes switch. She wasn't clued up. Simple as.

Agree. It's not a difficult road to navigate at all. My sympathy is with the person who died. The driver who killed her should have had a longer sentence and be banned for life.

[DeWar]

V8RX7 said:

These types of cases are always hard to sentence IMO, it wasn't a deliberate reckless act yet the consequences were horrific for the victim / their family etc

I'd suggest a lifetime driving ban would have been more appropriate

AFAIK we don't have that as a possibility - why not ?

If my family member was killed I'd get more comfort knowing it wasn't going to happen again and prison really isn't the place for the driver in these circumstances

I agree with this. I completely accept some folk will have a different view, but assuming it was an innocent (though huge) mistake, I’m not sure what the point of prison is? I completely understand that the victim’s family might want her put away but is any length of sentence (let alone 13 months served) going to provide them the sense that justice has been done?

However a driving ban for life protects the public from her crap driving and is arguably a harsher punishment as the inconvenience will be life long.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Durzel said:

Also, 26 months (13 with good behaviour) doesn’t seem very long measured against someone’s life.

I think I heard recently that these days, the most you can get off your sentence for good behaviour is a third. Might be wrong though.

[Clive-sz8cz]

That is a really horrible road with the centre lane being 'allocated' alternately between east and west traffic at regular intervals. Cars pass each other at closing speeds of (frequently) over 120mph, and only seperated by about 5 - 6ft and two white lines; it's an accident waiting to happen.