13yr old killed in F50
Discussion
TTmonkey said:
And this balls about it being LHD being a factor. FFS. He'd even driven it before, and no doubt many other LHD stuff previously. It ain't hard to drive a LHD.
To be clear, that is a statement made by the prosection, not the defence. They are trying to state all possible factors (however small) that might have led to the incident occurring.Gameface said:
One of the comments in The Mail says that the driver must be paedophile for offering to give the boy a passenger ride.
Mind boggling.
They've just pulled the comments section, I was reading them a few minutes ago, refreshed and it had changed to no comments at this time.Mind boggling.
TTmonkey said:
TooMany2cvs said:
Truffles said:
The best the prosecution can come up with is "maybe he didn't get LHD, didn't see the bend, and didn't know it would go very fast if he pressed that pedal hard"...?As has been said, just an awful situation for all those involved.
We can chastise the driver or pick apart the events even though we don’t know what happened but it won’t help, As a kid and an adult I’ve been in supercars as a passenger or a driver and given it the beans so to speak, it’s just something that we do, no one is perfect and we all enjoy the thrill.
Being offered a passenger drive in an F50 was probably an absolute dream for the boy and the driver was no doubt hoping to give him something to remember, unfortunately bad luck and misjudgement has given everyone involved a life sentence.
We can chastise the driver or pick apart the events even though we don’t know what happened but it won’t help, As a kid and an adult I’ve been in supercars as a passenger or a driver and given it the beans so to speak, it’s just something that we do, no one is perfect and we all enjoy the thrill.
Being offered a passenger drive in an F50 was probably an absolute dream for the boy and the driver was no doubt hoping to give him something to remember, unfortunately bad luck and misjudgement has given everyone involved a life sentence.
Penelope Stopit said:
TTmonkey said:
I think the drivers defence that something wrong happened and it just shot off will be his downfall.
No one gets into an F50 with a 13 year old child to impres and attempts to drive down the road like a snail. Nope, doesn't wash with me.
And this balls about it being LHD being a factor. FFS. He'd even driven it before, and no doubt many other LHD stuff previously. It ain't hard to drive a LHD.
He'd have been better saying that he blipped the throttle and his clutch foot slipped and that it was an accident.
It will be interesting to see if witnesses confirm that he made the engine rev or not before the accident. Cars don't end up upside down without someone pressing the go peddle unless they fall off a lorry or something.
Do you mean he should have lied or do you mean he is obviously telling poor thought out lies and should have done betterNo one gets into an F50 with a 13 year old child to impres and attempts to drive down the road like a snail. Nope, doesn't wash with me.
And this balls about it being LHD being a factor. FFS. He'd even driven it before, and no doubt many other LHD stuff previously. It ain't hard to drive a LHD.
He'd have been better saying that he blipped the throttle and his clutch foot slipped and that it was an accident.
It will be interesting to see if witnesses confirm that he made the engine rev or not before the accident. Cars don't end up upside down without someone pressing the go peddle unless they fall off a lorry or something.
garyhun said:
silentbrown said:
Both thrown from the car - neither wearing seatbelts, according to the Beeb.
Seriously bad if true. I've taken friends children for spirited drives in my Boxster and R8 and always made sure that they were belted in. I'm amazed anyone doing this would not do so.Are the F50s equipped with normal belts or is it harness type arrangements only? Might be a factor as to why not strapped on in.
Penelope Stopit said:
TTmonkey said:
I think the drivers defence that something wrong happened and it just shot off will be his downfall.
No one gets into an F50 with a 13 year old child to impres and attempts to drive down the road like a snail. Nope, doesn't wash with me.
And this balls about it being LHD being a factor. FFS. He'd even driven it before, and no doubt many other LHD stuff previously. It ain't hard to drive a LHD.
He'd have been better saying that he blipped the throttle and his clutch foot slipped and that it was an accident.
It will be interesting to see if witnesses confirm that he made the engine rev or not before the accident. Cars don't end up upside down without someone pressing the go peddle unless they fall off a lorry or something.
Do you mean he should have lied or do you mean he is obviously telling poor thought out lies and should have done betterNo one gets into an F50 with a 13 year old child to impres and attempts to drive down the road like a snail. Nope, doesn't wash with me.
And this balls about it being LHD being a factor. FFS. He'd even driven it before, and no doubt many other LHD stuff previously. It ain't hard to drive a LHD.
He'd have been better saying that he blipped the throttle and his clutch foot slipped and that it was an accident.
It will be interesting to see if witnesses confirm that he made the engine rev or not before the accident. Cars don't end up upside down without someone pressing the go peddle unless they fall off a lorry or something.
It's possible he is mistaken about what really happened but has totally convinced himself this is what happened, so thinks it's true. Must have been massively affected by this, probably suffering post traumatic stress.
I don't see 'it just happened without me touching the accelerator' as reasonable. It's still just a car. and whilst I'm not an expert on the F50, I'm guessing it's pretty much a standard car (even though it has high BHP) in terms of controls and technology given its age, not like that electric thing that Hammond crashed which is all computers and fly by wire software controlled stuff.....
Any one else recorded the F50 unexpectedly and unwanted launching itself with enough speed to flip before?
garyhun said:
Seriously bad if true. I've taken friends children for spirited drives in my Boxster and R8 and always made sure that they were belted in. I'm amazed anyone doing this would not do so.
Likewise amazed, I won't drive an adult unless they're belted in, let alone a child. linky: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-431...
TTmonkey said:
I simply can't drive a car without a belt on. Manoeuvre it in a driveway yes, but not drive it.
Are the F50s equipped with normal belts or is it harness type arrangements only? Might be a factor as to why not strapped on in.
Normal belts in the one in the showpiece of the week article.Are the F50s equipped with normal belts or is it harness type arrangements only? Might be a factor as to why not strapped on in.
Gareth79 said:
The charge is "death by careless driving" so I don't think they need to prove anything beyond it being a relatively simple mistake that caused a death. I'm guessing they don't have any witnesses of the crash itself so don't really know how it was being driven at the time, so not much to support dangerous driving?
Having been picked up for a ride by a friend in their F50 I'd be pretty certain anyone in earshot to hear the crash would also hear if the driver put the pedal to the floor. It seems like both the mum and a farmer were within earshot for the crash. You can hear them from a long way away.Also the belts were normal 3 point rather than any racing harness.
Sounds like the driver is making an excuse for having lost control when he floored it/went onto the grass to me. It's not likely to have a stuck throttle in general, combined with the inspection after the crash saying it was not. Seems like a simple if devastating case to me.
Hmme, sounds like a seriously lack of talent and judgement on the drivers part. I think he is on very thin ice with his defence. If the press report is correct, it seems pretty careless to drive a 1400 kg 500+ BHP sports car and not wear seat belts, flip it killing the passenger and seriously injuring the driver, all on a single track service road. I wonder if there may be some info from the ecu regarding speed?? Surely an examination of the car would show the alleged defect if there is one, which I doubt. Even by today's metrics, an F50 is a very fast car, with probably no driver aids, so he should have been ultra careful driving it.
TTmonkey said:
Did nothing wrong and claiming latent defect despite no evidence of such.
If found guilty then he's not endearing himself to the judge.
Incredibly tenuous strategy considering Meaden drove it for Evo earlier in the day and stated it was a fine example of the breed.If found guilty then he's not endearing himself to the judge.
Straight off the bat, that's relevant expert testimony contradicting his "freak fault" version of events, even before no mechanical fault was found.
Surprised his legal team are running with it.
As you said, hardly endearing himself to anyone is he.
fblm said:
Living with the fact that you'd accidentally killed someone must be a horrible punishment of it's self but weaseling out of taking responsibility loses my sympathy entirely.
Personally I feel for the guy, many people in his situation wouldn't give the kid time of day but he tried to give him an experience and it bit them both in the arse, he'll think about this every day for the rest of his life and never forgive himself for the consequences.Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff