Who saw the police program on Wednesday night about car accidents down South - Page 2

Garp · 01-09-2007, 10:31

Every year at the college I worked for we held a "student choice day" organised by the Students Union, where various extra curricular stuff was arranged taking place in various rooms, discussing stuff or with guest speakers and the like. The day was always a bit of a headache for me due to A/V requirements that we often didn't have enough equipment for but I usually managed to get things planned out relatively smoothly. I would usually take along the more complicated stuff and get it set up wherever and stick around to make sure it worked fine.
I can't remember the exact subject for the talk but one of our students stood up at the front and told us all of the day her boyfriend died in her arms. Though she didn't cry, and her voice never wavered, you could see the hurt in her eyes and there was hardly a dry eye in the audience when she'd finished. I'll try and remember the precise details..

They'd been at a local pub, the Witch. Very nice pub in fact, quite popular, and had had a couple of drinks with friends. She had had soft drinks as she was driving. It was closing time and they'd headed out from the pub, and he'd walked her the brief distance to her car, walked back to the road and crossed. There is a bit of a blind corner near the pub. At 30mph, the legal limit, there is just over twice the braking distance from the moment you come in sight of the road. As she watched him cross the road, she saw a car doing 70mph hit him. Given the distance from the end of the nearest junction the guy was probably still accelerating hard at the point he'd come around the corner. Your average small car could never have manage to hit 70mph in that distance. The car carried on going, but as it was pub closing time there were so many witnesses multiple people had the presence of mind to note the number plate.
The girl ran from her car and went over to her boyfriend, hysterical, but there was little that could be done, he was alive but not for long.

Thankfully in this case justice was (relatively) done, and the driver was put behind bars for DUI and manslaughter, for the full length term, along with a life disqualification from driving. Sadly for this girl, what does that amount to compared to having watched her boyfriend being hit and dying?

Will · 01-09-2007, 10:50

Wow Paul, that's a rather emotive story, I felt myself affected by that.

There's no excuse for drink driving. It's something I abhor. In fact I fell out with a friend over it, to the point that we had a fight, and I've never seen him since. I've lost 2 friends to drink drivers, and one is now in a wheel chair drooling and having to eat processed food for the rest of his life. I've been hit by car who didn't stop, I'm *convinced* he was either drunk or on something. Luckily for me I was relatively ok, I was discharged after 24hrs.

If you take the life of someone, or god forbid several people owing to your own responsibility you don't deserve to drive ever again, you deserve to be made to feel like the **** you are, you need to be put face to face with the family you have robbed life from and confront the people that actually *hate* you - and be forced to live with it for the rest of your life.

It's disgusting. Heck I'm happy to raise the drinking age to 21 if it helps... but I fear people in this country (no offence) are too tied to their drink to worry about the consequences :/

Roberta · 01-09-2007, 13:08

That's awful Garp. I went all cold reading that.

I'm always extra careful when I'm driving my kids about. I was taking them up to Leeds a few months ago and driving through North Wales, where some of the roads are slightly wider than usual, when some total idiot decided to overtake me as we were approaching a roundabout on a single stretch. I was slowing anyway to come to the roundabout as he shot level with me and he obviously didn't know I had kids aboard (not that that should have made a difference) as the look of shock on his face when he saw them was very obvious.

Bloody idiot.

Wossi · 18-09-2007, 14:43

Everytime someone mentions drink driving I always remember the only time in my life I have every been drunk and driven. It was a friends sister's wedding and I had enough so that I was slightly slurring my words. I decided that it was time I went home so jumped in my car with my friend in the passenger seat, who was a lot drunker than I was and headed home. When I woke up the next day I almost soiled myself when I realised what I had done and have never done it since. When I look back I hate to think what could have happened. Luckily I had managed to get home without causing an accident. What still gets me to this day is that a few people there knew I was drunk and was about to drive home and no one challenged me, not even my so called friend.

I fully expect people to show distaste towards me and tbh I deserve everything I get.

Darrin · 18-09-2007, 17:11

RO551, showing regret and learning from a mistake is what it's all about.

It's if you were one of the morons that thought, "Oh, I did fine, I'll do it again...." that I would be hunting your butt down.

Lesson learned, mate. Just don't do it again.

Darrin · 18-09-2007, 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark

Yep - on the business end of a shotgun until the Police turn up. I remember that one.

No, that had nothing to do with alcohol. My severe dislike of DUI stems from losing my fiance' at age 18 to one and as an EMT having to scrape her off the road myself.

That one incident changed my life in every aspect.

Treefrog · 27-09-2007, 04:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darrin

No, that had nothing to do with alcohol. My severe dislike of DUI stems from losing my fiance' at age 18 to one and as an EMT having to scrape her off the road myself.

That one incident changed my life in every aspect.

Yes, I remember you posting that. It's one of those things that hits you too hard to forget it - and that's just as a reader of it.
Garp's post above is the same.

I think Mark meant that guy who chased you home in the middle of winter after dazzling you on purpose. But I can imagine DUIs doing that sort of thing anyway. And it was a .303 not a shotty wasn't it?

Mark · 27-09-2007, 08:37

OK - didn't know about that, and I'm always willing to be corrected. Some things I remember, some I don't.

Darrin · 29-09-2007, 02:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Treefrog

And it was a .303 not a shotty wasn't it?

You sir, have the memory of a steel trap. You are correct.

Fayshun · 02-10-2007, 13:06

Working in custody, I reckon about 15-20% of the "clients" we get in are for driving under the influence.

The ones I hate with a passion are the ones who start trapping off about "Why aren't you out catching real criminals/I havent done anything wrong". Apart from strapping yourself into 900 kilos of steel and driving it while you can hardly stand up? Mind you you did well, not killing anyone this time.

Of course, I manage to retain my professional image. (And I don't spit in their tea)

01-09-2007, 10:31	#11
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	Every year at the college I worked for we held a "student choice day" organised by the Students Union, where various extra curricular stuff was arranged taking place in various rooms, discussing stuff or with guest speakers and the like. The day was always a bit of a headache for me due to A/V requirements that we often didn't have enough equipment for but I usually managed to get things planned out relatively smoothly. I would usually take along the more complicated stuff and get it set up wherever and stick around to make sure it worked fine. I can't remember the exact subject for the talk but one of our students stood up at the front and told us all of the day her boyfriend died in her arms. Though she didn't cry, and her voice never wavered, you could see the hurt in her eyes and there was hardly a dry eye in the audience when she'd finished. I'll try and remember the precise details.. They'd been at a local pub, the Witch. Very nice pub in fact, quite popular, and had had a couple of drinks with friends. She had had soft drinks as she was driving. It was closing time and they'd headed out from the pub, and he'd walked her the brief distance to her car, walked back to the road and crossed. There is a bit of a blind corner near the pub. At 30mph, the legal limit, there is just over twice the braking distance from the moment you come in sight of the road. As she watched him cross the road, she saw a car doing 70mph hit him. Given the distance from the end of the nearest junction the guy was probably still accelerating hard at the point he'd come around the corner. Your average small car could never have manage to hit 70mph in that distance. The car carried on going, but as it was pub closing time there were so many witnesses multiple people had the presence of mind to note the number plate. The girl ran from her car and went over to her boyfriend, hysterical, but there was little that could be done, he was alive but not for long. Thankfully in this case justice was (relatively) done, and the driver was put behind bars for DUI and manslaughter, for the full length term, along with a life disqualification from driving. Sadly for this girl, what does that amount to compared to having watched her boyfriend being hit and dying? __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

01-09-2007, 10:50	#12
Will BBx woz 'ere :P Join Date: Jan 1970 Posts: 2,147,487,208	Wow Paul, that's a rather emotive story, I felt myself affected by that. There's no excuse for drink driving. It's something I abhor. In fact I fell out with a friend over it, to the point that we had a fight, and I've never seen him since. I've lost 2 friends to drink drivers, and one is now in a wheel chair drooling and having to eat processed food for the rest of his life. I've been hit by car who didn't stop, I'm convinced he was either drunk or on something. Luckily for me I was relatively ok, I was discharged after 24hrs. If you take the life of someone, or god forbid several people owing to your own responsibility you don't deserve to drive ever again, you deserve to be made to feel like the **** you are, you need to be put face to face with the family you have robbed life from and confront the people that actually hate you - and be forced to live with it for the rest of your life. It's disgusting. Heck I'm happy to raise the drinking age to 21 if it helps... but I fear people in this country (no offence) are too tied to their drink to worry about the consequences :/ __________________ *No No!*

01-09-2007, 13:08	#13
Roberta Pole Model Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 5,986	That's awful Garp. I went all cold reading that. I'm always extra careful when I'm driving my kids about. I was taking them up to Leeds a few months ago and driving through North Wales, where some of the roads are slightly wider than usual, when some total idiot decided to overtake me as we were approaching a roundabout on a single stretch. I was slowing anyway to come to the roundabout as he shot level with me and he obviously didn't know I had kids aboard (not that that should have made a difference) as the look of shock on his face when he saw them was very obvious. Bloody idiot. __________________ I fell out of favour with Heaven somewhere, and I'm here for the hell of it now...

18-09-2007, 17:11	#15
Darrin Dirteh Kitteh Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Hiding out in Mormon Country Posts: 1,629	RO551, showing regret and learning from a mistake is what it's all about. It's if you were one of the morons that thought, "Oh, I did fine, I'll do it again...." that I would be hunting your butt down. Lesson learned, mate. Just don't do it again. __________________ A bullet may have your name on it, but shrapnel is addressed "to whom it may concern".

02-10-2007, 13:06	#20
Fayshun Rocket Fuel Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Adrift in the Orca Posts: 6,845	Working in custody, I reckon about 15-20% of the "clients" we get in are for driving under the influence. The ones I hate with a passion are the ones who start trapping off about "Why aren't you out catching real criminals/I havent done anything wrong". Apart from strapping yourself into 900 kilos of steel and driving it while you can hardly stand up? Mind you you did well, not killing anyone this time. Of course, I manage to retain my professional image. (And I don't spit in their tea) __________________ We must move forward not backward, upwards not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling...

18-09-2007, 14:43	#14
Wossi Absinthe Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: In the middle Posts: 1,385	Everytime someone mentions drink driving I always remember the only time in my life I have every been drunk and driven. It was a friends sister's wedding and I had enough so that I was slightly slurring my words. I decided that it was time I went home so jumped in my car with my friend in the passenger seat, who was a lot drunker than I was and headed home. When I woke up the next day I almost soiled myself when I realised what I had done and have never done it since. When I look back I hate to think what could have happened. Luckily I had managed to get home without causing an accident. What still gets me to this day is that a few people there knew I was drunk and was about to drive home and no one challenged me, not even my so called friend. I fully expect people to show distaste towards me and tbh I deserve everything I get.

27-09-2007, 08:37	#18
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	OK - didn't know about that, and I'm always willing to be corrected. Some things I remember, some I don't.