So there I am..............

[CarlMetro]

..............sitting at a set of traffic lights, waiting to turn right. I have my lights on, I have my foot on the brake pedal and my right-hand indicator is flashing, when all of a sudden BANG! I find that I've been smacked up the rear by a Toyota Landcruiser.

After the initial shock of impact I regained my thought processes, flicked on the hazards lights, engaged the handbrake, switched off the engine and got out of the car to make sure the person/people who had hit me were OK.

No sooner had I got out of the car was I met with a volley of abuse from the woman driver in the Landcruiser. Her opening words were "where the f**k did you come from" followed by "what the f**k did you stop there for you c***"

The first thing I noticed was that she had two small children in the back of her vehicle, however she seemed to have no concern for their wellfare whatsoever, only verbally abusing me, who happened to be the innocent party.

I politely asked her to calm down and asked her if she was OK? "of course If**king am you tw*t" was her reassuring reply. I then asked her if her children were OK too? At which point I think she remembered them and opened the rear door to check.

To my amazement another road user, who had seen the whole thing from a side road said he would gladly be my witness, said he had already called the police and suggested that I look at her mobile phone. No sooner had he said this but the police turned up.

After a short discussion one of the police officers asked me to move my car to a side road. he then proceeded to attch a rope to the front of the Landcruiser and dragged that down the same street. The police officer then asked for our mobile phones which we handed over.

Again to my amazement, the police officer then asked the lady to confirm that the phone he was holding was hers, which she did. He then asked her why the seemed to be a half-completed text message on her screen? She gave no reply. Further investigation by the officer showed 11 sent and received text messages between her phone and another in the space of ten minutes, all of them just before the crash.

I wonder if she'll tone down her language when she goes to court?

[Mark]

Let us know what happens :D

[jim mcglinchey]

Is it routine for the police to ask for the mobile phones of the drivers involved in an accident?

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I didn't know that Police could take your phones off you when you crash :s

What if i was planning with to assinate Tony Blair with some mates. I'd be found out!!!!

[fly_ac]

I hate it when I see people on their cell while driving. :angryfire :

[oily oaf]

Carl's lady charm school graduate = Hotbikerchic putting her new mobile "dog and bone" through its paces. FACT :s mokin:

[Daniel]

You forgot to mention whether you're OK Carl. I do hope you sue her stupid ass suitably. Car OK too?

[Captain VXR]

Sue her loads of money, then go round her house with a metal baseball bat; and finally send a letter bomb in the post. Job done and she won't text-drive for a long time if she has any brain cells at all.

[Daniel]

Sue her loads of money, then go round her house with a metal baseball bat; and finally send a letter bomb in the post. Job done and she won't text-drive for a long time if she has any brain cells at all.
WTF? Are you on drugs of some description?

[Donney]

I hope you are OK Carl and I sincerely hope you car survives the crash without serious consequences.

Do you have to go to court? Don't you have over there something called (more or less this a free translation) "mutual declaration of accident"? like this:

[jonas_mcrae]

Sue her loads of money, then go round her house with a metal baseball bat; and finally send a letter bomb in the post. Job done and she won't text-drive for a long time if she has any brain cells at all.

LOL great post

[Robinho]

how can she be so ignorant, she must have realised that it was her fault and maybe would be best served in being quiet, apologising and making an excuse for not seeing you in the road obeying the laws of the road.

are you ok, after a significant rear impact from a large vehicle like that most of the unscrupulous people out there would be claiming all sorts of personal injury, but i would imagine there is a real chance of you having some whiplash

[Ian McC]

Further investigation by the officer showed 11 sent and received text messages between her phone and another in the space of ten minutes, all of them just before the crash.

As bad as the accident was I bet you felt a hell of a lot better after that :D

[CarlMetro]

You forgot to mention whether you're OK Carl. I do hope you sue her stupid ass suitably. Car OK too?

Me? I'm OK, nothing a couple of pain killers don't deal with anyway. I did contemplate phoning Ambulancechasers R Us but can't be bothered. The car is not so good, I think it might need a bit of major surgery before it comes back to me, if it comes back at all ;( Good crumple zones on the rear of the new Passat estate though :\

@Jim - I don't think it's standard practice for the police to request your mobiles, but one of the officers had spoken to the witness and I guess he'd seen her use the phone because he suggested I took a look at her phone.

I had to laugh when I spoke to the insurance company - "were there any other vehicles involved in the crash?" :rolleyes: :laugh:

[fandango]

When you see crashes like this in the movies (the last scene in Crash as an example) people always get out and start yelling at each other, and I always thought it a bit unreal: an impact usually makes people realize how easy it can all come to an end.

Sorry to hear your day (and your car) was ruined by this Carl, but happy to know that you're okay. And, well, yet again, isn't it amazing how stupid people are? Don't they think about the risks they're taking?

[CarlMetro]

This is the third time I've been hit, each time no fault of my own, but every time my only concern is that the others involved are OK. A car is just a car and can easily be repaired or replaced, not so easy to do the same for a person.

The last time I got hit all the bloke who hit me kept saying was how sorry he was that he'd ruined my car and seemed shocked when I asked him if he was OK. If I'm honest, after the volley of abuse I got from her, I didn't really care about the woman yesterday, only the two little ones in the car with her.

[BDunnell]

It still amazes me that people think it's possible to telephone/text and drive at the same time. What will it take to stop this? The answer is surely a public information campaign along the lines of those used to curb drink-driving over the years.

Cyclists on mobiles are a menace too, of course, if less dangerous to others (though not themselves).

[LotusElise]

It sounds like the police were on the ball for once with this one.
Glad to hear you're okay, Carl, too.

I will admit to screaming obscenities at the driver who rammed me from behind (with no insurance) that I've mentioned before, but the attitude from this woman sounds unbelievable.

[bowler]

CM, I think you are being unreasonable about this. It must be your fault because you were there.

If you had not been there then the incident would not have occurred, and the correct text messages would have been sent, on time, and the Land Cruiser Lady would not have been forced to get upset with you (as you were not there).

:-)

[BeansBeansBeans]

The exact same thing happened to me this time last week, but luckily the bloke who ran into me was a perfectly decent human being, unlike the moron who ran into Carl. Both cars were damaged, but myself, the other bloke, and his son in the passenger seat were all fine.

[nicemms]

This is why the law about phones while driving has been introduced to try and stop accidents like that.

[GridGirl]

I think alot of people are guilty of sending text messages while driving. I myself have been guilty on numerous occassions when sat in traffic going no where, althought its something I never do these days.

Alas to be actually moving and sending that amount of text messages is very silly. If your going to send that amount in such a short space of time, surely its more sensible for the woman in question to invest in a hands free kit and just speak to whoever she needs to instead?

[Donney]

That would be the sensible option and I think she does not know the meaning of that.

[LotusElise]

I'm pleased to say that I've never used my mobile at all for any purpose while driving. At times, it's a handy excuse to ignore it.

[Hazell B]

Wish I could congratulate you Carl on removing a danger from our streets, but I bet she just gets a minor fine or a point or two for that.

So long as you and the children are fine, that's good news. I hope she'll have a rethink about using the phone now, but fear not. After all, it's simply proved to her that accidents don't hurt much and men are polite :rolleyes:

If you get to court, give 'em hell! :p :

[Mark]

I'm guilty of texting while in my car, but it's always been in stationary traffic, I know it's not on either because the temptation is to continue my message once the traffic starts moving.

[XR8]

I can honestly say I have never texed whilst driving.Or for that matter walking,standing, sitting.I have never bothered with this technology as if I
want to talk to someone I will talk to them!

[oily oaf]

I can honestly say I have never texed whilst driving.Or for that matter walking,standing, sitting.I have never bothered with this technology as if I
want to talk to someone I will talk to them!

A man after my own heart.
The mere pressing of buttons at bewildering speed will never replace my latent urge to flap my gums, also at bewildering speed.

[wedge]

Great story!

You've managed to kill two birds with one stone!

Bloody SUV driver AND mobile phone user finally gets their comeuppance!

Sorry to hear about the car!

[Hazell B]

Bloody SUV driver ......

Probably best not to tar them all with the same brush ;)

(Who called me for the quote bingo on this subject? :p : )

[fandango]

If your going to send that amount in such a short space of time, surely its more sensible for the woman in question to invest in a hands free kit and just speak to whoever she needs to instead?

Well, if the way she spoke to Carl is anything to go by people probably wouldn't answer the phone to her :)

[CarlMetro]

Brief update

Going to court on Monday, should be fun :\

[J4MIE]

Good luck Carl :up:

[Captain VXR]

Good luck. Remember sue as much as you can, she must have a lot of money as she drives a Landcruiser

[BeansBeansBeans]

Good luck. Remember sue as much as you can, she must have a lot of money as she drives a Landcruiser

What's that got to do with it? It'll be her insurance company that pays out, not her personally.

[Ian McC]

Brief update

Going to court on Monday, should be fun :\

Hope all goes well Carl :)

Are you there just as a witness?

[Donney]

Good luck Carl.

[GARYGAZZA]

Good luck Carl.Lets hope she gets enough points to loss her licence.The roads will be a little bit safer and so will her kids.

[CarlMetro]

Well guys and gals my faith in the British justice system has been restored.................NOT!

After a brief explintaion of the charges against her, the woman pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention. After brief discussions the judge informing the court that due to the accident being caused by the woman using a 'portable communication device' that a custodial sentence was mandatory in such cases, at which point the woman's face hit the floor.

However he then went on to say that he had decided because this was her first offence, and in view of the fact that she had two small children who she looked after on a daily basis, a custodial sentance in this case would not best serve the community or the womans family.

Instead he ordered her to pay an £800 fine and gave her six points on her licence. Court costs were also awarded against her.

:angryfire

So there you go, doesn't matter what crime you commit, just make sure you have a couple of kids in tow and you'll get off with a slap on the wrist :rolleyes:

[Ian McC]

Well with the way things are at the moment you are going to have to do something really bad to get thrown in jail.

[Dave B]

True. At least she got 100% of the blame and a reasonable fine. Judges are being advised not to jail anybody bar the most serious offenders at the moment, so you can't really blame the court.

Hopefully she'll realise that not only did she drive like a chump, but she also put her own kids in danger. Maybe that will cause her to modify her behaviour in future.

[PuddleJumper]

What will it take to stop this? The answer is surely a public information campaign along the lines of those used to curb drink-driving over the years.
I see that the government have started a new TV campaign to make people aware of the dangers of using a mobile phone whilst driving. Watch (http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/campaigns/mobilephones/download/2007splitscreen.mpg) (8,249kb)

[Daniel]

Well guys and gals my faith in the British justice system has been restored.................NOT!

After a brief explintaion of the charges against her, the woman pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention. After brief discussions the judge informing the court that due to the accident being caused by the woman using a 'portable communication device' that a custodial sentence was mandatory in such cases, at which point the woman's face hit the floor.

However he then went on to say that he had decided because this was her first offence, and in view of the fact that she had two small children who she looked after on a daily basis, a custodial sentance in this case would not best serve the community or the womans family.

Instead he ordered her to pay an £800 fine and gave her six points on her licence. Court costs were also awarded against her.

:angryfire

So there you go, doesn't matter what crime you commit, just make sure you have a couple of kids in tow and you'll get off with a slap on the wrist :rolleyes:
Well Carl I'll be honest and say that it was a fairly reasonable punishment in my view. Of course I'm not in the position of being involved in a serious accident with the numpty. If it was me I'd probably feel the same as you.

Just out of curiosity what sentence/punishment would have made you happy?

[BeansBeansBeans]

I think the judge made the right decision.

[LotusElise]

Yes, she was definitely punished and had the fright of the jail threat to make her think about doing it again.
At least it's over now for you, Carl.

[CarlMetro]

Just out of curiosity what sentence/punishment would have made you happy?

I'm not the malicious type, if I were then I'd have been straight onto http://www.ambulance-chasers.com and sued her arse. As a parent the last thing I would have wanted to see was a mother seperated from her young children. But if a crime has a mandatory punishment then surely that should be applied? If I had been in a smaller, or older car then I could have suffered serious injury or worse, the fact that I didn't does not diminish her actions, nor her attitude.

Personally I would have liked to see her recieve at least a 12 month ban from driving, something the police were expecting as a minimum too I might add.

[Malbec]

However he then went on to say that he had decided because this was her first offence, and in view of the fact that she had two small children who she looked after on a daily basis, a custodial sentance in this case would not best serve the community or the womans family.

I don't think what she did warrants her kids losing their mother for several months, not for a first offence.

£1k or so in costs and fine should hopefully make her think a little more in the future, as well as the fact that if she's caught again the judge won't be as lenient.

[BeansBeansBeans]

Personally I would have liked to see her recieve at least a 12 month ban from driving, something the police were expecting as a minimum too I might add.

I too think a driving ban would probably have been fair, now you mention it.

[Mark]

Perhaps a suspended sentance would have been appropriate?

[oily oaf]

Perhaps a suspended sentance would have been appropriate?

Call me a lilly livered apologist for the career criminal but personally I think that hanging this lady might be a tad draconian although perhaps a light face down burning could well be the way forward in instances such as this.

[Hazell B]

As Carl said, a twelve month ban would have been what I'd have expected her to get, plus a four figure fine and costs on top. I'd swap points on her licence for a bigger fine if that's possible, as I feel the country needs fine money more than the insurance companies need extra income from pointed-up drivers.