£200- Is this a a fair punishment?

<A HREF=http://trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1025>Fatal Crash, Driver over Hours Fined £200 Click Here for details

£200 for someones life? I think not. Why was the driver 1 hour over his time when there are plenty of places to park on the A30. Never mind that the driver cant face going back behind the wheel - he should NEVER be allowed back behind the wheel, and before anyone says that he may have been under pressure from his employer, my answer is, at the end of the day, the driver is the one with the final decision, and he should not have gone so long over his time. It wasn`t clear whether his driving time or duty time had been exceeded, by the way. From the way I read it, looks like his driving time was exceeded by 1 hour
Merry Christmas
Trev

No he should be jailed. it should be like in the US, i think it is classed as using a deadly weapon. And if there is any proof his employer was forcing him to drive over his hours they should get double what the driver gets.

get real man…how can a fellow driver wish prison upon another driver… ok the guy was over his hours… he should be banned from the roads for life for the unfortunate death. and hauled before ministry for traffic offences… and hit from all sides… but to wish prison on the man aint on…(in my opinion)… HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU BROKE HOURS LAWS…ETC ETC… you were fortunate it wasnt you getting caught… thats all …FORTUNATE…likes been said b4 you never know whats around the corner…

I also think this thread is going too far!
who knows the full details? we dont!!!

Never judge a person because of what you THINK he may have done! know ALL the facts first!!

Since when has uktrucking.net became Judge and Jury?

Thecritic:
I also think this thread is going too far!
who knows the full details? we dont!!!

Never judge a person because of what you THINK he may have done! know ALL the facts first!!

Since when has uktrucking.net became Judge and Jury?

Could not agree with you more…

Wayne.

Well said Critic. Undoubtably another souped up newspaper report. I bet there’s more to the story than what the newspaper has reported for sure.

never judge a book by its cover we will never find out the true facts, we all know what the newspaper reporters are like for telling the truth with a few lies put in for good measure. i can’t condone what he has done but this man has to live with this for the rest of his life and his family have to live through this as well lets think of them they are suffering as well due to his forgetfullness. i also think that the company that he works for should be heavily punished in the way of a fine + lose his operators licence for a set period of time. my heart felt sympathy goes out to the family of the woman who lost her life. :frowning: ps don’t let us go down the american way eye for an eye and 3 strikes and your out, lets leave that to the yanks.

Please bear in mind, this driver may have just been 1 minute short of a 45 minute rest period having taken only 44 minutes, which gives the term 1 hr over his time. as he had driven 4.5 hrs prior to his break. We dont know the full story, however, if he deliberately broke the law then fair enough, throw the book at him, another cowboy off the road. But please get your facts right first.

Also be aware this driver took his tacho out, why, and who cares if he his a lorry driver or not he killed someone, how can you stick up for someone who does that, come off it Terry of course i have broke the law but not by an hour and certainly not by crossing over and hitting a car.

And why is the thread going to far, that is the whole point of T/net to discuss things, and we should be able to do that without falling out.

From reading the facts as reported, he had driven for 11 hours and not 10 and he removed the disc after the crash which seem to say he knew he was in the wrong, I would say No this is not a fair punishment for taking a life.

However that is only one report on the incident and I would want to know more before commenting on what would be a fit punishment, I wouldn’t rule prison out but not before knowing more.

before we all go mad and judge him the driver has LIVE with the knowledge that he took somones life the should be punishment enough

Its very easy to say a driver shold go to jail, but to say he should not is also a very biased way of looking at it.
The sooner we take road death seriously the better.
Drivers big and small should take resposability for their actions. Had the driver hit another driver what would have been the out cry then?
Feel sorry for both the driver and the dead girls family but don’t think that there was not a time when the truck driver could not have taken a different action with a differnt out come.

This guy deserves nothing less than prison he broke the law and in doing so killed someone , had he killed them being perfectly legal would be a different matter.

How can any of you decide that just because he is a lorry driver he should get off lightly?, do you think school caretakers the world over are sticking up for Ian Huntly?? I THINK NOT.

We have all ran a little bit bent on occasions ( i challenge anyone to say they havent) and we knew the risks when we did it.

Who now is scared of driving over their time knowing you will get a poxy little fine even if you kill someone??.

Just ask yourself this question if it had been your wife , girlfriend or lover that was killed would you be satisfied that justice had been done??.

and if it had been your wife/father/ daughter/son aunty/uncle. driving the vehicle would you be saying the same thing jammy…I THINK NOT… lets have a bit of compassion here and not slaughter people for making a mistake is all i was saying… ok it was a fatal mistake, but no amount of prison will bring the unfornunate person back will it…you have people like john incacerated in france you dont know for a cold certain fact that he is innocent god forbid i believe he is… but do you see what i,m saying man…like you all know i call a spade a spade and i,m of the opinion that why make the man suffer any more than he allready undoubtly is, his and his family,s life will be wrecked enuff as it is… and of course relatives of the person killed…a good friend of mine was jailed for 5 years for death by dangerous driving… never been a days bother to anyone… he made one mistake… ONE… he has never been the same since… cant work… permanent sick. so dont rabbit on about throw the book at him cos we could all make the same mistake

I am always perplexed as to why when you are braking the law in the way you are driving a viehicle you are still prosecuted under driving laws. If you are braking the law be it speed, alcohol & drugs, defective viehicle and in our industry hours but also with other drivers being tired, you should be done for manslaughter or even murder if you blatently brake the law and kill someone.

Prosecutions under driving laws should be reserved to people who operate within the law, where it is most likely an accident or misfortune that someone dies in the process. People will die with lorries cars vans on the road, it is beyond belief that so few die even now. We have the lowest death rate on our roads and it should be kept like that. However we should do everything reasonable and possible including threatining drivers with long prison terms when they deliberately and excessively brake the law and kill people.

The size of the fine is immaterial in my view. I consider the feeling of guilt more of a stigma to live with, knowing that someones life has been taken.
Would you tar every driver with the same brush??
2 occasions recently, iwent over my hours, beyond my control.
1st one, left M25 to get into South Mimms to take a 45min…I had 4hrs 5mins on Hour Guard. Beeper went at 4hrs 30mins, i’m still on slip road !!.
Eventually got in to park after 5hrs 15mins driving…!! So am i going to be penalised?? 2nd time was as i was leaving London. Coming up from Richmond area to join M4 via South circular, I had 3hrs 30mins on Hour Guard. 5hrs 31mins was the time i pulled into Heston Services…!! 1hr 1min extended driving.
Now the big debate… London RED ROUTES !!! Do i take a chance, hit hazard lights, claim i have broke down so i can take a 45min or run over my hours in the view of being unable to park and therefore being considerate to other road users.■■
I went to Heston, why?? well as i only had 3 1/2hrs driving time, duty time was around 7hrs, i considered an extension the safest option. If the powers that be want to crucify all drivers who go over hours, the driver shortage will only get worse…!! I used common sense, took a risk assesment of my own abilities, tiredness etc…and thought my decision was the safest…

£200 is too small a punishment, the pain and anguish felt by the driver and his family can be as nothing compared to the victim relatives. Pain and anguish caused by his choices and actions.

And anticipating ohterry555 some years ago, about 1/2 a mile from my home, 5 youngsters were killed by 2 car drivers racing, 1 losing control and taking out a bench they were gathered around. Do you really think the 5 years that driver got makes it easier, especially at this time of year, for the families of those kids? No it does not. Do the drivers of the cars involved have nightmares? I really don’t care.

The report of the court proceedings leads me to believe the driver knew he had done wrong because he removed his chart. I would guess that was how they determined the extent of his exceeding his driving time. The questions I’d really like to have had answered are how many of his previous charts showed the same level of excess? What his employer had done about any previous excess? Perhaps this was a one off and that was part of the mitigation that resulted in a low penalty.

For Logistics loader. If you spent over an hour getting from the slip road to the service area your mileage trace would reflect that and could be evidence of your intent to stop. Going through Richmond however there would have been trading estates that could have offered a safe stopping point. I doubt the distance travelled would have justified that level of extra driving time.

ohterry555:
and if it had been your wife/father/ daughter/son aunty/uncle. driving the vehicle would you be saying the same thing jammy…I THINK NOT…

Actually Terry the answer would be yes if you break the law then you must be punished

ohterry555:
you have people like john incacerated in france you dont know for a cold certain fact that he is innocent god forbid i believe he is… but do you see what i,m saying man

I dont know this guy who is in prison in France and i dont know a lot about what he did or did not do but if he had killed someone then i would maybe think differently.

ohterry555:
a good friend of mine was jailed for 5 years for death by dangerous driving… never been a days bother to anyone… he made one mistake… ONE… he has never been the same since… cant work… permanent sick. so dont rabbit on about throw the book at him cos we could all make the same mistake

If you do the crime then you do the time dont you agree■■?,

Anyone who takes someone elses life in a legitamite accident has to face the fact for the rest of their lives that they have killed someone, in all due respect we know accidents happen. BUT anyone who breaks the law and kills someone is a different matter they should be punished severely and a message sent to anyone else who thinks they will try it to be warned they will face severe penalties for doing so.

The fine for breaking the tacho laws is £1000 per offence do you really think that someone who breaks the tacho laws and kills someone at the same time deserve the same punishment■■?.

Is the driver who drives knowingly beyond his legal limit any less, or more, irrisposible than a journalist who misrepresents facts knoweingly or through lack of knowledge?.
The loss of life is of no interest to the courts, its the crime not its outcome that they punish & £200 would seem to suggest that the crime was not conciderd serious by the court who had all the facts & both sides of the story.