No-one expects to cause the death of someone whilst driving. But 62 in fog was too fast. Sorry for everyone involved to be honest. It’s all sad.
62mph - the legal limit for his vehicle?? No it’s not, 70mph is, it’s limited to around 62mph (100kpm) muppets.
Tough call, he SHOULD have slowed down, but scheduling often cencourages people to go quicker than they should.
When on busses, we always sped, it was that bad that at the top of the running board it said “observe all speed limits” and when a camera van was on a route it used to come over the radio “all drivers on the 192’s, observe the instructions at the top of your running board” - code for watch out for a copper.
When I went onto coaches, I slowed down a lot, but when I went onto multi-drop I sped up again, then containers slowed me right down.
Scheduling pressures, tacho and wtd limits etc all play a massive part in how fast people drive when the conditions aren’t suitable, but also some people are just idiots and will drive too quick anyway - and I probably still do if I’m honest. Who REALLY slows down to a speed where they’d be capable of stopping in the distance they can see in dense fog? If you did, you’d have someone hit you from behind, so you make a risk assessment and run at a speed where HOPEFULLY you can stop but if not you’d not be going flat out, but also nobody HOPEFULLY will hit the rear of you flat out.
The limit was too fast, there’s no doubting that, and he did cause the deaths by his driving, but I’d like the scheduling to be taken into consideration.
Scheduling should have nothing to do with it. The driver is the one in charge and it matters not how quickly the company want the job done, he should have driven safely and stuff the urgency.
When I’m driving coaches, I always drive at a speed appropriate for the conditions. Maybe it’s because coaching is a second job or hobby that I don’t feel the pressure to keep time that full time drivers do? But then I drive private hire rather than scheduled work like National Express or Megabus.
If you ever come on my train I drive at full speed even with visibility down to a few metres in thick fog. Still want a ride?
Very sad for all concerned. I am sure that the driver never set out to kill someone but it brings it home that an error of judgement can have serious consequences. A thought for all of us.
daveb0789:
If you ever come on my train I drive at full speed even with visibility down to a few metres in thick fog. Still want a ride?
Yebbut that’s different because railways are a closed traffic system and a driver doesn’t need to be able to see far enough ahead to see other traffic, he only needs to see what aspect the next signal is showing.
As for this case the Megabus driver was travelling too fast although I do think a two year prison sentence serves no real good to anybody involved.
daveb0789:
If you ever come on my train I drive at full speed even with visibility down to a few metres in thick fog. Still want a ride?
That’s because you can; there’s nowt coming the other way, well in theory at least! 
Plus you know that route blindfold, every bridge, station, set of points and signal; even in my very limited experience on preserved railways, being on the footplate at night in dense fog is an initmidating experience for a non-railwayman who’s not aware of how much training and route learning goes into the job.
I do think 2 yrs is not enough as he’ll be out in little over a year, maybe 5 yrs at least I should say as he’s totally destroyed a family.
Think he got off very lightly for this 
2yrs & a 3yr ban for causing death is absolutely ridiculous 
bet he was laughing his head off He’ll be home for Xmas having a good time with his family and before long he’ll do his extended test and be back on the road causing carnage again. ■■■■■■■ Muppet 
I feel we shouldn’t comment on the driver unless we know how remorseful he is. For all we know, he could be suicidal and racked with guilt. Or he could not care less and in that case deserves all he gets and more. I was involved in a fatal and although the coroner cleared me, it still affected me deeply and I could not return to the scene again. 
extrucker:
I feel we shouldn’t comment on the driver unless we know how remorseful he is. For all we know, he could be suicidal and racked with guilt. Or he could not care less and in that case deserves all he gets and more. I was involved in a fatal and although the coroner cleared me, it still affected me deeply and I could not return to the scene again.
He was found guilty though so he deserves to be slated.
Without offending any P.S.V drivers who contribute to the site I never feel relaxed about any of my immediate family traveling on a coach, the thing that concerns me the most is the way they seem to tailgate traffic in lane 2 even when the road conditions are poor.
He may serve only a short sentence but he has to live with what he has done for the rest of his life, you could give him ten years and never allow him behind the wheel, whats 's done is done, he has ruined the lives of many people something which we should all consider when using the roads.
davepenn54:
Think he got off very lightly for this
I presume that if you made an error at work, possibly because of pressure from your employer, caused a death, lost your driving licence and your job, and went to prison that you would “laugh your head off?” 
Let me guess. You are a Sun reader, right?
Well just for your benefit Harry “laughed his head off” maybe that is how I should have typed it in the first place 
It was meant to show how he was possibly feeling after getting off with such a light sentence for what was such a terrible piece of so called “professional driving” but I’m sure you knew that in the first place. The 24yr old driver didn’t make an error he consciously chose to drive his vehicle right on the limiter (62mph) in thick fog and because of his choice he caused the death of another motorist.
No I’m not a SUN reader and I never have been in fact I haven’t bought a daily national newspaper for over 30yrs now they are all full of lies and made up stories and [zb] for the Jeremy Kyle fodder of this blinkered nation we live in.
If you think that this fella was hard done to and shouldn’t be criticised in relation to the sentence he has received I’d be very surprised because that’s not how you come across on here
But I suppose your thinking’s a bit different now though with you being a ‘company man’ 
Regards
Dave Penn;
mike68:
Without offending any P.S.V drivers who contribute to the site I never feel relaxed about any of my immediate family traveling on a coach, the thing that concerns me the most is the way they seem to tailgate traffic in lane 2 even when the road conditions are poor.
Well Mike68 you can relax when I’m driving. I think i’m better than the average PSV driver because I don’t drive with an ego. I certainly don’t tailgate or try to challenge and intimidate other road users. A coach is a cruising machine and without knowing it you’ll be at your destination.
davepenn54:
Well just for your benefit Harry “laughed his head off” maybe that is how I should have typed it in the first place
Well, the thing is that people are generally sentenced to long terms of imprisonment when they have deliberately set out on a course of action designed to kill somebody; or have acted so recklessly in the course of a criminal act such as ■■■■ or robbery that somebody had died as a result of that recklessness.
People aren’t generally sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for brief acts of human error, and had an accident such as this occurred on the railway then the Railway Inspectorate would look at underlying reasons for the accident such as fatigue, or an expectation to meet unrealistic schedules rather than just playing the “blame the driver” card.
But let me put the ball back in your court. What would you say would be a fair sentence?
It won’t be a popular view but I think 24 is too young for driving coaches full of people. Most of your driving commonsense comes from the years on the road and near misses.
I also don’t understand the sentences it’s like a sacrifice on the altar of the victims family’s grief/closure that I can’t really get my head round how it stops it happening again. What’s an extended re-test going to do either unless it goes on so long until it gets foggy at some point.
Er NO Admitting to causing death by dangerous driving usually carries a much heavier sentence even when showing remorse.
sentencingcouncil.judiciary.gov. … deline.pdf
He got a very light sentence for deliberately driving dangerously in poor road conditions Whatever schedule he had to keep to he should have taken the poor visibility into account and driven appropriately just like you or I would or would you 
Regards
Dave Penn;
Harry Monk:
davepenn54:
Well just for your benefit Harry “laughed his head off” maybe that is how I should have typed it in the first placePeople aren’t generally sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for brief acts of human error, and had an accident such as this occurred on the railway then the Railway Inspectorate would look at underlying reasons for the accident such as fatigue, or an expectation to meet unrealistic schedules rather than just playing the “blame the driver” card.
It’s an interesting comparison. Coach services can be given unrealistically tight timings but this never happens on the railway as everything is calculated for the type of train and the line speeds permitted. More often extra time is given so train companies aren’t fined for late running.
And here is the key difference. Coaches (as well as other road vehicles) can and will break the speed limit or drive too fast for the conditions to make up lost time. These days there is no such thing as a train going faster than the permitted speed limit. It just doesn’t happen.