Stanley Knife:
bloodoodle:
The coroner’s officer Frederick Howe said an articulated lorry was stationary in lane one, the minibus slowed and stopped and a second lorry pushed into the rear of the minibus. Four people were taken to hospital and the remaining eight in the minibus died.
I posted this photograph nearly three weeks ago on the other thread. The skid marks show the twin wheels of the drive wheels of the FedEX unit. The offside marks are virtually continuous but the nearside ones are more random. The offside skid marks are only just into lane two suggesting that FedEx was in lane one following the minibus and when the minibus stopped FedEx didn’t. He then hit the minibus pushing it into the rear of AIM. For twelve minutes traffic went past the AIM lorry without hitting it. Mr Joseph not only saw it but stopped yet Wagstaff saw neither. It’s no surprise that he has been charged.
Why Joseph stopped his minibus in a live lane with passengers on is beyond me. You are trained that the safety of your passengers is paramount, even to the point where it’s included in a specific module on the PSV version of the dCPC. Only the four survivors will be able to shine some light on what he was thinking.
As for Masierak it will be interesting to hear why he stopped in a live lane on a motorway, never mind for twelve minutes. With a reading of 55mg he was certainly over the limit but, as a man with a drink problem, it doesn’t suggest he was paraletic, as some have marked him down. When his licence was revoked and for what reason will reveal more about his attitude and situation.
The authorities also have questions to answer. It is inconcievable, even in the early hours, that not one phone call was received from a vehicle who passed the stricken AIM lorry. Maybe they didn’t have time to get someone to the scene, or there was no-one available, but why wasn’t the lane Red X’d? If no-one did phone in then it speaks volumes about modern society!
A sad state of affairs all round in which eight people are dead, four seriously injured, three drivers culpable to a greater or lesser degree, and two drivers with a lot of questions to answer.
Disagree. I think the skid marks are those of the minibus.
The photo of the AIM lorry show the Merc jack knifed into its off side down the trailer. If the AIM lorry was in lane 1 how come the skid marks are shown going into the hard shoulder?
Also wasn’t it reported that Mr Joseph ‘had had only for hours sleep’, yet this guy was a restricted PCV O licence holder.
The only excuse for not seeing the AIM truck was that it had no lights on, but surely if Mr Joseph was watching his mirrors and a truck was behind, why didn’t Mr Joseph put his hazards on? Maybe he did.