Sainsbury’s lorry driver kills toddler on pedestrian crossing on 29th March 2018 in Wareham, Dorset.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-48066113
Sainsbury’s had failed to give the agency lorry driver Dean Phoenix, age 44, a driving assessment before letting him loose in one of their HGV Class 1 lorries…and I doubt the agency that employed him had bothered to check his rather appalling criminal record.
He had killed before…he murdered his wife in 2003 when she was 26 years old.
Not defending this fella, but it does go to show how lethal a lorry is. Make a mistake in your office and its just a clerical error…press delete and start again. Make an error as a driver and its a wall, a bollard, a car or in this worse case scenario; a pedestrian.
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You’d have to say that the car driver bears a lot of responsibility for this.
Harry Monk:
You’d have to say that the car driver bears a lot of responsibility for this.
+1
What kind of mindset thinks its ok to park facing the wrong way on such a busy street right at a pedestrian crossing?
Unless the little lad made a dart for it without his mother then she has part blame too. The truck is well on the crossing, even if the light was green to cross it is madness to walk right infront of a truck so close without making eye contact with the driver. This is reflected in the small sentence. The driver should of stopped still until he was 100% sure it was clear to move but there are 3 parties at fault here, nice to see all the blame not being put on the driver for once
The-Snowman:
Harry Monk:
You’d have to say that the car driver bears a lot of responsibility for this.+1
What kind of mindset thinks its ok to park facing the wrong way on such a busy street right at a pedestrian crossing?
Looking at the picture of the old bloke in the pic, I would think that he’s probably got a Blue Badge , permission to park “ANYWHERE THEY LIKE” !!! 
Something that really boils my weee !!
The-Snowman:
Harry Monk:
You’d have to say that the car driver bears a lot of responsibility for this.+1
What kind of mindset thinks its ok to park facing the wrong way on such a busy street right at a pedestrian crossing?
+2. The mindset Frozen chap is this; A stupid old fool who doesn’t want to get wet and MUST park next to the Post Office/Chemist/Waterfields at ALL costs.
Including the life of a child sadly. Mother must also bear a little responsibility too. Blatantly obvious that crossing between that car & wagon was dangerous. Don’t know why our murdering friend didn’t stop short of the crossing though, surely you could spot a car in front of you facing the wrong way a long time before you end up stationary on a crossing.
The Road Rage distraction - led to the oversight of having the cab just past the pedestrian crossing going red for traffic - and we all know that someone low down at front, can only be seen if one is carefully monitoring the downward looking mirror on the windscreen. Driver should have taken more care, Parents used the crossing in good faith, despite the danger of bunched-up traffic led by a truck, - and badly parked car needs to be named and shamed for setting up this situation that ended up with the death of a child. No way should they be able to go off scott-free, as the driver most certainly has not, even if he HAS been acquitted. 
There are no winners here. What an awful tragedy to happen that could have so easily been avoided by everyone being a bit more careful and considerate to start with.
Harry Monk:
You’d have to say that the car driver bears a lot of responsibility for this.
+1 there.
car driver should have been done along with the truck driver.
even with a blue badge im sure you cant park on zigzags,plus mummy looks like she isnt exactly in control of her kid waling along in front of it.
its bad enough when people just blindly walk across to try and see them,so what chance have you got when a 2 foot tall kid sitting on a push trike trails along behind its mother.she should be shouldering the blame for not paying attention to it.
what a tragic story 
that poor child,failed by all those adults
phoenix should have been in jail anyway,murdering ■■■■■■■ ,stupid old duffer should be banned from driving for life,and the little lad’s mother seemed to be unaware of what was going on around her
carryfast-yeti:
what a tragic story
that poor child,failed by all those adults
phoenix should have been in jail anyway,murdering [zb]
Pretty much sums it up. A different choice of action by any of the three adults would have avoided this tragedy.
As it is, we are more aware than others about blind spots on trucks than any pedestrians etc, so we should make allowance for their short-comings. Although the mother could have avoided the incident, that doesnt mean she holds any great responsibility for it. The car driver has some responsibility, sure, but he was already there when the truck driver got too close to the crossing, although his exit wasnt clear and cut down his own field of vision.
Pedestrians dont take tests and we as professional drivers shouldnt expect them to behave as well as we might. Awful incident, and itll be playing in my mind when I next get near any pedestrian crossings. We are the professionals here, and we do need eyes in the back of our heads, and we do need to take account of others shortcomings, but that is the name of this game.
Not defending any one, but reports suggest he may have stopped at the crossing to let other vehicles coming towards him proceed, then in he forward to let the bus through, at that moment the lights had changed, that with a bit of red mist…
In an ideal world the driver should of stopped before the crossing.
If he stopped on the crossing it would be a serious fault and a failure on his driving test…
But if he’d of stopped before the crossing the distance to car illegally parked. He could of been there for ages waiting for a safe gap to proceed.
Tough one to call really.
The safe legal would be waiting there ages hoping for.big enough gap in the traffic to make progress? In mean time risking cars being being impatient and possible have them trying to overtake you as there to impatient to wait.
The car driver should at least get a ticket for being illegally parked.
edd1974:
In an ideal world the driver should of stopped before the crossing.
If he stopped on the crossing it would be a serious fault and a failure on his driving test…But if he’d of stopped before the crossing the distance to car illegally parked. He could of been there for ages waiting for a safe gap to proceed.
Tough one to call really.
The safe legal would be waiting there ages hoping for.big enough gap in the traffic to make progress? In mean time risking cars being being impatient and possible have them trying to overtake you as there to impatient to wait.
The car driver should at least get a ticket for being illegally parked.
The car driver was fined £380 and banned for 3 years.
Most of my work is now urban deliveries, I could see how this would happen the driver of the truck is not entirely to blame and this has been reflected in the sentencing.
It’s easy to say in hindsight but the thing to do would have been to stay short of the crossing, the mother supervising a child of that age also bears some responsibility as does the old duffer in the car.
Very tragic, lately I have gotten into the habit of checking the front and nearside blind spot mirrors when moving off from lights and crossings for the very reason of something like this happening to me, I wouldn’t want the death of a child or anyone for that matter on my conscience.
edd1974:
In an ideal world the driver should of stopped before the crossing.
If he stopped on the crossing it would be a serious fault and a failure on his driving test…But if he’d of stopped before the crossing the distance to car illegally parked. He could of been there for ages waiting for a safe gap to proceed.
Tough one to call really.
The safe legal would be waiting there ages hoping for.big enough gap in the traffic to make progress? In mean time risking cars being being impatient and possible have them trying to overtake you as there to impatient to wait.
The car driver should at least get a ticket for being illegally parked.
From the link, the car driver,
“Booker, 71, of North Street, Wareham, admitted motoring offences at a hearing in November. He was ordered to pay £380 and given a three-year driving ban.”
No mention of having to take a retest.
Franglais:
carryfast-yeti:
what a tragic story
that poor child,failed by all those adults
phoenix should have been in jail anyway,murdering [zb]Pretty much sums it up. A different choice of action by any of the three adults would have avoided this tragedy.
As it is, we are more aware than others about blind spots on trucks than any pedestrians etc, so we should make allowance for their short-comings. Although the mother could have avoided the incident, that doesn
t mean she holds any great responsibility for it. The car driver has some responsibility, sure, but he was already there when the truck driver got too close to the crossing, although his exit wasnt clear and cut down his own field of vision.
Pedestrians dont take tests and we as professional drivers shouldnt expect them to behave as well as we might. Awful incident, and itll be playing in my mind when I next get near any pedestrian crossings. We are the professionals here, and we do need eyes in the back of our heads, and we do need to take account of others shortcomings, but that is the name of this game.
+1
mike68:
Very tragic, lately I have gotten into the habit of checking the front and nearside blind spot mirrors when moving off from lights and crossings for the very reason of something like this happening to me, I wouldn’t want the death of a child or anyone for that matter on my conscience.
Yup, i do the same, keeping those windows and mirrors clean makes the world of difference, you need to be able to see everywhere these days.
eagerbeaver:
edd1974:
In an ideal world the driver should of stopped before the crossing.
If he stopped on the crossing it would be a serious fault and a failure on his driving test…But if he’d of stopped before the crossing the distance to car illegally parked. He could of been there for ages waiting for a safe gap to proceed.
Tough one to call really.
The safe legal would be waiting there ages hoping for.big enough gap in the traffic to make progress? In mean time risking cars being being impatient and possible have them trying to overtake you as there to impatient to wait.
The car driver should at least get a ticket for being illegally parked.The car driver was fined £380 and banned for 3 years.
But not for parking on the zigzags.
A sad sad story which just shows how quickly it can all go wrong.
Interesting sidenote to story that he’s only recently been released from a prison sentence for murdering his wife!