HGV License
I should imagine this fecker has lost it never to be regained. Hopefully his livelihood gone forever too.
If not I wanna know why not.
A lorry driver who killed a man on the M25 by crashing into his car while using a laptop has been jailed for five years. Stephen Cook, 42, from mid-Glamorgan, was playing a poker app on Facebook when he hit Peter Kendall's Astra in September last year. The 39-year-old died of head injuries in hospital two days later. Cook was …
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So the scumbag will now go on benefits and we will have to pay for his stay at her Maj's pleasure and then pay for him for the rest of his natural, as he is now a liability and cannot be trusted with any job that requires an IQ above 15!!!
I feel better already!
I always liked the idea of fencing off a large chunk of the Highlands, dumping all the bellends and scum there to fight amongst themselves for survival. We could televise it and put the money earned back into the Gov coffers.
"I always liked the idea of fencing off a large chunk of the Highlands, dumping all the bellends and scum there to fight amongst themselves for survival. We could televise it and put the money earned back into the Gov coffers."
Wasn't that the idea behind Australia? Look what happened there...
Having had a house there for about a year till I found a nice place were the neighbours werent jumping the 6ft fence to mess up the garden and plant spikes for the cats. Where I had 'Fuck Off' scratched into my car's paintwork after parking down the street in-front of someone's house. Where the daily walk to and from the train into London was through scumbag infested areas where they would shout abuse at anyone who had a job for being stupid (as they got everything handed to them on a plate by the council).
Would have the added effect of reducing the debt on country as we won't be paying to supply these people with Sky+HD and 56inch TVs to watch it on.
Australia has become more civilised (compared to the convicts sent there in the first place).
Occasionally throw in a few Z list celebrities for fun.
"I'm a celebrity, get me out of here" - No Jordan, you are staying in there.
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Try those sentences the other way around, 15 years is still to low for murder, even facebook-induced manslaughter. The porr guy would be spinning in his grave if he knew he died as a result of some facetard's obession with no-stakes hold 'em.
You know it's time to get out when pot dealers and con men do more time than murderers
This is why you need to use encryption, SSL and anonymising proxies, so you can enjoy your inalienable human rights to do this sort of stuff without THE MAN bringing some bullshit prosecution.
You may now commence vomiting up all the usual *sincere* responses, advocating exactly that.
What does the right to privacy have to do with the responsibility to pay attention when driving a multi-tonne highly-complicated bomb-on-wheels. One involves computers - devices we use to more conveniently interact with information. The other involves cars: large objects that have immediate real-world consequences if you don’t know what you are doing.
You can certainly get yourself into some real trouble on a computer; but there are some huge differences. While operating a computer, a lack of attention /might/ get you personally into some trouble. While operating a car, a moment’s inattention can (and so very tragically often does) cost lives.
So where exactly does privacy have anything to do with paying attention whilst driving again?
Because right-wing, Daily Mail reading nut-jobs like you have already ensured that the prisons are overflowing with "terrorists" (swan roasting immigrants), "dangerous drug users" (pot) and "paedophiles" (16 year old shagged his 15 year girlfriend).
On topic: Why no man slaughter charge?
Do you have any specific examples for the cases you've mentioned of such criminals going to prison rather than receiving some other form of punishment / correction - or is it just a stereotype you believe in?
If criminals are being given short sentences because the prisons are full, then either (i) lesser criminals should be let out early (down to the judgement of the legal system - not the present government) or (ii) we should build more prisons. If we are short of prisons then that is mostly the fault of the party that's been in power for longest in recent times. If we can't afford to build more prisons, perhaps we should outsource them to a cheaper country?
We need to build TOUGHER prisons.
Make the murdering scumbags hate every second of their incarceration. Have it as a deterrent. You fuck up and we fuck you up.
Why should they be given steak and chips and the ability to do university degrees when honest hard working students end up in debt trying to better themselves.
"On topic: Why no man slaughter charge?"
The UK is scared to death of linking dangerous driving and manslaughter because it feels people in cars should be allowed to do whatever they like with the minimum of penalty, and because the prisons aren't big enough for the ensuing landslide of boy racers.
"Our thoughts are with Mr Kendall's family and we hope that the outcome of the trial has gone some way to alleviating their sense of loss"
If I was Mr Kendall's family I would be extremely unhappy that the man who killed him because he was playing poker and surfing for kiddie porn has been handed a 5 year sentence.
What a disgrace.
Or is it just that things like this wouldn't be reported otherwise?
Perhaps it's just me but every single story involving someone's computer being searched after arrest seems to result in the finding of child pornography. I'm beginning to wonder whether every site you go to has child porn loading in the background or something.
@Rogerborg: Piss of you dull troll -- this has nothing to do with using SSL and proxies and everything to do with a piece of excrement who thought gambling more important than the lives of those around him. Using swanky software wouldn't have stopped this fucktard getting court.
It only says "indecent images of children". Are we absolutely sure they weren't just pictures of his kids playing in the bath? It's just knowing how plod seems to operate these days...
Granted 5 years is too short but when it happened to a friend of mine the killer lorry driver didn't even get fined.
I did contact the Highways Agency about what I was supposed to do about lorries tailgating me in the 50 areas where I cannot get out of their way.
The official response is to take their number and report them. Pointing out that they tend to be too close SEE their numberplate and I didnt fancy stopping, or scrambling about in the back with a notebook and pencil at 50mph failed to provoke them into any sort of sensible response.
So now you know.
Done for possession of "indecent images of children" as a tacked on crime? When the new porn laws came out there were plenty of warnings that they would be used to make sure of a conviction by destroying the character of the accused, or as a back-up when there wasn't enough evidence to convict of a particular crime. Anything can be declared an "indecent" image based on the feelings of the investigating officer.
In this case there was a solid conviction. the "indecent images" add-on was obviously just sadism on the part of the cps to make sure there was no recourse to arguing he was an otherwise "decent man" who'd made a tragic mistake. They probably wern't even real photographs.
Wow, the guy commits vehicular homicide and they worry about bloody images.
Better to start figuring out how to stop al this mobile madness - drivers should be doing one thing - driving.
Perhaps someone should devise an electronic device that will test the drivers alertness and attention to the task in hand. We already have breathalysers controlling ignition systems, now we need systems that will hold vehicle speed to a given maximum which can only be reset by stopping and waiting 5 minutes. How about two hands on the wheel with only certain allowances for gear change time?
Forget the images, worry about minimising victims.
Don't quote me on this - largely because I can't remember where I read it* - but it seems to me the device you request is currently extant. Tracks the driver's eyeballs and combines with a LIDAR setup to ensure the driver is aware of all threats. Something about two cameras being part of the setup so as to provide proper 3D tracking.
Anywho...the tech exists. Why would we implement it though? It would kill so many industries of lawyers, protestors and the like. There are entire quangos which would be out of a job!
Actually, that sounds like good enough reason to make it so…
*Ars? Would be a good place to start searching...
What we *really* need is for people to be RESPONSIBLE. They need to remember that they are driving a large chunk of metal at high speed with only their attentiveness (and some luck) keeping them from killing themselves and others.
Half of the problem is the fact that modern vehicles do so much of the process for you that you can be in a situation where you are able to not watch the road. The other half is just the modern attitude of "I'll do what I want and sod you" - no one ever thinks of their responsibilities to others.
I'd take that part with with a pinch of salt, especially considering the brief mention it got. As another anonymous coward already mentioned, it might well have been tacked on partially to invoke the kind of feelings other posters have displayed in calling the guy a "murdering paedophile", etc. If this story had been spun the opposite direction, everyone could be crying out that five years was too short for an otherwise decent guy that made an irresponsible lapse of judgement.
were they doing searching his laptop... all they needed was evidence of whether it was on and if he was on facebook at the time and using it.
Anything else was a fishing exped... and should have required probable cause as to whether it should be searched for.
of course, it would have been amusing if he'd had the laptop encrypted and refused to divulge the password...
not a surprise.
Driving on the A11 past Cambridge in heavy driving rain both lanes were blocked by trucks overtaking.....driving at near-60 mph (speed limit for trucks on dual carriageways is 50mph, on single carriageways 40 mph) and doing so for over 5 miles. In that time no overtake was made, just side-by-side driving.
Bad, and frequently criminal, driving by truck drivers is so common that most people driving will meet it every day.
Seen yesterday: Truck driving along the A1 (BEDS) with a portable tv operating on the dash. Must be a poor trucker, most have a laptop operating on the dash)
Hands-up all those who have [frantically] had to attempt to move into another lane to avoid the KamiKaze trucker entering the motorway stream on a slip road using the barge-em-aside driving ?
I promise not to mention (oh....I will then) the one who caused chaos by right-turning out of a layby on the 43 (Northants) and nearly causing several accidents......and the layby has prominent NO RIGHT TURN notices and is engineered to deter such....mind you, it was probably for an important reason....the burger van is in the other layby.
The reason for all this bad driving and trucks is simple: No IQ test for truckers. If they had to achieve an average IQ then at least 75% would fail.
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Almost anyway. Order of magnitude fewer drivers required per tonne freight, so the drivers can be (and are) better trained. Plus layers of safety features and automation that results in orders of magnitude fewer deaths per tonne-km. Most freight on motorways should be on rails instead. Suprised no-one else brought this up.
I am in a project to move some nuclear waste (see my name). We are looking at various packaging options to minimise the nuclear risk to the public. But it is a bit pointless worrying about the packaging, because the public risk is TOTALLY DOMINATED by the risk of the lorries killing people in conventional traffic accidents. I am advocating rail, but I'm told that it is a "value for money" decision. How I h8 that phrase.
And this is why I believe that the Internet should be off limits to most people. This and the multitude of illiterate, dribbling fools, who's only use for technology with such potential is to share mundane and poorly spelt snippets of stupidity with the world.
His sentence was far too short. And in cases like this, the courts should stop them using computers, and/or anything that connects them to the internet. They do it to hackers, and they cause far fewer deaths.
Sigh.
g e -
We're not (for the most part) trying to kill you.
Every day I and my fellow professional drivers expend considerable effort to ensure that even the more Darwin-deserving among those with whom we share the roads don't end up as a tin-and-meat sandwich.
Most of the time, we manage it. Sometimes there are failures, of varying severity.
I haven't yet met, however, a driver who wouldn't be willing to learn from such a failure.
I'm sure such idiots exist, but I'm equally sure their numbers are small.
david bates -
Tailgating in 50 zones - there is a reason. It doesn't excuse close following, but it does explain how it happens....
Your speedometer doesn't work properly.
Actually, in law it's not allowed to work properly i.e. display your speed accurately. The mandated error range is -0% - +10%, a speedo may never, during the entire life of the car, with any standard fitment tyre, underread, but it may overread by up to 10%.
Manufacturers tend to play safe with this and most speedometers are factory-set to overread by c.5%.
HGV speedos do work. They are factory calibrated to within 1kph and re-calibrated every 2 years thereafter, as part of the tachograph test and calibration requirements.
When a lorry speedo reads 50mph, it's travelling at 50mph.
A car or bike with 50mph showing could actually be moving at 45mph - a brisk walk slower than the HGV, which will catch up.
Add to this a tendency for some to drop a few more mph in restricted sections "to be safe", slowing everyone down further, and for too many not to check their mirrors as often as they should, and the 'sudden' appearance of a lorry behind isn't so much of a surprise.
AC @ 27th October 2010 09:23 GMT
We can all remember examples of poor driving, by all classes of driver - we remember them because they are exceptional. I have witnessed near-misses caused by poor observation, seen total ignorance of merge protocol cause bunching on slip roads and motorways and watched with weary resignation as the driver I've just changed lanes to overtake wakes up to my unpardonable hubris and accelerates away - only to be caught again a few miles further on...
As I pointed out above, we learn from our mistakes and those of others. Sometimes what we learn is how to spot a mistake before it is made, and to be ready for it.
The qualities required to safely and competently operate an HGV have little to do with abstract reasoning; I would rate spatial awareness and motion sense much higher.
My IQ is around 145, it just means my stereo is hard-wired to Radio 4 :)
Nuke -
Rail is (gradually) taking more freight, especially containerised loads. Tilbury docks has a busy rail freight terminal and Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal is doubling in size over the next few years.
My company shifts some nuclear waste, it's regarded as a plum job. Personally, I'd be happier seeing it go by rail and loading up with washing machines, but that's just me.....
Geoff Campbell -
A major cause of motorway accidents in HGVs is falling asleep. More automation would, I fear, only exacerbate this. Quite a strong case has been made against compulsory speed limiters with the same reasons.
Alistair J -
These "filthy gesticulating morons" are part of the chain that keeps you supplied with shelter, food, fuel, furnishings, clothing and entertainment. What do you help to supply that our civilisation would fail for the lack of it?
A little respect would be appreciated.
With regard to the story (remember the story?) this driver has displayed shockingly bad judgement. He's been jailed for 'causing death by dangerous driving' and banned for five years; he'll almost certainly face an extended re-test and even if he passes his record will make him practically unemployable.
I must admit to feeling a little sympathy for him. As a driver, he's probably finished. As a person, he's pretty damn broken. And I can't help but feel, whenever I read a story like this, "there, but for a moment's inattention, go I".
44 tonnes is a lot of responsibility.