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RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

rbon450 — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:29:06 GMT

I agree with you it is a sorrowful story. i am feeling sorry. What ever if you have funny story please share it. Not sorrow story.

RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Ems — Fri, 18 May 2007 14:57:04 GMT

Yeah i agree, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Black Dog — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:42:46 GMT

Before we judge other people, we need to look at ourselves a bit, I reckon. I regard myself as a fairly careful driver/rider, but I can't say I've never made a mistake - I have made loads over the years. So far, I have been lucky. I've got away with a few stupid stunts, I've never hurt anyone else, and I've only hurt myself fairly mildly. But the older I get, the more I realise that a lot of it is down to luck. Thank the Gods, cross yourself, or whatever it is you do, and try not to do it again. But I can't find it in me to be too hard on someone who simply makes a bad judgement, however tragic the consequences. If you'd been following the guy and he did that overtake and got away with it, you'd probably suck your teeth and say "Jeez, he shouldn't have done that." You wouldn't be demanding his head on a stick. If he'd had a history of it, I would think differently. Uninsured, untaxed, driving while banned, under the influence - all show a lack of care for other people and should be punished.

But, to be honest - ordinary bloke, ordinary day, slightly impatient, got his gears wrong - could have been any of us.

RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Ems — Thu, 17 May 2007 18:34:25 GMT

Blimey. Just read this and it's sad

I feel for the driver, as he did appear to be a genuine sort from whats been said, but at the end of the day, he should have pulled back in. If i ever overtake, i only do it on roads i know well, and as soon as i see light's (or a car in daylight), i pull back in, esp if it seems to be a biker, as you can never judge how fast their going! Well i believe that anyway.

It's accidents like this that make our friends and family think biking is dangerous, but it's clearly 70% (maybe more) the car drivers fault imo! My dad got knocked off 3 times when he used to ride, all from drivers pulling out of junctions without looking. He lived on, but gave up the passion for them. In the worst one, he went over the bonnet of the car and landed on his wrist smashing his watch in his face. He still has that little piece of glass that got lodged in his eye, nearly taking his sight!

RIP Kwak rider, may you protect future bikers on that piece of road

RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Mazz — Wed, 09 May 2007 09:28:50 GMT

I wouldn't even like to imagine BD, but he's gotten away with a slap on the wrists. THAT is what bugs me the most. Because of the stupid laws and crap system we have here he couldn't go to jail.

You may feel sorry for the driver of the car, but if it was some 17 year old scroat in a Nova trying to do the same thing, you wouldn't hasitate to rant about him. Because this guy is older and not a scroat doesn't really soften the blow any less for me. He shouldn't've done it, it's a plain and simple answer. Maybe I'm a bit biased because I'm a biker, but I still cringe whenever I hear of an innocent motorist killed by someone else's mistake, bike or car.

RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Black Dog — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:16:10 GMT

Mazz (03/05/2007)

I rode past the point where his body came to rest and found myself giving the bikers nod to him... just a reaction in memory of a fallen comrade.

I can remember a time when if a funeral procession went past, everyone would stop and the men would take off their hats as a sign of respect. Glad to see a bit of that still goes on.

I'm sure we can all take sympathy for the rider and his family for granted. But I can't help feeling for the car driver. He sounds like a reasonable and careful person who just made one big mistake. What must it feel like to set off on an ordinary journey and end up killing an innocent person by making just one bad choice?

RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Mazz — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:25:44 GMT

I remember siting in the Jury room once we'd decided the verdict. It went quite as we pondered on the possible outcome and sentance of Mr Legrys.

My verdict was he'd be sentanced with a ban for a number of years, probably too many to let him drive again, Fined and that was it. A few said jail, I'll be honest, I thought it was mandatory, but I said that with the jails full to the brim and serious offenders being let off because there is no room, they won't put him away. Plus his character helped him alot. Being the way he is, he's not a threat to society, he won't be doing it again and he has learnt a lesson, albeit a very tragic one.

Mr Legrys got a 2 year suspended sentance for 12 months (for all of those who are confused that means he has got to stay 'good' for 1 year, else he risks going to jail for 2 years) and has been disqualified. What was the point of it all? The whole trial was a complete waste of time.

My heart and thoughts go out to the victims family. I drove past the accident spot a few days ago and it felt so weird to the point of erie. Riding the exact same route, rounding the corner and seeing nothing... but knowing that on that fateful night he saw a pair of headlights and was killed in that exact spot. I rode past the point where his body came to rest and found myself giving the bikers nod to him... just a reaction in memory of a fallen comrade.

RE: Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Black Dog — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:59:35 GMT

Grim tale, Mazz. As the 10th April has been and gone, can you let us know how it turned out?

I'd like to pour a bit of venom on the car driver, but it sounds like he made just one terrible mistake. And we've all done that. Who's to say all the "near misses" we've all had couldn't have turned into tragedy but for a bit of undeserved luck?

Defensive riding - ALL the time.

Death Driver Told "Expect Jail"

Mazz — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:32:39 GMT

This is what confronted me on THU morning in the local Leader newspaper. Not really realising at the time, I read on. It described, in the way reporters do, about a crash that happened last year, just outside the South Of England Showground in Ardingly. I realised then that this was a case that I had just convicted a man of death by Dangerous Driving.

As you can imagine, there was a lot to take in, so I'm going to give you all the paticulars so I get the idea of what happened.

Picture the scene.... It's Dusk, about the time you start thinking of putting your lights on... this is important so keep it in mind. It's just past 5pm, so it's the 'Drive Home' hour. Mr Legry's is driving his mothers Ford Fiesta Finese 1.3 home from work. He works for the NHS as a Patient Transport Driver. He approaches a Pick Up truck and a tractor pulling a trailor doing 20mph max. It's down a country road which is wide enough for two cars to pass, probably two buses, but there are hedgerows and trees on either side. Your typical 'B' road you might say. Now, I said it was dusk, some cars have lights on, some cars don't. The Tractor doesn't have it's lights on... mainly because it doesn't have any. Lights are fitted to the Tractor and trailer but aren't wired up so he can't turn them on.

Mr Legrys decides to overtake the 'convoy' of Pick Up, Trailer and Tractor. (The Pick Up and Tractor drivers are friends. They're literally 200m away from where they were going to park the tractor over night.) He begins his manouver and quickly sees a headlight coming towards him. He thinks "I have enough time to complete the overtake, I will continue to do so". Needless to say he didn't. At the trial, Mr Legrys stated he didn't know there was a Tractor and Trailer ahead of the Pick Up (But two cars behind him knew there was something there, even if the didn't know what) and he was totally mislead to the length of the vehicle he was over taking. The headlight flashed at him. He then realises he needs to get out the way, fast! He slams the wheel to the left to get out the way but he hasn't completed the manouver yet. He strikes the rear, drivers side wheel of the tractor and rebounds straight into the line of the headlight. BANG. The headlight was a Kawasaki ZZR1100... he didn't have a chance. He was pronounced dead at the scene, being killed out right when he came to a stop.

Ok, they were the particulars, painted a bit of a picture in your mind?

Phorensics / Crash Investigators took the stand and had some very interesting things to say. When they found the car, it was in 4th gear. Now, remember I said the 'Convoy' was doing 20mph. This means, Mr Legrys must've been following in 3rd gear at 20mph. Once he thought of doing the overtake, he kept it in 3rd. 3rd gear, 20mph, 1.3 engine, floored it... no f**king way! There is no way it has any acceleration at that speed in that gear. The crash speed of the car was 36mph (approx). He was in 4th at 36mph. I think we all know that if you need to overtake, you drop it down and pin it back... he didn't.

At the beginning of the manouver, Mr Legry (at best) would have had 2sec worth of clear road (it could have been shorter, but given the benefit of doubt) before he saw the Kwak. He had a further 6sec to do something about it. EG, get the f**k out the way. He left it to late to do anything.

The said Mr Legrys needed to have 110metres (approx) to complete the manouver safely. He got 50 meters at the time of impact, not even half way. Even if he could have done it, there is a blind left hand bend a further 40-50m on from the point where he could get back in... that isn't enough time at 40-50mph.

The ZZR was being ridden in a controled and profesional manner says eye witnesess. So nothing was done wrong by the ZZR. Strangely, there was no emergany braking by the rider. No skid marks, and no evidence on the pads or disk (I have no idea how they can tell but they can!) this was a pondering question that I can up with the answer for. Imagine yourself coming around the corner and seeing lights on your side of the road. You'd flash your lights and lay off the throttle a bit but there is still some time between you and the car. You see the lights ahead of you turn right to go over to their side of the road... you hold steady, thinking all's ok. Then, suddenly, it's back in front of you. Nowhere to go, no way to avoid it. I don't think the rider saw the tractor (we'll never know now) so didn't realise that the car was still overtaking and couldn't do anything about it. Once he saw the lights go in he thought "I'm clear through now, that was close" Only to have the lights come back again.

Basically, taht's what happened. In a nutshell, he made a manouver, didn't have time, he couldn't pull in and the bike hit him. The manouver was dangerous and should never have been attempted. It was unlike Mr Legrys to consider, or try something like this. He is an 'Ultrasafe' driver, never had a shunt, a scratch, a ding, not even a parking ticket. He has made one mistake, it's taken a life.

We had to find him guilty of the offence. He's disqualified, probably fined, and expecting a jail sentance. Sentancing has been suspended until the 10th April so I don't know what he's got.

Hope that's clear enough, I know there's a lot read there but that's a brief overview of what happened... needless to say, it was a lot more complicated than that but that's how it looked.