https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... icles.html
Shocking that for several miles, the driver and passenger did not realise that they were on the wrong side of the road
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- casinterest
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Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
noviorbis77 wrote:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6278839/Car-towing-caravan-WRONG-WAY-M40-crashes-vehicles.html
Shocking that for several miles, the driver and passenger did not realise that they were on the wrong side of the road
The article says foreign plates, and the couple were in their 80's. I would imagine confusion/age related mistake is part of this, along with inherent memories of being on the other side. They probably thought they were on the "right side" of the road
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- WIederling
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Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
casinterest wrote:They probably thought they were on the "right side" of the road
That can't hold when every other vehicle goes the other way.
Senior drivers are a fast growing issue ( here too.)
They drive in the middle of the (small rural) roads with a car too big for
their small minds and
show no intention of moving to their side for oncoming traffic.
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- casinterest
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Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
WIederling wrote:casinterest wrote:They probably thought they were on the "right side" of the road
That can't hold when every other vehicle goes the other way.
Senior drivers are a fast growing issue ( here too.)
They drive in the middle of the (small rural) roads with a car too big for
their small minds and
show no intention of moving to their side for oncoming traffic.
Dementia and confusion are a sad thing at that age. I won't claim to know what goes through the mind, but I have seen people going the wrong way here as well(usually under the influence), and it has bad results.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/ ... 97495.html
The part of our minds that are under control when Alcohol or drugs take over, may be some way connected to the consciousness that is still here under Dementia and Alzheimer's.
It is a scary thing and horrible that this tragedy occurred. I am just glad more lives were not lost.
Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
WIederling wrote:
That can't hold when every other vehicle goes the other way.
Yeah, it can. Your mind sets up paradigms; expectations of what is expected, given a particular set of circumstances. I just about guarentee, the first thing through the mind of the driver was, something along the lines of, why are all these people going the wrong way. By the time his mind (I assume "his") worked out that HE was going the wrong way, it was too late.
Why not stop? I assume the driver's ability to rationally think through the problem stopped as soon as he understood he was going the wrong way.
It brings to mind the folks whose accelerators get stuck and call 911 while hurtling down an interstate. The concept of turning engine off just doesn't occur to them, or if it did, they discard that choice as too dangerous, becasue they are "trained" to never shut off an engine while the car is moving.
For these folks; age, experience, and the possiblilty that they were not accustomed to driving on the left conspired to kill them and one other.
To tell you the truth, I've been to a couple of "wrong-way" interstate accidents; 3 dead and no injured on a crowded roadway. Certainly not as bad as it could have been.
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- readytotaxi
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Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
Perhaps there is a case for every driver over a certain age to have an eye test and reflex test once a year?
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- WIederling
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Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
readytotaxi wrote:Perhaps there is a case for every driver over a certain age to have an eye test and reflex test once a year?
ossification in the brain.
no recourse.
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- GalaxyFlyer
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Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
Try driving around Orlando where I am now—that would considered amusing.
GF
GF
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- BlueberryWheats
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Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
GalaxyFlyer wrote:Try driving around Orlando where I am now—that would considered amusing.
GF
I did that back in November. It was an experience.
I usually drive on the left side of the road in a manual transmission little Ford Fiesta. I had to drive under different road rules, on the right in an automatic, huge Ford Expedition.
It took a lot of concentration for the first few days. I probably enraged a few Orlando residents.
Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
BlueberryWheats wrote:I probably enraged a few Orlando residents.
Not as long as you were driving 85 mph or over. That's Florida roads' main requirement.
Re: Three killed after caravan-towing car driven wrong way on M40
I read about how a 99-year-old, I repeat, 99 (in caps) was driving his RV with his wife, drove on the wrong side of the road, and killed two teenage girls. He died shortly after. I think it was actually vision related and he shouldn’t have been driving. I don’t want to look into that anymore... It pains me to even talk about cases like this, where you have someone who has lived a century and has experienced so much, to take the life away of someone(s) who have yet to grasp all of it, and perish young. Not to mention being so old.... I don’t wish this on anyone, and this is a horrible thing to say, but did he have to live to be 99 just so he could end his life and two other people nowhere near his level of experience? If his time was at 98 by some other means...this wouldn’t have happened.
I suppose with this logic you could say everyone should die a year before they would be committing intoxication manslaughter, so I do retract my statement, but it’s still a thought I had.
Having said that, as pilots we have to take a certain medical exam ever so often depending on the class and privileges exercised, not even allowed to fly as airline pilots past 65 (maybe it’s still do-able if someone’s in good health). Why can’t this be applied to a relatively more dangerous and common form of transport, like driving? Perhaps not a medical exam required (though perhaps why not?), but even a proficiency check every year or half a year?
But of course, nothing will stop people from driving without a license...
I suppose with this logic you could say everyone should die a year before they would be committing intoxication manslaughter, so I do retract my statement, but it’s still a thought I had.
Having said that, as pilots we have to take a certain medical exam ever so often depending on the class and privileges exercised, not even allowed to fly as airline pilots past 65 (maybe it’s still do-able if someone’s in good health). Why can’t this be applied to a relatively more dangerous and common form of transport, like driving? Perhaps not a medical exam required (though perhaps why not?), but even a proficiency check every year or half a year?
But of course, nothing will stop people from driving without a license...
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