Murder. Not Dangerous Driving. Not reckless driving etc etc . Murder.
Posted by: Don Atkinson on 14 December 2015
A motorist who deliberately crashed his car into a cyclist has pleaded guilty to murder.
Sam Spaven drove his Audi into 44-year-old Richard Pencott as he was riding along Blyth Road in Harworth, Nottinghamshire, on 24 June.
The 26-year-old, of Norfolk Road, Bircotes, admitted murder at Nottingham Crown Court earlier.
Spaven will be sentenced on Tuesday morning, when more details of the case will be heard.
Mr Pencott, who died at the scene of the crash, also lived in Bircotes.
I anticipate the sentence will be appropriate.
True, but being in a hurry is not the same as being impatient.
I usually find myself actually stopping (momentarily) at T junction stop signs, even in rural locations when it is painfully obvious there is nobody else around. I feel a prat when doing this.
On the few occasions when I do "creep and go" at these junctions I feel guilty and half expect to see the RCMP drive out from their "camouflaged hide" and book me 
So, how do you like it then?
You said sorry and then did it again. From which the only drawable conclusion is that you are a fecking tw@t.
You guys complain about the 4 % price increase every year of Naim kit .
most probably covering the cost of allowing this droll to be available for someone to witness .
rodwsmith posted:So, how do you like it then?
You said sorry and then did it again. From which the only drawable conclusion is that you are a fecking tw@t.
That is incredible. I'm impressed!
Don Atkinson posted:Oh bugger, There I go again, nests within nests............ !
Sorry Rod, what I really meant was simply
You seem to have missed this one Rod.....
rodwsmith posted:So, how do you like it then?
You said sorry and then did it again. From which the only drawable conclusion is that you are a fecking tw@t.
Correction
I did it again andthen said sorry.
Scroll up, if you have the energy.
"Scroll" ? in the NEW forum ?
Never mind the energy, none of us has the industrial grade mice/tracker-pads needed to perform that sort of task in this new world created by Hoopla
As an observation and returning to the original subject...
I have be hit by a car driver who did it deliberately (and it was in front of witnesses), I was uninjured as he didn't have enough distance to speed up from stationary. He was prosecuted for Assault with a Lethal Weapon.
On the second subject, at least two people here won't like my driving.
I keep to 70mph (our speed limit) on motorways even when I'm in the 3rd lane overtaking the row of lorries in the middle lane that are just slowly moving past the lorries in the 1st lane. It's amazing the number of arrogant drivers who tailgate to try to intimidate me because they want to break the law and decrease everyone's safety. When they get really far too close (less than 1 second gap) I briefly slow down, then open the gap again.
Huge posted:As an observation and returning to the original subject...
I have be hit by a car driver who did it deliberately (and it was in front of witnesses), I was uninjured as he didn't have enough distance to speed up from stationary. He was prosecuted for Assault with a Lethal Weapon.
On the second subject, at least two people here won't like my driving.
I keep to 70mph (our speed limit) on motorways even when I'm in the 3rd lane overtaking the row of lorries in the middle lane that are just slowly moving past the lorries in the 1st lane. It's amazing the number of arrogant drivers who tailgate to try to intimidate mebecause they want to break the law and decrease everyone's safety. When they get really far too close (less than 1 second gap) I briefly slow down, then open the gap again.
Well Huge,
The bit in red just puts you into the arrogant club along with those to whom you are trying to teach a lesson !
The bit in blue is probably badly written (although I'm no expert) but I doubt if they actually want to decrease everyone's safety.
Bear in mind, the Gov is (still ?) considering lifting the Motorway speed limit to 80mph and whilst 70mph might be a little bit safer, so would 60mph be a lot safer. Society by and large seems to accept 80mph and its safety level.
Otherwise, I agree with you.
Don Atkinson posted:Huge posted:As an observation and returning to the original subject...
I have be hit by a car driver who did it deliberately (and it was in front of witnesses), I was uninjured as he didn't have enough distance to speed up from stationary. He was prosecuted for Assault with a Lethal Weapon.
On the second subject, at least two people here won't like my driving.
I keep to 70mph (our speed limit) on motorways even when I'm in the 3rd lane overtaking the row of lorries in the middle lane that are just slowly moving past the lorries in the 1st lane. It's amazing the number of arrogant drivers who tailgate to try to intimidate mebecause they want to break the law and decrease everyone's safety. When they get really far too close (less than 1 second gap) I briefly slow down, then open the gap again.
Well Huge,
The bit in red just puts you into the arrogant club along with those to whom you are trying to teach a lesson !
The bit in blue is probably badly written (although I'm no expert) but I doubt if they actually want to decrease everyone's safety.
Bear in mind, the Gov is (still ?) considering lifting the Motorway speed limit to 80mph and whilst 70mph might be a little bit safer, so would 60mph be a lot safer. Society by and large seems to accept 80mph and its safety level.
Otherwise, I agree with you.
Don,
That's not for any reason of arrogance, it's to restore my safety margin when the driver behind decides on a gap that's insufficient for safety (as defined by the highway code*!).
When there's a vehicle far too close for safety at a given speed, and there isn't a suitable gap in the lane to my left I have four options:
1 Force my way into the traffic stream on the left into a gap that's too small for safety - not acceptable as this is positively dangerous.
2 Speed up (my car will out accelerate most, but not all) and increase my speed to - not acceptable as this decreases my safety substantially.
3 Slow down to a point where the gap they leave is adequate, slowing them down as well (continued use of this may be considered arrogance and may well slow me below the speed of the middle lane which would also decreases my safety) - again not acceptable as this decreases my safety substantially.
3 Slow down and speed up to get a safety gap, and repeat as necessary 'til the danger is past (most take the hint fairly quickly) - this decreases my safety less than the other three options.
Do you have any other suggestions? If there is a better way I really would like to know of it.
* The highway code specifies a minimum gap of 2 seconds, I take action when the vehicle behind is less than half this; personally I try to maintain a minimum gap of 2.5 seconds.
On the 60/70/80 question; except on urban streets**, I think it's a not uncommon practice for drivers to consider themselves to be safe at 10mph more than the speed limit, irrespective of the specified speed limits. As a result if the limit were raised to 80, then a significant number of drivers would drive at 90.
** On urban streets there are still quite a few of drivers who consider speeds over 35 to still be safe, even when children are walking by the side of the road, but fortunately, this is now a minority.
Yes it was badly written - I'm trying to recover from an episode of combined aphasia, so things are not to my preferred standard of precision.
I think that the safest option would be to continue at your current speed until you can move across.
How do you know how fast you are going?
Bananahead posted:I think that the safest option would be to continue at your current speed until you can move across.
How do you know how fast you are going?
No action - still leave risk
GPS calibration on MPH
Huge posted:Bananahead posted:I think that the safest option would be to continue at your current speed until you can move across.
How do you know how fast you are going?
No action - still leave risk
GPS calibration on MPH
yes but less risk than any other action.
Huge posted:Bananahead posted:I think that the safest option would be to continue at your current speed until you can move across.
How do you know how fast you are going?
No action - still leave risk
GPS calibration on MPH
The issue of someone tailgating you is exacerbated by whether or not you need to brake suddenly. So my initial response when being tailgated in the fast lane is to slow enough to leave a very generous gap in front of me so that I have only to adjust my speed very gradually. I combine this with being especially watchful for someone merging in front of me that might require me to change my speed suddenly. Leaving a bigger gap often means actually dropping back relative to the cars in the slow lane until I can safely merge away from the tailgater. Only rarely will I speed up to merge away from the tailgater. If I'm in the slow lane and someone badly tailgates me I just gradually slow until they overtake me.
Huge posted:Don Atkinson posted:Huge posted:As an observation and returning to the original subject...
I have be hit by a car driver who did it deliberately (and it was in front of witnesses), I was uninjured as he didn't have enough distance to speed up from stationary. He was prosecuted for Assault with a Lethal Weapon.
On the second subject, at least two people here won't like my driving.
I keep to 70mph (our speed limit) on motorways even when I'm in the 3rd lane overtaking the row of lorries in the middle lane that are just slowly moving past the lorries in the 1st lane. It's amazing the number of arrogant drivers who tailgate to try to intimidate mebecause they want to break the law and decrease everyone's safety. When they get really far too close (less than 1 second gap) I briefly slow down, then open the gap again.
Well Huge,
The bit in red just puts you into the arrogant club along with those to whom you are trying to teach a lesson !
The bit in blue is probably badly written (although I'm no expert) but I doubt if they actually want to decrease everyone's safety.
Bear in mind, the Gov is (still ?) considering lifting the Motorway speed limit to 80mph and whilst 70mph might be a little bit safer, so would 60mph be a lot safer. Society by and large seems to accept 80mph and its safety level.
Otherwise, I agree with you.
Don,
That's not for any reason of arrogance, it's to restore my safety margin when the driver behind decides on a gap that's insufficient for safety (as defined by the highway code*!).
When there's a vehicle far too close for safety at a given speed, and there isn't a suitable gap in the lane to my left I have four options:
1 Force my way into the traffic stream on the left into a gap that's too small for safety - not acceptable as this is positively dangerous.
2 Speed up (my car will out accelerate most, but not all) and increase my speed to - not acceptable as this decreases my safety substantially.
3 Slow down to a point where the gap they leave is adequate, slowing them down as well (continued use of this may be considered arrogance and may well slow me below the speed of the middle lane which would also decreases my safety) - again not acceptable as this decreases my safety substantially.
3 Slow down and speed up to get a safety gap, and repeat as necessary 'til the danger is past (most take the hint fairly quickly) - this decreases my safety less than the other three options.Do you have any other suggestions? If there is a better way I really would like to know of it.
* The highway code specifies a minimum gap of 2 seconds, I take action when the vehicle behind is less than half this; personally I try to maintain a minimum gap of 2.5 seconds.
On the 60/70/80 question; except on urban streets**, I think it's a not uncommon practice for drivers to consider themselves to be safe at 10mph more than the speed limit, irrespective of the specified speed limits. As a result if the limit were raised to 80, then a significant number of drivers would drive at 90.
** On urban streets there are still quite a few of drivers who consider speeds over 35 to still be safe, even when children are walking by the side of the road, but fortunately, this is now a minority.
Yes it was badly written - I'm trying to recover from an episode of combined aphasia, so things are not to my preferred standard of precision.
Huge,
You have a number of options. The following two are much safer than your "Fast-Slow, Let that be a lesson to you !!" approach that you currently adopt.
1. Avoid creating the situation in the first place. ie Don't move out into the fast lane at 70mph in order to overtake lorries in the middle lane, when you can see vehicles approaching from behind in the fast lane travelling faster than your steady and unyielding 70mph.
2. Speed up to 80mph until you pass the lorries, then pull over and slow back down to 70mph. Society, the Gov and the Police all accept 80mph is reasonable. I imagine the Gov is reluctant to officially raise the limit to 90mph for the reason you stated).
Option 1 is only slightly inconvenient to you, and infinitely safer than your current practice.
Both Option 1 and Option 2 are significantly safer overall (to the sample of society involved in the situation that you create), than your current practice.
I appreciate that tailgaters are a menace ! I adopt Option 1. If I find myself inadvertently in your situation, I adopt Option 2 - its safer overall.
Hope this helps.
winkyincanada posted:Huge posted:Bananahead posted:I think that the safest option would be to continue at your current speed until you can move across.
How do you know how fast you are going?
No action - still leave risk
GPS calibration on MPH
The issue of someone tailgating you is exacerbated by whether or not you need to brake suddenly. So my initial response when being tailgated in the fast lane is to slow enough to leave a very generous gap in front of me so that I have only to adjust my speed very gradually. I combine this with being especially watchful for someone merging in front of me that might require me to change my speed suddenly. Leaving a bigger gap often means actually dropping back relative to the cars in the slow lane until I can safely merge away from the tailgater. Only rarely will I speed up to merge away from the tailgater. If I'm in the slow lane and someone badly tailgates me I just gradually slow until they overtake me.
Sensible.
At least if the tailgator is close you don't get dazzled by their headlights.
Bananahead posted:At least if the tailgator is close you don't get dazzled by their headlights.
Some while back someone, I don't recall who, said that all new BMW s were being fitted with their automatic flashing headlights. Using a proximity device, the headlights automatically flashed as soon as the BMW was less that a meter from the car in front...............