Monday 28 February 2011

Unbelievable...

Some people, it seems, never learn. Take the following article about Gary Hart, ten years after he crashed a Land Rover off the M62 and onto a railway line, the direct cause of the Great Heck train crash that killed ten people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-12591249

I had some sympathy for Mr Hart at the time - as often with driving accidents, it is a case of there but for the grace of God go I. Anyone who has driven for years must have had moments when tiredness, illness or anger has nearly caused an accident. Mr Hart could probably have made that journey a hundred times without the ill-fortune of crashing off the road and onto a railway line. Fate paid a heavy price not just in that, but in the fact that two trains were heading in opposite directions towards the place he landed beside the tracks.

This sympathy rapidly dissipated during the trial, where he tried to admit that he could drive perfectly well with only a few hour' sleep. The evidence against him (including test that showed hat he must have been speeding for most of his journey) was firm, and I could not believe that he protested his innocence throughout the case. There are times when it is best to accept your guilt, however hard that may be.

Unfortunately it appears that, ten years after the accident in which ten people died - and he caused - he still has not accepted responsibility.


Take the following quote:

"No deaths occurred at the point of impact with my Land Rover.
"They all occurred 700 yards down the track which I feel other people should have been held accountable for, so in my own head I've dealt with it in that fashion."
This is unbelievable, and is like a gunman saying 'no-one died when I pulled the trigger; they died fifty yards away when the bullets hit them. I feel they should be accountable for being there, so in my own head I'm innocent.'
As I said, unbelievable.
Right, the doorbell has just rung and the movers are here. The mania is about to begin...

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