Urgent Advice RE: My Diablo Crash

[ash240970]

If the road was icy as there seems to be a mention of ice on the road in one of the comments, the car can go anywhere depending on the camber of the road - just because the guy in front
managed to stop he could of been off the patch of ice when he applied the brakes.
There is no way that a 2 wheel drive car on standard road tyres can be under total control of the driver in abnormal road conditions no matter if you leave double the required braking distance I've seen cars at 10 miles an hour brake and just keep sliding - in fact I've been hit by a car that was on the other side of the road when coming towards me and just veered across into the car I was in and hit the ex and me head on.
There was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it as the ice and camber of the rd was pulling him across the lanes
The choice is yours at the end of the day you either bend over and let the system take you up the arse or if you are absolutely certain that it could of happened to anyone and want to have your day in court then you decide.
You will have to have a day off work for either scenario but if the CPS decide there is insufficient evidence you are home and dry.
I had my day in court earlier this year and luckily i was given a chance to change my plea and still ended up with 5 points and £75 fine plus costs and victim surcharge meaning I ended up paying £150 total.
Had I fought the case and continued with my not guilty plea and lost I would have been fined £750 plus costs and had 6 points on my licence which would of took me to 12 and a likely ban. Unless you can prove that you had absolutely no chance of avoiding the collision it could bring even more cost if you require an experts opinion and or legal representation.
The thing is the police and CPS do not use the word accident anymore and it is called a road traffic incident because as far as they are concerned there is always someone at fault.

[Grant]

I know they cannot legally use age as a pivoting point should it come to trial, but would they be pressing the same situation on a middle aged nun if she was to be in this scenario? Blown a little out of proportion I know, but you get me gist....

I still reckon its a load of shit. What would have happened if you chose to avoid hitting the back of the car infront, but as a consequence had to hit the cyclist who distracted you in the first place? Would you be up for manslaughter? IMO you reacted in the right manner to the circumstances infront of you.
The car can be repaired, humans, not quite as easily so.
As said, you have plenty of referee's as to your driving, and that situation could have happened to anyone. How the f*ck they think they are going to get any benefit from this case by forcing a course upon you is beyond me... It's your first serious crash (I assume) and you have not had any more since. What has happened, has happened. Fair play if you were crashing into primary schools on a daily basis, but i doubt you do...

I would argue it, but thats just me...






You could point out to them that you were not driving dangerously, if they want to put anyone on a course, it should be nobbers that like to drift flatbed trucks....

[Toms306]

Wasn't your ABS broken? Surely that also makes it your fault in their eyes as your vehicle was faulty, as well as being too close?

Either way, I'd pay the £160, do the course and forget about it personally.

[Niall]

Wasn't your ABS broken? Surely that also makes it your fault in their eyes as your vehicle was faulty, as well as being too close?

Either way, I'd pay the £160, do the course and forget about it personally.

Yeah probably best not to mention that at all because then your might as well just hand your licence over for points and a fine.

Grant, yes they would do the same to a nun. It's standard issue really to investigate it. Reason why most don't get it is because if you drive into the back of someone, you swap details and insurance deals with the repairs. The police rarely see these sort of cases.
Fact is the police need to know why ed hit the car in front and 9 out of 10 of them sort of accidents will be German car drivers stuck to the bumper of the car in front, people on phones, people eating ect all of which they should be punished for. That's why ed has got this letter. If he explains his situation, there is a chance of him getting away with it but is it worth the hassle, stress and potential extra cost and points? I wouldn't say so!

Ed, let me know if your interested in what I said in my text mate. They might gt you out of it!

[Dum-Dum]

Mate what exactly is this letter. Does it say its a "Notice of Intended Prosecution" or are they just trying to blag money out of you?

How did the letter arrive?

How long is it since your crash? (theres a time limit on these sort of prosecutions of 6 months but i forget from when to when).









Edit: found the answer to when it was myself. 10/05/12, thought it was longer ago than that.

Id almost be tempted to go to court as id say that theres a 90% chance of getting off. I know whatll happen, youll turn up at court, youll explain what happened, theyll ask the police if they investigated finding out where this black car had come from that caused the accident, the police wont of done it and the case will get chucked out.

The thing is by the time you factor in missing out on a day of work, paying for a lawyer and actually getting to the court youll be more than £165 down so you might as well do the course if it guarantees you wont get done. Maybe see if you can speak to the officer in charge of the case about it.

[Ed Doe]

thanks for the advice ash.

Just to clarify, there wasn't ice on the road, it was just very slippery as it had been sunny and then rained. So the roads were 'greasy' if that makes sense.

The bloke in front of me had to brake so hard his abs kicked in and he ended up mounting the kerb to avoid hitting the car in front (who I can only assume either didn't indicate, or did so very late to turn right, but that means fuckall as its only my assumption).

But the problem is I don't know what he's said in his statement. The officer attending certainly implied to me he had said I wasn't driving aggressively or tailgating at all and that he hadn't noticed me until the accident. But now I just don't know; its a fair while ago, I was in shock at the time, and now I'm racking my brains trying to remember things about it.

Anyway, I think ill have to suck it up and pay the fine; my insurance is enough as it is now I've had the smash, I can't be dealing with more points, higher premiums etc, and I just don't know if I have a strong enough case to avoid the above.

[ash240970]

No worries bud and to be honest it's probably the easiest and least stressful solution
I'm glad I was given the opportunity to change my plea in court on the day of the trial but there were extenuating circumstances and the CPS were very understanding and sympathetic to my case even though they had a witness lined up to give evidence against me.

[Dum-Dum]

Just a thought, do you guys all remember the integra driver who went to prison for his driving and they used some of what hed said or had been said about him on an online car forum as evidence against him?

Would hate to see that happen to you as theres references on here within the last week to your driving being "heroic"

[C.A.R.]

Pistonheads has some good advice, post the same topic in the 'Speed, Plod and the Law' section, you'll get advice from coppers to folk who have been through the same.

Dunno what I'd do in your situation to be honest. Cause of my crash was put down on the report as bad weather conditions so didn't have to deal with anything like this.

[David]

the best thing to do is seak advise from the duty loyer at the court and its free! if you thinking you are not in the wrong here then dont let them walk all over you!