Jerome

A head teacher lost control of his car crashing into another car causing the front of it to "disintegrate", Merthyr Crown Court has heard.

One witness estimated Paul Davies, 51, from Hirwaun, was driving his Subaru Impreza at up to 120mph (200kmph) on the A465 Heads of the valleys road.

Full story here

GazTheHat

"She denied that the noise of Mr Davies' engine had given her the impression he was travelling faster than the 60 mph that his defence lawyer said."

You never know. It sounds and feels like you're going much faster in mine than you actually are.

But i don't condone speeding. He says to avoid conflict!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

If anyone ever wondered why Scoob premiums were so high then this is it.

If he is found guilty the third party claim could easily be seven figures as the victim is now in a wheelchair.

Just like the fatacc a few years ago involving a Scoob - that probably put a £100 on Scoob premiums alone.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

It would be interesting to see the statistics regarding car make/model vs insurance pay out totals.

As for the "witnesses" - I wasn't aware that guesstimentation by non-experts was recognised as admissable evidence. Presumably the individual was indeed driving wrecklessly in order to lose control of an Impreza in wet conditions (which any of us as Impreza drivers have to say takes some effort!), but the utter speculation regarding his speed seems totally pointless. The simple fact that he passed the witnesses with ease at their stated speeds, the conditions were bad, and he lost control of the vehicle, should be plenty of evidence alone without tabloid style speculation of his actual speed.

I'm glad it was a professional in his 50's though - would hate for the under-30 "yobs" to be further accused of reckless driving!

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

Maybe just stating the obvious, but as no sign of mechanical failure in the defence.

Even if he was travelling at 20mph, 40mph, 60mph, 70mph or 168mph his speed was obviously wrong for Road conditions or he wouldn't have lost control.

IMHO

Tony

Ps.

1) Sadly the 120mph statement will do more harm than good for the prosecution
2) He should lose his licience for a "Fair Whack" at a minumum

IMHO

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

SN Court in session.

My two cents: I don't know about the defendants speed at the time of the collision, but I certainly wouldn't advocate overtaking someone doing 60mph on a single lane NSL designated road in adverse weather conditions. It doesn't matter how good your car's wet weather traction is, you need to adjust your driving style to the conditions.

I don't think that bodes well for the accused.

Sad case though for all concerned.

Ns04

easyscoob

he should totaly lose his licence for a long time, prob gonna lose a bit of his reputation too hopefully his job, these are the type of people governing bodies ask for references and should be setting a good example. if theres one thing i know its these headmasters and authorititive lot that would be the first to jump down the necks of us young lot with the loud exhausts etc. it's like when you see stories of judges caught with hookers and stuff .........makes me want to go and get a louder dump valve. flame suit on

Trout

iTrader: (1)

It is very simple math.

If an major insurer has ten thousand Scoobs and has to pay out for third party liability for a fatacc or serious injury this could be say £1,000,000.

That is £100 per Scoob.

Of course the actual application of the loading is not quite as simple, a major payout will be spread across the performance car portfolio. Such a claim experience is likely to lead an insurer to reduce exposure to this group and so the real increase in premiums will be in the same order of magnitude.

Underwriters do look at makes and models as insured book and Scooby turbos will be treated as such a book of business.

This is why NU stopped insuring imported STis a few years ago. They were overexposed in that marketplace and suffered adverse claims experience.

It only takes two or three of these types of accident every year to very significantly increase Scoob premiums.

Robin Mullan

If he was doing 120mph as claimed and the other person was doing 40 mph, a head on collision of 160 mph would do more than disintergrate the front end of a car and do a hell of a lot more than put the guy in a wheelchair.

pippyrips

the road is infamous for hign speed crashes

Bodgit

How can anyone tell the speed by the noise of the engine. Even the most knowledgabe scooby fan would be able to give an accurate speed by sound alone particularly with different aftermarket exhausts.

Prasius

iTrader: (1)

What I meant was, the total cost of claims against every make/model of car for a period of say, two or three years.

Call me cynical but I don't trust insurers to load premiums fairly by the cost of claims for a particular car - and I don't really accept that an Impreza is, statistically, considerably more likely to be involved in an accident than a Ford Focus, and that the resultant claims will be more expensive.

Like I said - I'm just cynical

Jerome

The teacher has had his say now...here.

MrRA

Yep, it is. Especially by the Baverstock Hotel where you get the muppets crossing over from junction to Llywdcoed.

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

As said




Aso the "Victims" of this accident will also be the losers IMHO

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

I think it feels the opposite, you THINK you are only doing about 70-80 when in fact you are doing 100+

I find you really have got to watch the speedo sometimes

That said, there's no excuse for driving like a ***** in adverse road/weather conditions

totalllama

I agree, quite easy to be going 20-30mph faster than you think your going in these cars. Also agree with the fact that if he had been doing 120mph and hit someone head on at 60mph a 180mph collision would have resulted in nothing being left of the two cars.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

No insurer will publish that information as it is the core knowledge by which they make their business work!!

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Imprezas are more likely to be involved in incidents and they are more likely to be serious. It is the big third party claims that really damage the claims experience.

The problem insurers have with Scoobs is that when there is a big third party claim the size of the insured book is a fraction of what it is for the Focus for example.

Proportionally the Focus book will have just as many knock for knock type stuff around town. But two or three big third party claims across 100,000 Focii is quite different than if it spread across 10,000 or 5,000 Scoobs.

GazTheHat

Got a standard exhaust by any chance

stilover

I've been screamed at at the side of the road by parents taking their kids to school. They were telling me to "SLOW DOWN". I was doing 45mph in a 60mph Zone on a straight road.
Why did they tell me to slow down? The noise from the exhaust told them I was doing 100mph

The worse car to be involved in a accident with, is one being driven by a dogooder. Driving at 30mph because it was wet? Bet there was a train of cars behind him. Bet every car that overtook him got a flash too.

The driver of the Subaru was obviously driving beyond his means, and was clearly to blame. However the witnesses statement of 120mph should be ignored. The Police have ways of telling how fast a car was traveling when the crash happened. That is the only speed evidence a court should hear.

MrRA

The guy who owned the Scoob bought an Evo 3 months after the crash. A mate knows him and reskons he's a really nice guy.

Dan W

I second that Rob

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I was once stopped by the Police in Eastbourne driving my Alfa Romeo. The reason given by the policeman was that I was speeding.

As he had no speed camera or any other means to assess my speed the rationale he provided was that he could tell I was speed from my engine noise.

Numpty!

MrRA

Could never drive an Enzo or something similar then. You'd get banned for doing 30mph using those methods

Dill_typeR

I suppose they are scrapping speed cameras in view of this bints accurate guesstimates


"I can only estimate but I was going 55 and it came past in such a way it frightened me. I would say an easy 100 to 120 miles an hour, definite."