Worst road accident in the history of the state claims 8 in Donegal

peasant

nipplenuts wrote: »

Belfast Telegraph has specific details of the accident, including details of the car involved, a Volkswagen Passat TDI Sport. It does not make pleasant reading.

Going by the pics of what's left of the Passat and Corolla, in the final impact the Corolla seems to have crashed head-on into the side (passenger side) of the Passat ...which would point towards the Passat skidding and swerving all over the road after the first impact with the Megane

Gary ITR

nipplenuts wrote: »

Belfast Telegraph has specific details of the accident, including details of the car involved, a Volkswagen Passat TDI Sport. It does not make pleasant reading.

Makes for shocking reading.

I was thinking about this accident yesterday and I was thinking to myself that I would never get into a car with 7 other people, but in that situation at that age I probably would have and I think if we are all honest here we would have too

spurious

At that age a lot of us think we're immortal, accidents happen other people, not us.
Terrible reading in the Telegraph article.

froog

very sad. rip.

ABajaninCork

I've just been reading about the crash in the Belfast Telegraph. Terrible thing to happen, and a complete waste of life.

So very sad. I really feel for the families of all involved.

As a matter of interest - was the lady they hit first OK? Can't seem to find any info....

seamus

EAFC_rdfl wrote: »

Is that not what you have just done up to the highlighted text in your post?

I didn't make a final call on it.

How can you say that 'no doubt' he is out pulling doughnuts at night - just because he is a young man from donegal driving a northern reg car is it? good man, your right thats the way we all are indeed.

"No doubt" is the wrong word there, agreed. But those who continually/intentionally break or otherwise bend the traffic laws to suit their own aims tend to break the law more often than others. ROI residents who drive on UK plates (which is illegal) are more likely to disregard other road traffic laws when on the road.

I hadn't considered the forward movement of the megane and any other movement of the other two vehicles after the crash. I'm in no doubt now that it was pure bad luck that turned this into a complete mess - had the corolla driver been a few seconds earlier or later, the carnage would be far less. Overloaded car or not, a lot of bad things had to be in place for this to result in the deaths of 8 people.

alexmcred

I notice in the pics that the airbags in the passat had activated. If that happened regaining control of a car after an airbag going off in your face would be extremely hard if not impossible.

Add into that the severe overloading in the car this was only going to end in tragedy

K-9

ABajaninCork wrote: »

I've just been reading about the crash in the Belfast Telegraph. Terrible thing to happen, and a complete waste of life.

So very sad. I really feel for the families of all involved.

As a matter of interest - was the lady they hit first OK? Can't seem to find any info....

She was ok, barring a few reports of a wrist injury. The Telegraph article suggests the car hit her sideways.

foggy_lad

amacachi wrote: »

If the driver survives I trust he'll have the full force of the law brought upon him.

if he is the sole cause then yes but if his only crime was overloading a vehicle his sentence should be no more or less than others caught for the same thing!

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

He should have thought of that BEFORE he allowed 6 other people into his car. Clown that he is probably thought he was cool or something.

or just helping out some of his friends after they had had a good night out?

Joey the lips wrote: »

I imagine from listening to this on the news that the passet driver will be charged if he survives this. What type of charges can be brought against him and whats his likely sentence.

the charges should be in line with other people who have overloaded their vehicles.

kyote00 wrote: »

With 8 people in the car, you'd have to assume that at best only 5 would have had seat belts on...

also with 8 people on board, the car must have been overloaded and would have been sluggish to stop and steer - especially difficult driving if it was wet, road condition was poor or speed was involved...

maybe in an old cortina or vauxhall but modern cars can get up to speed just as quickly with 7-8 people on board and braking distances are slightly greater.

SARASON wrote: »

You forget the bit about when they they hit the first car they fcuked of to make more carnage.

there it is really, hitting the first car(or being hit by the first car) may well have sealed their fate. the collision was enough to tear the wheel off the megan so the passat would have had a puncture, total loss of or terminally affected steering as well as a possibility the brakes were damaged all making the vehicle uncontrollable.

Stark wrote: »

Da ****? If you are ever in a road traffic accident, you never leave the scene until you've made sure the other party is okay. Call an ambulance if you have injuries in your own car.

maybe they just could not stop after the first collision as a possible loss of brakes/steering and a puncture at up to 80kph it is very hard to keep control of any car also it is possible that the passat lost the road and went into a spin and rolled over the 2nd car which would account for reports of some of the occupants being thrown clear of the vehicle.

it also sounds from the garda statement that the two incidents were part of the "same action" that the 2nd collision was a direct result of the first and unavoidable.

there is no evidence atm that the passat was the cause of the first collision but it did go on to collide with the corrolla and eight people lost their lives, the driver may still lose his fight for life and who would be given "life" in prison then? the only thing this young man did wrong was to innocently help his friends get home the same as thousands of other young lads(and young women) all over the country every weekend.

if this young man is locked up for being stupid then the same sentence should apply to EVERY driver that allows more than the maximum into their vehicle! the jails wont cope!

ednwireland

film of cars been moved here (was on tv3 news this morning)

http://www.tv3.ie/article.php?article_id=40788&locID=1.2.&pagename=news

i live in donegal and find it amazing see some of the opinions here

i am always amazed at single car accidents in dublin and wonder how that can happen , as for 8 people in a car my car handles worse has longer braking times etc etc when i have 5 in it.

http://content.tv3.ie/content/images/0097/and12_40666.jpg

i wont embed as i think you should make the decision to look or not

magicbastarder

foggy_lad wrote: »

if this young man is locked up for being stupid then the same sentence should apply to EVERY driver that allows more than the maximum into their vehicle! the jails wont cope!

+1
i know plenty of people who thinking nothing of doing 20 or 30 over the limit, yet if it turned out excessive speed was a factor in the death of a loved one at the hands of another driver, they'd be baying for blood.

Gary ITR

magicbastarder wrote: »

+1
i know plenty of people who thinking nothing of doing 20 or 30 over the limit, yet if it turned out excessive speed was a factor in the death of a loved one at the hands of another driver, they'd be baying for blood.

Not really how it works.
Whatever he is charged with will carry the two words 'causing death'

Mr. Presentable

seamus wrote: »

But those who continually/intentionally break or otherwise bend the traffic laws to suit their own aims tend to break the law more often than others. ROI residents who drive on UK plates (which is illegal) are more likely to disregard other road traffic laws when on the road.

.

I'd agree with this observation. In fact, I have relatives in Inishowen who buy their car in the North and run it unregged until caught. They take pride in being able to "do a few km more" and use the M50 without penalty.

changes

The driver of the car would more than likely not have driven 8 people before, it's rarely mentioned but that is about 90 to 100 stone weight. It would massively affect the handling of the car.

mickydoomsux

foggy_lad wrote: »

if he is the sole cause then yes but if his only crime was overloading a vehicle his sentence should be no more or less than others caught for the same thing!

or just helping out some of his friends after they had had a good night out?

the charges should be in line with other people who have overloaded their vehicles.

maybe in an old cortina or vauxhall but modern cars can get up to speed just as quickly with 7-8 people on board and braking distances are slightly greater.

there it is really, hitting the first car(or being hit by the first car) may well have sealed their fate. the collision was enough to tear the wheel off the megan so the passat would have had a puncture, total loss of or terminally affected steering as well as a possibility the brakes were damaged all making the vehicle uncontrollable.

maybe they just could not stop after the first collision as a possible loss of brakes/steering and a puncture at up to 80kph it is very hard to keep control of any car also it is possible that the passat lost the road and went into a spin and rolled over the 2nd car which would account for reports of some of the occupants being thrown clear of the vehicle.

it also sounds from the garda statement that the two incidents were part of the "same action" that the 2nd collision was a direct result of the first and unavoidable.

there is no evidence atm that the passat was the cause of the first collision but it did go on to collide with the corrolla and eight people lost their lives, the driver may still lose his fight for life and who would be given "life" in prison then? the only thing this young man did wrong was to innocently help his friends get home the same as thousands of other young lads(and young women) all over the country every weekend.

if this young man is locked up for being stupid then the same sentence should apply to EVERY driver that allows more than the maximum into their vehicle! the jails wont cope!

'Ah shure, it's grand so' would have been quicker for you to type. You have the typical Irish attitude that makes things like this happen in the first place.

These young fellas died of stupidity and i wouldn't have a problem with that other than the fact that they took someone else completely innocent with them.

SV

changes wrote: »

The driver of the car would more than likely not have driven 8 people before, it's rarely mentioned but that is about 90 to 100 stone weight. It would massively affect the handling of the car.

Big time.
Not to mention the fact that the driver had probably very little room to manouver his arms about with that amount of people in the car.

I´d say they were falling over him to be honest and I´d say it was a huge factor in the resulting crash.(Might be the only one)

peasant

mickydoomsux wrote: »

These young fellas died of stupidity and i wouldn't have a problem with that other than the fact that they took someone else completely innocent with them.

That actually isn't proven yet.
It is theoretically possible that their car was stationary when the Toyota hit it. It is theoretically possible that the Toyota driver was speeding, unable to react and ploughed into them at full force.
Theoretically.

Zulu

Did we ascertain if the car flipped?
I'm thinking if we have 3 adults sitting on laps (1 in the front & 2 in the back to make up 8 people) how much would that raise the centre of gravity? And considering they weren't belted in, one sharp swerve would have the 3 moving to exacerbate the weight shift.

It'd be impossible to control that car at speed.

homer simpson

Would it not be death by dangerous driving?

K-9

Zulu wrote: »

Did we ascertain if the car flipped?
I'm thinking if we have 3 adults sitting on laps (1 in the front & 2 in the back to make up 8 people) how much would that raise the centre of gravity? And considering they weren't belted in, one sharp swerve would have the 3 moving to exacerbate the weight shift.

It'd be impossible to control that car at speed.

After the first collision he was probably more concerned about regaining control of the car as well as making sure everybody was ok.

Zulu

K-9 wrote: »

After the first collision he was probably more concerned about regaining control of the car as well as making sure everybody was ok.

Absolutly. (Did I imply something else )

Brendog

Thats all it takes unfortunatly....a couple of fookin' Yahoo's with no knowledge of mortality and no brains to match.


My respects to the Corrola drivers family

JimsAlterEgo

when I first heard this my immediate thoughts weer Oxygen, the amount of cars on the Nass road over the weekend with people sitting on "knees" saw a 92 'fiesta with at least 4 in the back (all big lads too) :eek:

Gary ITR

Brendog wrote: »

Thats all it takes unfortunatly....a couple of fookin' Yahoo's with no knowledge of mortality and no brains to match.


My respects to the Corrola drivers family

Final warning, have respect for all of the deceased

donegalgirl28

Very sad thing to happen. 8 people in a car is ridiculous though. I get distracted when I have 2 or 3 people in my car let alone another 7 with me! I fear enough driving around this area for all the horror stories on the news, it's a shame this fear wasn't instilled in the young boy when they thought about getting into the car.

RIP to all involved.

seamus

homer_simpson wrote: »

Would it not be death by dangerous driving?

Hard to say. Death by dangerous driving needs to show that the person who caused the accident was driving in a manner which presented danger to the public.

Driving a heavily loaded vehicle or with too many passengers is not in itself necessarily dangerous - if you drive with due regard for the extra weight in the vehicle and your ability to see around you isn't impaired, then I wouldn't say its inherently dangerous.
However, driving in a manner which did not take account of the additional weight, or carrying a load above the vehicle's rated/recommended maximum could be construed as dangerous driving.

K-9

Zulu wrote: »

Absolutly. (Did I imply something else )

No! Neither did I!

Drake66

Overloading cars happen; it happens in Dublin as well. It is illogical to reach any conclusions regarding any further potential negligence in this case until an official investigation is completed. The only thing one should do at this minute is offer their sincerest sympathies to the families of all of those involved in this accident; and I will put emphasis on the word accident.

mickydoomsux

seamus wrote: »

Hard to say. Death by dangerous driving needs to show that the person who caused the accident was driving in a manner which presented danger to the public.

Driving a heavily loaded vehicle or with too many passengers is not in itself necessarily dangerous - if you drive with due regard for the extra weight in the vehicle and your ability to see around you isn't impaired, then I wouldn't say its inherently dangerous.
However, driving in a manner which did not take account of the additional weight, or carrying a load above the vehicle's rated/recommended maximum could be construed as dangerous driving.

It's illegal so it doesn't matter if he took 'due regard'.

seamus

mickydoomsux wrote: »

It's illegal so it doesn't matter if he took 'due regard'.

The fact that it's illegal doesn't mean he was driving dangerously. Dangerous driving is a specific offence and not a catch-all for any illegal driving.