Normal Island

[AuroraSaab]

Says they are looking in to the driver having had a medical episode. It's a concern of mine that being hit by a 4x4 is different from being hit by a saloon, where you are more likely to go over the bonnet. They seem more likely to cause serious injury; not sure what the stats say though. Even smaller cars are being designed to look like mini 4x4's now.

 

[Pale Rider]

Says they are looking in to the driver having had a medical episode.

Which does suggest she wasn't, er, otherwise impaired.

An acquaintance of mine recently passed out behind the wheel.

He had some notice of feeling ill and turned off a main road into a side street to stop.

Still managed to clout a parked builder's van, although thankfully at low speed meaning there were no injuries.

The Land Rover case remains an odd one.

Even if she went out like a light, the vehicle appears to have done a 90 degree turn to enter the garden.

Hard to see there being much speed involved, so one might expect the vehicle to have sideswiped a parked car, or at least to have hit the fence at a glancing angle, rather than crashing straight through it.

 

[icowden]

Even if she went out like a light, the vehicle appears to have done a 90 degree turn to enter the garden.
Hard to see there being much speed involved, so one might expect the vehicle to have sideswiped a parked car, or at least to have hit the fence at a glancing angle, rather than crashing straight through it.

Depends which direction she was coming from. If she was coming from Kingston direction then she would have been going straight on where camp road turns sharply to the right to go around the school.

As for the car type - absolutely normal around South London and Surrey. Have you seen the state of the roads? Also, if they were having a picnic they were likely sitting on the ground, so not sure that the car type would have made much difference unless it was a very new carfitted with collision avoidance and medical emergency intervention.

 

[Pale Rider]

Depends which direction she was coming from. If she was coming from Kingston direction then she would have been going straight on where camp road turns sharply to the right to go around the school.
arde
As for the car type - absolutely normal around South London and Surrey. Have you seen the state of the roads? Also, if they were having a picnic they were likely sitting on the ground, so not sure that the car type would have made much difference unless it was a very new carfitted with collision avoidance and medical emergency intervention.

Looking at the aerial shot, it appears the road adjacent to where she went through the fence goes past the garden.

Were she simply going straight on she would have missed the fence, or at least not gone through it at close to a right angle.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Does the car have automatic transmission?

 

[Pale Rider]

Does the car have automatic transmission?

I don't think they do a manual, but the auto will have goodness how many driving modes, not to mention yet more buttons and controls for the four wheel drive.

It should be possible to simply plonk it in 'D' and move forward as a driver used to autos would expect.

But if I jumped in one for the first time I'd want it to be on an empty road to give me a mile or two to get the hang of it.

Before anyone starts, I'm not suggesting this woman was inexperienced.

Chances are she's been driving this type of vehicle for years.

 

[Bromptonaut]

I don't think they do a manual, but the auto will have goodness how many driving modes, not to mention yet more buttons and controls for the four wheel drive.

It should be possible to simply plonk it in 'D' and move forward as a driver used to autos would expect.

But if I jumped in one for the first time I'd want it to be on an empty road to give me a mile or two to get the hang of it.

Before anyone starts, I'm not suggesting this woman was inexperienced.

Chances are she's been driving this type of vehicle for years.

I was thinking of the old thing about stamping on the right pedal and pressing harder when it doesn't stop the bloody thing.

Friend of mine did that in a Zoe. It went through a neighbour's garden wall. But unlike Wily E Coyote it didn't leave a perfectly Zoe shaped hole :-)

And then we could think about left foot braking............................

 

[Pale Rider]

I was thinking of the old thing about stamping on the right pedal and pressing harder when it doesn't stop the bloody thing.

That's a good shout - the mundane solution is often the correct one.

I think older drivers are known to suffer from getting their feet and pedals mixed up.

 

[Bromptonaut]

That's a good shout - the mundane solution is often the correct one.

I think older drivers are known to suffer from getting their feet and pedals mixed up.

Don't, just Don't.

I'm hiring a campervan in September - it comes with an autobox....

 

[icowden]

Looking at the aerial shot, it appears the road adjacent to where she went through the fence goes past the garden.

The Sun have a graphic:-

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/22957937/wimbledon-crash-children-screamed/

Which correlates with her coming from Kingston direction where it would be straight on from Camp Road rather than negotiating the bend.

 

[icowden]

Before anyone starts, I'm not suggesting this woman was inexperienced.
Chances are she's been driving this type of vehicle for years.

Based on behaviours I often see, whilst it *could* be a medical episode it could also be a case of mobile phonus interruptus.

 

[Pale Rider]

If that graphic and the indicated route is correct that's quite a long way to be out of control.

It would suggest a higher speed, which in turn would explain why it hit the school building with enough force to bend what looks like a steel girder.

Playing with the phone must be a consideration, although you'd have thought clouting the kerb and hitting the fence would concentrate her mind sufficiently to at least bring the car to a halt in the garden, rather careering across it and hitting the building.

 

[AuroraSaab]

Second child now very critically ill. Awful situation. As an aside there seem to have been a lot of very serious car incidents recently with young drivers and passengers. Lighter nights and good weather encouraging them to use their cars/parents cars more perhaps.

 

[Mr Celine]

My sister uses a Berlingo in London, Marylebone to be unnecessarily specific, to transport her harp. There's nothing unsuitable, unnecessary or selfish about it.

I'm not having a go at you here, and I appreciate it's a unique position.

If she needs that much harp can't she get the off licence to deliver it?

 

[Ian H]

If she needs that much harp can't she get the off licence to deliver it?

Guinness say quoi?