One teenage life?

http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/9029976.Community_service_for_woman_who_failed_to_stop/

Doesn’t actually state she was to blame for the accident does it? Agree it appears incredibly lenient all the same, but not enough information to really comment.

Well, you wouldn’t want a driver to be really inconvenienced would you?

Could this be one of those rare stories where the press have gotten an eye-catching headline while missing out much relevant detail?

EDIT Oooh not only that, the OP has missed out some relevant detail taht would mitigate his point: 100hrs community service.

Chapeau!

Yeah well thread titles are only allowed to be so long..

Her fault or not, she ran someone down, and didn’t stop.

RealMan – Member
she ran someone down, and didn’t stop.

No – we don’t know that, yes she did.

Nick – Member

Doesn’t actually state she was to blame for the accident does it?

It was a hit and run, she failed to stop?

She was fined for the failing to stop, and for the tyre. Not for the accident. Either that will be a seperate charge, or that wasn’t her fault.

Assuming such a pittance of details means she maybe didn’t cause the accident but didn’t stop and respond as she is obliged to….???

don’t be daft, she was convicted of something so is guilty of murder!

She lives right near my old place.

Failing to stop is pretty nasty irrespective of ‘fault’ IMO.

Maybe more detail here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Joel-Ashely-Semmens/160840030607753
(I can’t actually access the page)

Could well have been an accident (though the road has good visibility), but the article states the 17 year old was hit with enough force to throw him across the road and the driver drove off leaving him lying in the road, only returning when she realised the extent of the damage to the car.

theres some comments from people at the trial here:
http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2092575_byfleet_crash_driver_undergoing_counselling

which suggest she’s not starting the sentence until she returns from holiday (!), and she won’t be banned since she’ll lose her job (she’s employed by her father).

“The defendant did not stop and she returned later and admitted being the driver involved in the collision.”

The court heard that James continued travelling to her parent’s house in nearby Pyrford, where she realised the full extent of the damage to her car.

Mark Haslam, defending, said: “The prosecution have said speed was not an issue. You are aware there was no alcohol involved.”

He added no evidence had been found for a charge of death by dangerous driving.

“It’s fair to say failing to stop covers a multitude of sins and it is designed to deal with a totally different scenario, a genuine hit-and-run, and here we have a completely different situation,” he added.

Mr Haslam also told the court that the case had a significant impact on James, who is undergoing counselling to deal with what happened.

I have no hatred for Hannah James. I miss my nephew terribly and hating Ms James wont bring him back. I have wonderful memories of Joel and being bitter will ruin that. NO i dont think the sentence was harsh enough, especially when (as I stated before) people can be imprisoned for non payment of council tax. And unfortunately for a lot of people commenting on here, you do not know the whole facts. Only snippets that you read in the paper. My main gripe is this report in the paper. Accident or not, it is all about the suffering Ms James has been through. Have any of you seen the coroners report or seen the horrific injuries my nephew suffered? Or have any of you spoken to his family and asked how THEIR lives have been affected? Unfortunately i doubt any of you have. Yes Ms James will have to live with this for the rest of her live, but so will Joels family and friends. Our lives have been changed too and we all have to live with what has happened for the rest of OUR lives also. My argument is, there is no newspaper article reporting if the victims family are having couselling, or our stress, grieve and suffering.

Sounds pretty shite all round 🙁

oooh get her! 😉

FB seems to suggest that she was under the influence of drugs also

Nowhere does it say if the driver or the deceased was at fault WRT the accident. It could be that the deceased just rode out in front of the driver. I don’t know, just playing devils advocate.

From reading news reports, it sounds like he came out of a junction into the path of her car.

It’s very sad that the boy died, but that shouldn’t impact on the sentance for different offences.

failing to stop (with this linient a sentance) could mean the kid rode out in front of her, she clipped him, he went down and banged his head – a bunch of passers by were with him and called an ambulance, he seemed ok so she went home without exchanging details. wouldn’t be an unreasonable set of actions (given she returned suggests she might just have forgotten to exchange details). but lynch her, cos a cyclist died

What a tragic loss of a young life. Tragic.
Much thoughts & condolences to the lads loved ones.

FB seems to suggest that she was under the influence of drugs also

must be true then 🙄

5lab – Member
failing to stop (with this linient a sentance) could mean the kid rode out in front of her, she clipped him, he went down and banged his head – a bunch of passers by were with him and called an ambulance, he seemed ok so she went home without exchanging details. wouldn’t be an unreasonable set of actions (given she returned suggests she might just have forgotten to exchange details). but lynch her, cos a cyclist died

Even if this is all true a £87 fine for failure to stop is nothing.

Not stopping shows a lack of humanity, how callous and selfish some people are. She might have been able to render some first aid but given his injuries some human comfort in his last moments.

TheBrick – you forgot the 100hrs community service.

Edit: Ignore me, trying not to argue on the internet this week

aah makes you sick seeing these stories 🙁

Got hit by a car this week just the other side of the river to Putney.. right over the bonnet… not a pleasant experience but at least my driver got out and helped….

Nice to know this woman is still on the streets and living in a town near where I ride… Not!

Most people these days don’t seem to care / want to get involved.

A couple of weeks ago this car was sat in the middle of the road, all the cars were just going around them. Turns out the guy had just driven into a parked car and the front of his was stuffed in.
He was still sat in the car with the engine running and airbag smoke etc inside. Poor sod was obviously pretty shocked, but all people were interested in was getting past, as he was in their way FFS.

The driver returned to the scene and owned up. She was probably in shock from the collision – callous and selfish – maybe, but people act in stange ways.

There is nothing to suggest she had tried to evade justice or was responsible for the collision.

She acted incorrectly, yes, and is rightly punished for that.
Baldy tyre – not good, but would it have made any difference.

Specualtion will not help here, neither will castigating the driver.
Very sad outcome all round.

Perhaps the guy rode out in front of the car. Should the driver go to prison for that?? Failing to stop is very wrong but over dramatising the situation to look like a hit and run doesn’t help.

If it had been a pedestrian stepping out in front of a car would there be so much hand wringing on this forum. Person dies riding bike so must be the drivers fault.

If it had been a pedestrian stepping out in front of a car would there be so much hand wringing on this forum.

Regardless of whose fault the initial accident was, it was a hit and run. She was prosecuted for it.

Driving a car carries certain responsibilities due to its potential to cause injury, and one of those is stopping to help someone in the event of an accident. If someones personality is such that they drive off and leave someone injured in the road then they shouldn’t be driving. That could well be the difference between life and death. It doesn’t matter whether they did it because they “freaked out” or were trying to evade punishment.

Yep convicted for leaving the scene of an accident. I can’t see that it’s worthy of a forum topic.

The driver returned to the scene and owned up. She was probably in shock from the collision – callous and selfish – maybe, but people act in stange ways.

There is nothing to suggest she had tried to evade justice or was responsible for the collision.

She acted incorrectly, yes, and is rightly punished for that.
Baldy tyre – not good, but would it have made any difference.

Specualtion will not help here, neither will castigating the driver.
Very sad outcome all round.

I don’t think there’s anyone on here who could rightly hold their hand up and say they’ve never made a wrong choice when a spur of the moment decision has been required. Just sadly sometimes these decisions can make or break our lives!

No evidence to suggest the accident was even her fault, though granted the bald tyre and failure to stop need to be punished (and the fine, 10 points and 100 hours community service have seen to that). I’ve had a quick look at that facebook page, and it is a joke! Everybody seems out to lynch her. There are two sides to every story! We don’t know at all what happened, she may have just been driving along when he crashed into her for no apparent reason, same as she may have swerved him off the road. It’s not exactly clear cut…

I hit an 8 year old boy once, when I was 19, had only had my license for 18 months and was driving a relatively sporty car. IMMEDIATELY the public and the press would naturally gang up on me, and paint me to be some kind of boy racer doing handbrake turns at every opportunity and doing 60mph round every roundabout, when nothing could be further from the truth. What actually happened, and fortunately his parents saw this too (and gave the boy a right bollocking afterwards!), was that he jumped from behind a wall, straight into the road, straight into the path of my car. This was in a 30 zone, but because I know it to be a dangerous bit of road I was actually doing less than 25mph. Still broke his leg clean through mind which was pretty horrific!

Anyway, it’s a sad story, a boy lost his life, but without any evidence to support any theories we should not go waving the finger accusing anyone of anything.

mboy deliberately killed a 8 year old pedestrian using his car as a weapon 😮