Why is this man guilty of wrong? is it not misfortune?

*The court heard that a bracket near the rear axle, which would have prevented the Land Rover from tipping, instead snapped during the incident.*


Hiya Ron

It does not state if he modified this particular item (it just snapped) whether due to other mods causing more loading etc etc,It just snapped,probably something thats easily overlooked if your a back yarder,Its hard because you do not see the full report..But on the other hand the Jurors obviously did. So end of sad story...

Rules and regulations are there for a reason,smart engineers work it out correctly most of the time,why do people think they know more than the educated vehicle manufacturers themselves...


Cheers

"A court heard the 37-year-old man tinkered with his Land Rover to make it better-suited to off-road driving but that the alterations caused the four-wheel-drive to become "unroadworthy"."

Not much in the way of detail but that's what it's put down to.

He was charged and found guilty on the basis of dangerous driving ie driving too fast not for modifiying his vehicle.

Sounds fair enough to me.

one of the news reports


Reading Site Link

Reading between the lines, an unroadworthy car which had been bodged togther from other cars by an incompetent mechanic; driving too fast for the road conditions.

He was responsible for repairing/rebuilding an unroadworty car and driving in an unsafe manner

Personally, I'd charge him with 4 counts of murder.

Unroadworthy.
Question?? What does that mean in legal terminology??

Answer!!! Anything that makes the vehicle unroadworthy.

My old Land-Rover was declared unroadworthy on three counts.
1. The canvas rebound straps on the rear axle were hanging down and broken.............. Unroadworthy.......Yes
I cut them off and it was passed as OK.

2. No rear numberplate light,........Unroadworthy........Yes
New globe Ok now
3. Exhaust tail pipe did not protrude past the rear of the vehicle, it was under the body.(The damn thing is a trayback ute). Unroadworthy.........Yes.
Clamped a 4 inch piece of pipe onto the end and it's now 1inch past the rear of the tray.
OK now.

Not that I'm saying that his vehicle was not unroadworthy but the word "Unroadworthy" especially when used by the media conjures up a picture of a totally unsafe vehicle when it may not necessarily be so. Just look at what gets done to some vehicles on this forum. Unroadworthy,yes, but unsafe.............. No Way..

Obviously just my opinion and thoughts.

Disco.

Why is this man guilty of wrong? is it not misfortune?


Because hes the same sort of useless, non mechanically minded, inept clown that has caused the govt to clamp down on veh mods in this country.

No one in their right mind would have different braking components on opposite wheels and then travel at the speeds quoted.

Just the sort of bloke the Harold Scrubby types, dream of being able to point an accusing finger at.

Save your pity for his kids ....

Not enough detail to form an opinion, but one would put enough faith in the Brtish legal system to suggest all proper investigation was conducted.

After all, we're not talking about some bloke in Iraq getting his arm cut off for staeling an orange.

Cheers,

Jim.

I don't have the facts.
But four kids are dead.
A family devastated.
And whatever the results, he will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

Times on Line has a more comprehensive report here are some extracts:
A number of the modifications were ill-judged, many were incompetently carried out and he also failed to carry out a number of repairs.
the calliper on the offside front brake was larger than the one on the nearside front brake, which caused the car to slew when the brakes were applied.
the brake pedals were worn and that, as a result, the brake pedal had to be pressed “pretty much down to the floor” before it began to stop the car
Experts also found the steering and rear axle to be defective
The court heard that the Land Rover passed an MoT in February last year but a friend had seen Mr Gresham, a mechanic, repeatedly making repairs to a faulty rear axle that had come loose a fortnight before the crash. It was a bracket snapping on this rear axle that caused the car to swerve as it moved on to the grass verge, the court heard.
The jury was told that Mr Gresham had been driving at between 50 and 60mph along the narrow stretch of country lane in a “defective vehicle”, which made the accident an “avoidable tragedy”.
I have the greatest sympathy for him and his wife in their loss, but it does seem he was a real cowboy!!!

teege

A major point of contention is the word "accident" , ask any police accident investigator and they will tell you that 99% of so called vehicle accidents are no accident at all , inattention ,deliberate flouting of the road rules , unroadworthy vehicles ect ect ,,, now I know that some will bite back and say things like "my accident was because my tyre blew out blah blah blah" to those I ask WHY did your tire blow , lack of tread ? wrong pressure? or what ?

I will always remember an old TAFE teacher in the early 1960s who told my class if you change something on a car, it will affect something else. We see all kinds of modified cars on the road. Some may be legal and some well who knows? One thing is for certain though: if it is involved in an accident, the investigators will get out the rule book and go over every inch of it. It will be the courts, the registration authorities and your insurance company who will have the final say, not your mates, the local 4b shop, the internet forums and the magazines.

Brian

Seeing the way some of the vehicles are modified that drive past the end of my street on their way to the High Country, I am surprised that it doesn't happen more often!

Personally, I think it is time for a crackdown on obviously illegal mods.

Typical though....need someone to point the finger at!

The only thing I can see hes guilty of is two counts of stupidity
1. Being a crap mechanic.
2. Buying a Land Rover in the first place.

How can you further punish a bloke who has just lost his kids?
He'll have to live with it for the rest of his life!

It is only going to get worse, not just from the back yard tinkerer or back yard mechanic but from qualified people as well.

The amount of training we have to do now to keep up with the latest vehicles is unbelievable.

Just got home again. It sems most people have skipped (missed?ignored) the fact that this guy was driving this obviously defective vehicle along a "narrow country lane" at 50 - 60 MILES per hour. If you've ever driven in England you will appreciate what a narrow country lane really is. For those who haven't, they are exactly that - narrow, usually with blind bends and crests and a guarantee of traffic in both directions.

teege

Gee this was popular....

seems when more info about it that the guy was a bit of a cowboy.

Worse thing is living with killing your children like that.

Rgds

Ron

I'm not saying yeah or nay in regards to this particular case and I haven't read the articles. BUT there have been posts here over time that plenty of regulars have contributed to regarding how we did things in the 'old days' - riding in the back of utes, modifications, travelling with no spares/communications or whatever and have a laugh about it.

There is that email that gets around and has been on the Friday Funnies a few times that compares being brought up the old fashioned way versus these days ie 'we ran around and climbed trees and played with fireworks and got a clip around the ear when we were naughty etc etc and look how we turned out.... and everyone that reads it thinks 'yeah, that's so true' yet the same people are all politically correct now

These days it is all about finger pointing....

Yeah the "good old days" we only remember the good things.The present will be the good old days for my kids. Remember those old ipods were'nt they crap. One thing I see these days is the level of training for apprentices is not always what it used to be. A lot of Mechanics seem to specialise in one area. As for the bloke who is the subject of the thread. He now has to live with the consequences of his incompetence and reckless driving.
Stuart.