Hi,
Anyone know what happened in the end to that guy who claimed to have his car runaway at full throttle and he was 'crying on the phone to the police' because he was scared to switch the car off and instead ran until it crashed. He was charged with offences in the end IIRC?
Biggest load of old cobbler I ever heard in my life...surely it is better to have no PAS and heavy brakes in an unpowered car, rapidly decelerating, than to have a car doing 100+mph with burnt out brakes etc?
Just wondering what the outcome was.
Component part.
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I seem to remember that he was rumbled and harassed.
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..........because he was scared to switch the car off and instead ran until it crashed. ...............surely it is better to have no PAS and heavy brakes in an unpowered car, rapidly decelerating ...........
It would take a very clear head (which he clearly didn't have at the time) to turn the ignition key just far enough to turn off the engine but not far enough to allow the steering to lock.
--
L\'escargot.
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Well there was always the option of putting the car into neutral....
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It would take a very clear head (which he clearly didn't have at the time) to turn the ignition key just far enough to turn off the engine but not far enough to allow the steering to lock.
I agree. You would need to know the key/column characteristics of your car extremely well, and it can be a very fine line.
I often coast my car out of the garage (slight slope) if I just want to check tyres, or load up or something, without starting and then stopping the engine. I sometimes find I have to turn the key on then off again to release the lock, and that fraction of a second of coasting with the steering locked feels really scarey. I image that at 100 mph a second of locked steering is all it takes to lose control.
There was obviously far more to that story than the apparent facts. For a start I don't believe the brakes would just burn out and then fail totally. Whenever I've had occasion to apply the brakes at the same time as keeping my foot on the accelerator (eg testing for odd noises, or drying them after a flood) I find I can easily slow the car and stall the engine.
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In my experience the steering lock doesn't engage until they key is removed from the ignition-simply turning the key all the way to the off position will not cause the steering to lock. This may not be the case on this guys car-I stand to be corrected.
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Eh? I've never known a car on which turning off the engine was a big deal. Disengaging the steering lock maybe, but for ages the lock has been engaged by taking the key out of the key slot. Innit?
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Yeah, that's it. What that other bloke just said.
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I think Maxy is speaking in support of my position there...I think so.
The steering lock will not engage until the key is removed from the ignition.
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So what was the final outcome? Was the motorist prosecuted? Does anyone know?
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Well the BBC news article said he was charged with Dangerous Driving.
Wonder if he was convicted though...and what would the judge say to an offence like that..bit of a bizarre one I'm sure you'll mostly agree. Hence my interest in finding out what the outcome was.
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attention seeking Walter Mitty
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You have to remove the key to lock the steering, such that the shield can spring shut, not just turn it to 0 or 1.
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He was rumbled. He was harrassed, although I don't know if he was actually prosecuted.
Can't people read? Don't they understand English?
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Rumbled and harrassed - what does that actually mean in the sense of prosecuted/convicted etc.?
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It was finally worked out that his story was rubbish - amazing it took so long actually - and the authorities frowned at him, but I don't know whether he was done for wasting police time or any of the other offences involved.
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I well the most up to date article I found says he was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and bailed.
I really don't understand how he could beat that rap-how could you pull a stunt like that and escape a conviction of any kind? You'll get points for due care and attention just for accidentally crashing into somebody-to speed at '135mph' and then eventually crash, if he did that deliberately he's committed just about every motoring offence in the book. How could you escape prosecution?
I want to know what if anything he was sentenced to, and if he had his day in court then what came out about why he did what he did; was he just pretending and really had his foot wedged deliberately? Maybe he's been sectioned.
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Maybe he's been sectioned.
I have a feeling you might be right. There's loads of mentions of him if you Google for his name, and then suddenly it goes quiet.
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You have to remove the key to lock the steering, such that the shield can spring shut, not just turn it to 0 or 1.
Not on mine. If I turn the key to 0 or 1, it doesn't immediately lock, but it does if I happen to move the wheel through the centre position, and then it locks itself with the key still in.
Quite possibly cars vary in this respect. It's of academic interest in this case, - I was just obseving that if you did not know in your particular car what the effect would be, you might hesitate to try it at 100 mph.
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Cliff, if I remember right you drive a fine old Volvo. When steering locks first came in, turning the key to the off position locked everything up: there was no electrical connection involved with inserting and removing the key. I think many current designs do have that conection.
With my current Mercedes the accessories work with the key in the off position, and are only disengaged when you take the key out.
If you see this, can you confirm (or deny) that 240s turn on a sixpence? I'm put off modern Volvos by their appalling turning circle. I don't think FWD should be an excuse - Audi A4s are FWD and the turning circle is excellent.
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can you confirm (or deny) that 240s turn on a sixpence? I'm put off modern Volvos by their appalling turning circle.
Yes, it's the most manoeuvreable car I have ever encountered. Often I can U-turn where others have to do a series of painful point turns. Once I inadvertantly stole someone's parking place, by driving straight in forwards while he was waiting to go in backwards.
It's not quite as good as its predecessor, the 140, but a bit better than the 740 or 940.
It can't quite match a London taxi or a Triumph Herald, but then it is about 6 feet longer. You need to watch the overhang though. Unlike cars with wheels placed at the corners, it can give a hefty side-swipe if you are not careful.
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Maybe the CPS had the outcome of this very similar sounding case in mind and decided prosecution wasn't worth the bother:-/
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/368677.stm
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>>... decided prosecution wasn't worth the bother:-/
as some of the contributors have already said, he was arrested and bailed, but there has been no further news as to what happened after that. see
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/5094840.stm
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Latest info I can find is this from 'worksop today' only a couple of days after the BBC item:-
www.worksoptoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID...7
"My solicitor tells me the Crown Prosecution Service still hasn't made its mind up about whether to bring a case."
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Wasn't there a similar case a few years ago with a lorry driver? He claimed the accelerator was stuck when he was driving fast on the motorway. He was prosecuted but found not guilty and then it came to light that the same thing had happened previously and he had not been charged the first time. I'm sure I didn't imagine it.
Here's a similar story, though I'm not sure if it's the guy I'm thinking of:
www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archiv...l
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Not wanting to refer specifically to this case, which appears to be still pending, but there does seem to be a mental condition where people are subconsciously driven to create some kind of crisis, and then step in and resolve it at the last minute. The nurses who harm babies and then save them, the fireman who starts a fire, and now there seem to be several instances of runaway vehicles like the lorry driver case.
I suppose that's the Munchausen syndrome.
It also seems to be the case that publicity about one case brings out previously latent tendencies in others. People get fired up and want to become heroes too.
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