Date: Tue, 6 May 2008 22:34:10 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: Accident. was RE: Good to see the list is back-
In-Reply-To: <006b01c8afe8$8010fe90$6401a8c0@DJZL7KF1>
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Scott,
It happened in Alaska - right in front of my shop. An old woman driving,
and her old man in the passenger seat, she slows to turn left but has to
wait for oncoming traffic to clear. She is hit from behind with heavy
duty pickup truck driven by a drunk woman doing 80 mph. The truck driver
didn't even slow down. Impacted the car in the rear doing the 80. The
old womans car was crushed forward so hard that the rear of the car was
driven in to occupy the place where the back seat was.The old lady's
seat was driven forward and she was crushed by the steering wheel and
shaft impaling her. The old man was slammed forward into the little
space between the seat and the dash.- but still in his seat. The old
lady's car was spun into the oncoming vehicle which was a 4X4, and it
slammed into the drivers side of the old ladies car. and then her car
careened into a service station parking lot. The old lady died just a
few minutes later after her vehicle came to a stop. The old man did
survive. The drunk driver was so polluted she could not get out of the
truck. The cops had to help her out. She had an empty fifth of whiskey
on the floor of the truck and one half empty tucked between the bucket
seats.. The drunk driver had been in 3 other drunk driver episodes and
had been let go because she was divorced with three children at home.
Now she is in prison with a 25 year involuntary manslaughter conviction
s and her children are gone. They will be fully grown by the time she
gets out, and she will be an old woman. The other family was large -
three generations - all living , and they were very proud of that, and
they lost the mother of the clan to drunkenness and denied her love. .
What a waste.
But drunks are constantly allowed back on the road. I have absolutely no
sympathy for them. Driving is a privilege, not a right of birth, and by
golly if the rules are not followed, then they don't deserve to drive,
period. I am really harsh on matters of drinking and driving. Break the
rule once, and you are going to depend on Shanks Mare for a very, very
long time. It is a matter of personal responsibility. If you are not
responsible, you pay - and not just in dollars. in the way of fines. I
would make drunken driving a felony, with extremely stiff penalties.
John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:
> Well, no offense...........but it sounds like 'Washington syndrome' a bit to
> me, even Tacoma area.
>
> Did you get a badge number ?
> What do you think a fancy lawyer would do in the same situation ?
> He would tell the officer right on the spot that he'll sue the Police dept
> if they just let this obvious very drunk person - or a least 'person in a
> car with whisky all over' - get away with this, like not test her or arrest
> her.
>
>
> It takes power, and even money , but .......really........you're getting'
> shafted.
> People don't get to drink whiskey, hit people, and then the cops just 'let
> it slide' - not in a civilized society. Was it just that there was whisky in
> the car ? or did the driver reek of it too ?
>
> I can't believe she wasn't breathe tested on the spot. Or at least 'field
> sobriety tested.'
> It's a travesty Robert, and you shouldn't have to take the brunt of it.
> Did you get her driver's license number ?
> Did you run her history of convictions ?
> I'd get some legal help.
> Hope it works out.
> Coulda killed ya you know........and courts lets drunks back out on roads
> even have 3 dui convictions sometimes.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> pdooley
> Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 6:59 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Accident. was RE: Good to see the list is back-
>
> Robert,
> Do you live in a small town?
> Sounds like the officer knew the other driver.
>
> How could he not ask you what happened? Somebody must be ticketed for the
> accident, and that is usually based somewhat on the driver's reports of what
> happened.
>
> At least that's how it works in Florida.
>
> Strange.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Robert Keezer
> Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2008 9:35 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Good to see the list is back-
>
> But it's not good news I have, as yesterdy my 82
> Westfalia I have driven as my daily since 1995
> with over 351,000 miles , was plowed into
> yesterday by a drinking driver.
>
>
> I'm still pretty shocked by it, the impact spun
> my Westfalia around
> No one was hurt, the other driver or me.
>
> I smelled whiskey coming from her car, but the
> officer did'nt search her car. I asked him to.
>
> He said she wasn't drunk.He said he was an expert
> and got upset when I asked if he gave her a
> breath test. He did'nt even ask me how it
> happened. he ws gone in ten minutes.
>
> Every one else , aid, fire, witnesses,
> spectators, all gone and then I waited for the
> next 30 minutes, alone, next to the 2 wrecks,
> while all the traffice slowed down to gawk.
>
> And all the while I could smell the whiskey.
>
> Looks like I am probably up for another frame-up
> job.
>
> Just what I need right now.
>
> Watch out - thee still are whiskey drinkers on
> the road out there.
>
> Robert
> 1982 Westfalia
>
>
>
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