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submitted 1 month ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Darryl Anderson was drunk behind the wheel of his Audi SUV, had his accelerator pressed to the floor and was barreling toward a car ahead of him when he snapped a photo of his speedometer. The picture showed a car in the foreground, a collision warning light on his dashboard and a speed of 141 mph (227 kph).

An instant later, he slammed into the car in the photo. The driver, Shalorna Warner, was not seriously injured but her 8-month-old son and her sister were killed instantly, authorities said. Evidence showed Anderson never braked. 

Anderson, 38, was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years in prison for the May 31 crash in northern England that killed little Zackary Blades and Karlene Warner. Anderson pleaded guilty last week in Durham Crown Court to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

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[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 206 points 1 month ago

As a Canadian, I read 141 and thought, "141 km/h is pretty fast, but that's not international news fast." Then I saw it was mph!

Driving that fast on a closed course while sober with complete focus is dangerous. Yet this guy was drunk and texting on public roads.

“Sometimes mistakes happen," he said. "But I’m not a bad person.”

AFAIK, no mistakes happened, those were all choices. And by making those choices, yes, you are a bad person.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 143 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Bro killed two people, one of them a kid, and he's actually saying "No one's perfek 🤪!!!!"

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[-] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 72 points 1 month ago

Dude didn’t even wait for the bodies to get cold before he absolved himself. What a gaping asshole

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[-] Archelon@lemmy.world 109 points 1 month ago

Anderson lied to police, saying a hitchhiker was driving at the time of the crash.

Prosecutor Emma Dowling said a roadside breath test showed Anderson was nearly three times over the limit driving after drinking. An empty vodka bottle was found in his car.

Witnesses later reported that he had been driving dangerously for 20 miles (32 kilometers) and his phone showed he had been sending text messages. 

At a police station, he told officers he had driven into the back of a car. 

“Sometimes mistakes happen," he said. "But I’m not a bad person.”

Sometimes mistakes happen!!!??? My dude, you murdered two people out of sheer recklessness and negligence and then lied about it. You don’t get to excuse your behaviour by saying “oh, I’m not a bad person…”

Take some fucking responsibility. Although, I guess if you were capable of taking responsibility for your actions you wouldn’t be on your phone while driving double the highway speed limit and drunk off your ass.

[-] Otakulad@lemmy.world 42 points 1 month ago

Reading this, he was probably still very drunk when he said it. Doesn't make him any less of a POS.

Also, alcohol generally makes someone tell the truth, so I'm guessing his only remorse is I got caught.

[-] rekorse@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

Thats a myth about telling the truth. People change more and more the more they drink and the more often they drink. Its not a more honest version of them coming out, just a different one.

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[-] whocares314@lemmy.world 74 points 1 month ago

PSA: your local fire precinct (in the USA, probably England too) can do a car seat installation and fit check for you. Strap your kids in, and strap them TIGHT. It can be very easy to install a seat improperly, I had mine checked when I was a new parent until I was confident I had it right.

Before anyone flames me for victim blaming I am 100% not blaming the mother. It is quite possible that at those speeds the child would have died regardless, and the driver deserves every day in jail that he spends.

[-] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 32 points 1 month ago

I'm almost 100% certain that a 141MPH impact absolutely destroyed everything that the car seat was attached to. There was an accident posted on reddit a couple years ago (from either L.A. or Texas) where a guy was going something like 120MPH and hit stopped traffic on the highway. His vehicle completely sheared off the upper half of the car he hit first and then shot over several vehicles before hitting a building probably 30 yards off the side of the freeway. A car traveling that fast carries an insane amount of energy.

[-] BillThePlatypus@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Energy goes up with the square of velocity. A car going 140 MPH has 4x the energy of a car going 70. Assuming a 3,000 lb car, there was about as much energy in the car as 1.4 lb (.64 kg) of TNT, but applied in a single direction, much more efficiently than an explosion would. Modern cars are impressively safe, but there probably wasn't much left.

Edit: He was driving an SUV, ~5000 lb, so closer to 2.4 lb (1.1 kg) of TNT. It's a miracle that anybody survived.

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[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 50 points 1 month ago

Why can someone even drive a car that can go that fast on public streets? Countries should enforce speed limiters on vehicles brought into their country for roadway use. It may not prevent drunks from driving, but it could slow them down and prevent some deaths and injury. People don't even need to be drunk for these speeds to be dangerous.

[-] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 55 points 1 month ago

Because every time government tries to limit vehicles there is a very loud roar of whataboutism and mah freedom.

[-] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

At a certain point we need to prioritize people's safety over "vroom vroom". 200+ km/h is nearly double highway speeds. Children dying from speeding crashes should be much more important than somebodys ego and desire to speed.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 46 points 1 month ago

If children dying from mass shootings isn't enough to move these obstructionist-types, then nothing is.

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago

When Sandy Hook happened and we didn't even get universal background checks, I saw conservatives plainly that day.

[-] magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The only thing stopping a bad driver with a fast car is a good driver with a fast car!

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[-] ptz@dubvee.org 21 points 1 month ago

The world is my racetrack

--Assholes

[-] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 month ago
[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

That's not a limiter, just an alert that you're going over the posted limit

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[-] thoro@lemmy.ml 45 points 1 month ago

I'm sorry but this isn't "world news" to me. Random drunken tragedies are hardly something useful to keep me informed on what is happening in the world.

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[-] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago

Anglophones do be loving their cars but the real problem is cyclists riding on pavements. Have you got any idea how dangerous that is? Only the other day I took a picture of my pumpkin spiced latte and caused a multiple pedestrian pile up.

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago

Had me in the first half, ngl.

[-] sturmblast@lemmy.world 30 points 1 month ago

Bad drivers need harsher punishments if you ask me.

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 55 points 1 month ago

17 years is a seriously life-altering prison sentence sentence.

Quite frankly, this flavor of irresponsibility can be corrected in just a few years time, you just need a justice system that's interested in correction rather than punishment.

Kinda hard to accomplish when you have people cheering from the sidelines for more punishment...

[-] Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I get it, but also when I think about if that happened to my sister, let alone my child, no amount of time would be enough. 2 years for ripping two people out of your life feels like a pittance. How do you separate the emotion from the practicality?

[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 61 points 1 month ago

With all due respect, the justice system shouldn't exist for you to experience vengeance. It's easy to get angry and to wish harm against people who would hurt our loved ones, but at scale we just end up with a punitive justice system that begets even more violence and misery.

If a person can be reformed after committing a profound injustice to the point where we can trust that they won't repeat their crimes, why would we want their sentence to be lengthy and cruel when it could instead be compassionate and effective?

Forgiveness is a powerful thing. If you can't even think of forgiving this hypothetical transgression you've come up with, how can you ever hope to have a positive influence on this world that might actually protect others from the kind of tragedy you've described?

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[-] Doof@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago

Which is why we don’t come up with our own punishments.

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[-] Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip 19 points 1 month ago

There is no harsher punishment than this. It's literally 1/4th of your life gone. Getting out of prison after this time and realizing what you lost and you got nothing - no friends, no family (probably), no relationships - must be soul crushing.

I'd rather die honestly.

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[-] Jumpingspiderman@lemm.ee 25 points 1 month ago

17 years isn't nearly long enough

[-] PanArab@lemm.ee 15 points 1 month ago

He killed two people. A 17-year sentence seems fair.

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[-] Avialle@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

Please let everyone who lost a person to this, spit in his face or punch it.

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this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2024
613 points (97.2% liked)

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