Monday, February 12, 2007

Teenager gets three years for death by dangerous driving...

A 19-year-old lad from South Lincolnshire has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for causing the death of his 16-year-old passenger.

He was found guilty of death by dangerous driving after a judge heard he
attempted to overtake a vehicle on a left-hand bend at Sutterton and lost control of his Ford Escort.

The car ended up in a ditch. The 19-year-old driver suffered a broken back. A 14-year-old girl also in the car suffered whiplash-type injuries and another passenger, a 17-year-old lad suffered head and spinal injuries.

But Nathan Fletcher who was trapped in the back of the car, behind the driver, later died in Pilgrim Hospital, Boston.

Both the driver and the dead boy were from Gosberton.

Nathan’s family agreed to allow his organs to be donated which benefited four other people - a 26 year old woman, a 33 year old man, an 11 year old girl and a 50 year old man.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A dreadful accident. It was a wonderful gesture by the dead man's family to donate organs at a time when they were no doubt struggling to cope with their loss. I read in the Spalding Guardian of the death of three teenagers in recent weeks too. I myself have experienced a few hairy moments on the roads in recent weeks and regrettably they all involved young people taking the most appalling risks in speeding and overtaking manouvres. I had to take evasive action to avoid a collision. I wish I had been able to get plate numbers to report them to the police.

I understand the Road Safety Partnership has invested huge sums to improve road safety and their experiences have been shared by many others throughout the country. I do not know how the situation can be improved as our road network is not conducive to safety. We have few dual carriageways and have a problem with farm vehicles. Both leads to frustration and driver error.

I can only suggest that those who pass a driving test have plates affixed to their cars for a period of one or two years. I would also wish for these drivers not to be permitted to drive high powered vehicles. At one time we devoted a lot of our police resources to road traffic. I am not sure this allocation of resources continues - Phil you may be able to clarify this. Knowing that police vehicles are around may also keep us safe from careless drivers.