Shop worker has lucky escape from car crash
Friday 25th January 2013, 8:30AM GMT.
Les Bourgs Hospice shop volunteers Kathy Le Cras and Nicola Hamon. Mrs Le Cras had stepped through the door moments before driver Sid Prince accidentally crashed into the entrance step. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 1298629)
A LES Bourgs Hospice shop volunteer was relieved to have walked through its door a few minutes early yesterday morning – as just moments later an elderly driver crashed into the entrance.
The incident occurred on the Bridge just after 9.30am.
Vale resident Harry Prince, 69, said his father Sid, 88, had been parking in the disabled space opposite the charity shop when he lost control of his car.
‘I’d just got home and a friend rang and told me what had happened,’ he said. ‘I was very worried but relieved when I saw there wasn’t much damage.’
Mr Prince said his father was fine, although slightly shaken. The blue badge holder was taken to hospital as a precaution.
‘He said his foot just slipped off the brake and on to the accelerator,’ said Mr Prince.
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Im not attacking the old, because hopefully I will be old one day also, but this needs sorting before some one gets killed.
Who can tell me honestly that 88 is still a good age to be driving?
Again, its not an attack, but liscence holders should be tested again at retirement age and then a refresher test every 5 or 6 years after that.
I ride a moped and if it was not for my reactions and vision I guarantee I would be killed or badly injured at least twice a week by pensionors on our roads. (And maybe once a fortnight by someone under 50).FACT!
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February 2008: A 72-year old grandmother falls asleep at the wheel while driving and crashes into an earth bank at Landes du Marche.
April 2008: A mother and two children walking at Grandes Rocques are hit by a car driven by an elderly man.
November 2011: A 76-year old man sustains leg injuries after being run over by a car in Alliance car park, driven by an elderly woman.
November 2011: A car driven by a 90-year old man crashes into the wall of Tapenade after ploughing across the road from the Crown Pier.
When are we going to see compulsory testing of elderly motorists in Guernsey?
I call upon our deputies to give this matter some consideration before any further deaths occur as a result of such incidents.
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To make this fair why dont you make a list of all accidents and the ages of the drivers and see which age range causes the most accidents and injuries.
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Totally agree Rachael – whilst these accidents are by no means insignificant I think if a review of all accidents over the past 5 years was carried out, noting the ages of those responsible, then it would make interesting reading. Accidents and misjudgements happen, regardless of age. I am just happy that no-one was hurt in this instance.
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So what you are in effect saying, is that there were no incidents involving elderly drivers for 3 and a half years!
Dont get me wrong, I think elderly drivers should have an examiner sit with them once every couple of years to determine safety(NOT a test), but really, this was not the best way of arguing in favour of it!
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Your driving licence is valid to less years when you reach a retirement age and anybody with medical problems has to be certified by a doctor who thinks if a patient is fit to drive annually.
Ok as you get older your thinking slows down but its not to say your not fit to drive.
You have pointed out the elderly should not drive without regular or advanced driving examinations[medical].
Everbody who crashes or causes accidents should be examined whatever age group they are.This is for the police to decide if a motorist is fit to be on the highway
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Probably lost control after hitting one of those pesky pot holes!!!!!
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@Elderly Testing Required
I agree……. up to the point of broadcasting particular incidents…. but well pointed out!
Deputies, Police, Traffic Committee, GP’s and anyone else that have powers of persuasion it is time.
Stop skirting around this issue!!!
It is time to act as a priority!!! Do we need more evidence to prove it is time to act?
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This will put paid to Deputy Jones idea of smaller buses and the elderly who are looking for work driving then!
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GUERN
i hope you not thinking of part time bus driving.
It took you an hour and 5 minutes to get to the bridge this morning from fountain street.
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@Guern
Would boost rider numbers on the buses for sure. Reduce traffic on the roads.
All positive!
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This was a very unfortunate accident but in general it is young drivers who are more of a danger on roads due to inexperience, immaturity and excessive speed and it is speed that kills. Why do you think Insurance companies charge young drivers such high premiums, it is because they are deemed to be a high risk
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In Western Australia, from the age 80, you have to pass a medical examination every year. And from the age of 85 you also have to pass a driving test. However a statistical panel in recent years proved that most vehicle accidents were causedf by people under the age of 60 – somewhere in the region of 90% as I recall. From the time of your first licence you may think you are the best driver on the road but you are not. Most, but not all, drivers improve with experience and age. Older drivers generally are extra careful because they know their capabilities in some areas are reduced – and it is discrimination to force them to take yearly tests unless everyone else has to do the same. Next time you are out: Look at the age of that tailgater, that hooligan speedster, that idiot doing wheelies, that person with one arm hanging out the door or holding on to the gutter, that overtaker that skims and cuts in too quickly, that overtaker that rushes past only to turn off a hundred yards further on, that person ignoring all the road rules……….etc….No pensioners there you’ll find!
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@BEENTHERE
Ok but what about the fact that GP’s and other assessors make decisions based on medical grounds that certain elderly people should be classed as only able to drive an automatic.
Surely that is the first thread of admitting that they constitute a danger on our roads.
I’m not protecting the Youth by the way!!! The guilty ones should know better. However, that is a question of education not a gradual degradation of ability! It’s their ability that is in question here not their integrity. Unless they are aware that they are out of their depth of course!
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You have lost me, as, I was not on the Bridge when this accident happened, nor have I stated that I was, but If I could have driven down Fountain Street without, States Works trucks holding me up, whilst they, get burgers for breakfast, whilst earning my tax money, I might well have gone that way.
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GUERN
I was comparing your posting date and times.lol
BURGERS AT 05.30AM.Whats it a 24/7 take away?
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Santana takeaway in Fountain Street is open 24/7…
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There are a lot more issues on our roads like excessive
speeding, tail gating, swinging out onto the wrong side of the road to turn left into another road or gateway. It’s only a matter of time before there is a serious
accident because of 1 of these 3. Tail gating through Baubigny is terrible. People should be named and shamed to stop them doing this. More speed traps too. I drive this road twice a day and see car, motorcycles and even more worrying trucks speeding through there.
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@Road User
You are quite right! Speak to your deputies and the Traffic Sargent on those issues but this is about 1 particular issue and we shouldn’t muddy the waters.
Yes there are plenty other problems on the roads but lets concentrate on this one.
Lets sort THIS problem out before someone gets killed!!! Come on High ups before its too late.
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Quizzed. I think you will find that a very high percentage of cars these days ARE AUTOMATIC anyway, and most vehicles that are manual are 4WD’s, usually by preference of the owner. And what use are they in Guernsey? I have a small 4WD myself but it came with automatic and I am used to it now. I use it for fishing – rough tracks and bushland to beaches. One other thing, I know several people who voluntarily gave up their driving licences because they believed that they were no longer as good behind the wheel as they once were. (age aside, would you do that?) And a couple of others who were persuaded by their families to give up their licences. I hope this doesn’t put you into a ‘road rage’. If it does then you are not a senior driver, eh?
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@ Binthere
I don’t do road rage cause I can accept that there will be issues on roads this size. I try and leave with plenty time so as not to feel rushed.
You are quite right and I take my hat off to people that surrender their licences. Not an easy decision to take on when it may be your best way of getting around. That’s precisely why the decision should be taken from them.
I don’t have a problem with automatics. Its the fact that they are considered a safe option for drivers that perhaps are not as nimble or as quick minded as they once were.
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This gentleman jumped a curb and hit a wall,no great speed was involved, and will probably be classed as, driving without due care and attention.
A young person holding a license for a short time turns his car upside down and writes it off.This is classed as( no,not dangerous driving but,)driving without due car and attention.
Does this make sense?
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Depending on the individual circumstances, perfectly.
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There is a lot of people getting stroppy about nothing. My grandpa takes me to work and he doesn’t need testing. Old people go really slow which is annoying but so do horses and bikes. Leave the old people alone they just go shopping and don’t hurt anyone.
There are far more young people smash there motors up than old ones.
Give them a break guys.
If deputies have got time to invent tests for pensioners, they got to much time on there hands.
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Easy answer – over a ‘certain age’ not allowed to drive automatics – I am pretty sure, but stand to be corrected – but with all the incidents involving elderly drivers the cars have been automatic and it would seem the same with this incident. Huge respect for the elderly and I hope when I am of a certain age I can still retain my independence and drive a little car – BUT NOT AN AUTOMATIC !!!
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It seems the general level of driving over here is pretty appalling, really.
There’s the increasing amounts of elderly in their battered 20mph toaster ovens, driving carefully (and everyone else crazy in the process), quite probably as they can’t really see properly, the inexperienced young in their imported super-chav mobiles continually using the roads like racetracks whilst the cops are busy doing something else, the yummy mummy’s in 4 x 4′s pavement surfing and blissfully ignoring the danger to others in huge Camden tractors bought to ‘protect’ their kids, and the rest of us, delayed, redirected, frustrated by traffic jams and angered by inexplicably long road closures, dodging potholes, uber buses and Lagan traffic of mammoth dimensions, all crammed on tiny roads never designed to take all this damned traffic.
Quite frankly, it surprises me there aren’t more accidents.
Oh, and a big ‘well done’ to the young bike rider I came f 2 f with the other night as he was overtaking a string of traffic pretty much 20 feet from where that terrible fatal accident happened on the Forest Road recently. Genius.
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The Lagan traffic isn’t that much of a problem as long as people don’t speed around tight bends. Same goes for buses. Most drivers are very courteous. Last week as I was sat on the bus going down quite a narrow road, the driver encountered a 4×4 coming the other, the driver slowed right down and got as close to the wall (no pavement) as he could. The woman in the 4×4 stuck her head out of the window and started shouting and swearing whilst her child (sat beside her in the passenger seat) went red-faced.
The problem is not the size of the vehicles it’s the attitudes of the public when they encounter them. There is nothing more this driver could have done, yet this woman was irate.
As for motorcyclists they do drive like idiots. I get so fed up when I see them overtaking traffic queues. They go on the wrong side of the road and speed up to at least 40mph sometimes. Frankly if they get hit it would teach them a lesson, the problem is the other motorcyclists still won’t be deterred.
Traffic jams aren’t that much of a problem, twice a day, woopdy doo, try driving on the North Circular in London at 5pm on a weekday, I guarantee you’ll never moan about our 20 minute (maximum) traffic jams again.
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Blimey S_F_T you really do have a lot to find fault with; best the island go back to horse and cart then as that is what the roads were really designed for eh!
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Time for the Courts to create a new offence of “driving in a manner likely to result in a Darwin Award”.
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