South London car crash

[mr.bluesky]

So sad to hear that another young girl has now died after the Wimbledon school car crash. Not wishing to speculate or point fingers as to the cause of this terrible accident.  I read somewhere that your less likely to survive a collision with this type of vehicle ( SUV's 4x4's or whatever you want to call them) than a normal saloon car but there seems to more of them than ever on the roads nowadays especially driven by women on school runs. You only have to pull into your local supermarket car park to see how many there are. Let's be honest how many people need an off road capability  vehicle   Cannot honestly see the need for them on general roads.

[RandomGuy99]

I agree that there is no real need for Chelsea Tractors but they are fashionable and give the driver a sense of security due to their size and high driving position. They're not practical for British roads or car parks.

It's a very sad situation. Looks like the driver lost control and the fence wasn't really designed to stop vehicles so even a car would have made it through.  I think the school needs to invest in a stronger fence to protect that part of the school.

[Jonestown]

I read somewhere that the drive had suffered a seizure, however if that's so why she was driving at all is problematic.

The new LR Defender is an absurd vehicle to be driving on the roads, out of all proportion to what any urban driver needs.

[diver ted]

Everyone wants to feel safer in the car - unfortunately at the cost of those outside the car generally - and it seems the occupants of the SUV as well.

From 2019
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[RandomGuy99]

I read somewhere that the drive had suffered a seizure, however if that's so why she was driving at all is problematic.

The new LR Defender is an absurd vehicle to be driving on the roads, out of all proportion to what any urban driver needs.

People can suffer seizures at any time without any warning.

I recently had a relative die after having an undetected brain aneurysm burst. Unfortunately he was driving on the motorway at the time. He crashed his car and died.  Fortunately nobody else was involved. 

[lostandfound]

Everyone wants to feel safer in the car - unfortunately at the cost of those outside the car generally - and it seems the occupants of the SUV as well.

From 2019
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Not relevant IMO. EVs are also very heavy. Should they be banned? Is either likely to happen?

Almost any vehicle would knock down a wooden fence and keep going.

[RandomGuy99]

Not relevant IMO. EVs are also very heavy. Should they be banned? Is either likely to happen?

Almost any vehicle would knock down a wooden fence and keep going.

Given the location of that play area by a corner it should really have a decent metal reinforced fence and one of those metal crash barriers like you see on other street when you have paths exiting to provide more protection to the children behind it. It would have least slowed the vehicle down a little, but probably not stopped this accident.

[Thephoenix]

We don't know what caused the woman to lose control, but it could be as simple as the woman not wearing suitable shoes to drive and the foot getting jammed in between the pedals.
I've seen the results of this occuring lots of times.

Despite rule 97 of the highway code warning about driving in unsuitable footwear it's often the case that women in particular will  drive in sandals, flip flops, and even high heels.

[mr.bluesky]

We don't know what caused the woman to lose control, but it could be as simple as the woman not wearing suitable shoes to drive and the foot getting jammed in between the pedals.
I've seen the results of this occuring lots of times.

Despite rule 97 of the highway code warning about driving in unsuitable footwear it's often the case that women in particular will  drive in sandals, flip flops, and even high heels.

According to reports at the time it did seem as though she suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel as she was immediately taken to hospital.  Wether or not she was fit to drive in the first place is another matter , I'm sure the powers to be will do a thorough back ground check on her.

[Drayki]

I’m sure it will all come out in the wash, even if she did have a medical condition, and we don’t know if she did, who’s going to stop nearly 3 tons of metal hurtling towards you, especially if her foot had been stuck on the accelerator, very sad for the parents of them young kids

[bigden40]

I know the section of road, the school is on the last bend before coming up to Wimbledon Golf Club and it’s a bad bend on a stretch where people are often driving too fast.

I know there’s speculation about a “medical issue” with the driver but I would really not be surprised if it was plain old driving too fast and losing control on the bend.

[RandomGuy99]

I know the section of road, the school is on the last bend before coming up to Wimbledon Golf Club and it’s a bad bend on a stretch where people are often driving too fast.

I know there’s speculation about a “medical issue” with the driver but I would really not be surprised if it was plain old driving too fast and losing control on the bend.

I think you could be right. The driver was possibly injured in the crash or traumatised and in shock having seen the damage that was caused. She came through the fence into an unexpected group of children.

I think barriers will probably be installed by the council and a better protective fence by the school.

[mr.bluesky]

I think barriers will probably be installed by the council and a better protective fence by the school.

It's a bit late doing that now, closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

[RandomGuy99]

It's a bit late doing that now, closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Agreed, but something has to be learned from the deaths of these children and measures taken to ensure it never happens again. It does look like a crazy arrangement and a standard garden style wooden fence with no thought given to providing protection from the road.  It looks a bit like an accident waiting to happen. However hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[PepeMAGA]

People can suffer seizures at any time without any warning.

I recently had a relative die after having an undetected brain aneurysm burst. Unfortunately he was driving on the motorway at the time. He crashed his car and died.  Fortunately nobody else was involved.

Think Tesla are or have introduced some way of detecting when someone loses control of the vehicle

[RandomGuy99]

Actually it looks like I was wrong, there were metal barriers in place but they weren't strong enough to stop a Land Rover.


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[RandomGuy99]

But interestingly there used to be Give Way markings on that corner which seem to have disappeared in recent years. The metal barrier by the school gate seems to have a relatively new addition as it wasn't there in 2021.

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And the double yellow no parking lines also seem to have disappeared from the corner as part of the redevelopment of the school site to create the modern block.  It looks like even the yellow zig zag school markings had been worn off the road too.

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And the new high fence makes it a blind corner.

[DastardlyDick]

Actually it looks like I was wrong, there were metal barriers in place but they weren't strong enough to stop a Land Rover.


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Those barriers are mainly meant to stop children running out into the road, or, at beest, a glancing blow from a standard saloon car, not the 2,189kg of a Range Rover.
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As you can see,, "proper" armco  just couldn't be fitted there without probably making the path unusable.

[RandomGuy99]

Looking at the angle at which it hit the school building and took out the fence the vehicle must have been coming from the road where the parking area is across the road.

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[RandomGuy99]

Looking at the pictures after the accident it looks like that metal barrier may not have been there on the day of the accident. It looks like it may have been removed and the pavement patched

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[mr.bluesky]

What is also very sad about this tragic accident is that it was a school party to celebrate the end of term, a tradition they always do. Any other day and that particular area probably would have been clear of kids .
Fate is a strange thing, those two poor girls just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Even if the school had steel bollards in front of it this maybe could have stopped or slowed down this vehicle but you never know .