Six dead in Sussex road accidents

[El Presidente]

SIX people have died in a day of carnage on Sussex roads.

A man was arrested after three people were killed in a three-vehicle pile-up on a dual carriageway - one of four fatal accidents in 24 hours.

A 37-year-old man from Billingshurst, a 38-year-old woman from Worthing and a 39-year-old man from Dorset died when a van collided with their stationary Mazda 626 by the Coach and Horses pub on the A27 at Salvington.

They had been involved in a minor collision with a Honda Accord at about midnight on Thursday and had just come to a halt before they were killed, along with a dog, in the second collision.

A man in the Honda was taken to Worthing Hospital with a serious chest injury. The van driver suffered minor injuries.

Less than seven hours earlier, Stephen Darby, 31, from Littlehampton, was killed in a head-on smash on the A29 at Slinfold at 5.15pm.

A 52-year-old man from Kent died in a three-car smash on the B2110 Withyham Road at Groombridge, near Crowborough, at 12.25pm and a man from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was killed when his car spun out of control and crashed into a tree on the B2112 Ditchling Road at Wivelsfield at 11.15pm.

Assistant Chief Constable Tony Toynton said drink was likely to have played a part in at least two of the crashes.

Terrible news at this time of year, why do so many twats still Drink and Drive?

 

[Strike]

Agree I think people should not drive if they have had a drink at all. Ironic as I am a bit pissed and just back from clubbing in Brighton. RIP to those unlucky ones.

 

[A Melbourne Albion Supporter]

I wish everyone a safe time, especially drivng over Christmas.

 

[Gwylan]

Sussex police said they'd stopped nearly 70 drivers over the limit last week.

I find it incredible that people still risk their lives and someone else's for a couple of beers.

 

[B.M.F]

There was a nasty one on Tuesday when I was driving back from Slinfold. Luckily the driver of the car involved managed to get out of his car without injury which was surprising as it was on its roof at the time.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

The 37 year old mans Mother came into my Sisters Shop yesterday and was in utter shock

He also used to live in Littlehampton

 

[Bakesy]

Agree I think people should not drive if they have had a drink at all. Ironic as I am a bit pissed and just back from clubbing in Brighton. RIP to those unlucky ones.

Not ironic at all.............there's nothing wrong with drinking if you're not driving afterwards.............why cars don't have a breathaliser linked with the ignition system beats me..........the technology is there and would save hundreds of lives

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

The best thing is to follow the Swedish Police Procedure.

Zero Drinking policy if you drive.No grey areas there at all and a lot of lives saved I would think

 

[Bakesy]

The best thing is to follow the Swedish Police Procedure.

Zero Drinking policy if you drive.No grey areas there at all and a lot of lives saved I would think

Fully agree.........i like a good drink just like the next bloke, but if i'm driving i won't even have one.
Even one pint on an empty stomach can have an effect........and i get the taste for it so it's too easy to have that second pint and think"i'll be ok"

 

[The Clown of Pevensey Bay]

The problem isn't necessarily drink (and we don't know whether any of the drivers in these cases were drunk). I think it's a combination of impatience and crap country roads. Where I live in Cumbria there's only one proper dual carriageway, besides the M6, and it's England's second largest county. There are too many opportunities for shonky overtaking, or driving too fast round inappropriate corners. Knowing the roads of rural Sussex as I do, it's pretty similar.

I don't know what the answer is, really. Perhaps younger and less experienced drivers should be taught to calm down a bit.

 

[moggy]

you have to feel sympathy for the ones who have lost their lives in all these accidents but i have to say, so many people seem to be taking unneccessary risks while driving this last week!!!
the number of near accidents i've personally seen or just missed myself by people just in a hurry have amazed me.

is it worth the risk of losing your life just to get to the shops quicker, to start your xmas hols earlier or for other reasons this time of the year?

i don't think so.

take a bit extra time and get to where you're going safely!!!

 

[Tricky Dicky]

The best thing is to follow the Swedish Police Procedure.

Zero Drinking policy if you drive.No grey areas there at all and a lot of lives saved I would think

While I agree with this sentiment, I think zero tolerance is very difficult to enforce - and unfortunatley the worse offenders don't give a toss about limits anyway, they would still carry on.

 

[BensGrandad]

The problem is the unknown. No body knows if they have had 2 drinks whether they are fit or not as some people are able to pass the breatherlyser some wouldn't it is up to the individuals make up and metabolism. The sensible answer is as somebody said like Sweden zero you then know the exact answer.

Baksey idea of breatherlyser incorporated in the ignition sysytem would not work becuse unscrupulous people would get their 5 year old to start the car.

How many people on here have a night on the piss and then drive to work in the morning!!!!!! There lies a major problem.

I think the answer is zero reading but have breatherlyser kits available to purchse that can be authenticated by DNA or whatever and used as evidence in a court of law to prove that a person has taken a test and passed it before driving.

 

[Jam The Man]

Saw a green sports car virtually ripped in half on the A27 at Lancing at 3pm-ish yesterday.. extremely disturbing. Particularly poignant as I was listening to Chris Rea's Driving Home For Christmas at the time, and it struck me that's not what was going to happen for the people involved.

 

[Beach Hut]

I wish people would try and take a bit of responsibility with this.

It's not hard, we all like a drink or two but just don't get in the car and drive.

It's a bit of a no brainer to me.

 

[BensGrandad]

When I had a pub I could never understand the people who drove to the pub had one pint of beer and then drank Coca Cola all night or vice versa drank soft drinks all night then had 1 beer at the end of the evening why botherwith having even 1.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

When I had a pub I could never understand the people who drove to the pub had one pint of beer and then drank Coca Cola all night or vice versa drank soft drinks all night then had 1 beer at the end of the evening why botherwith having even 1.

Agreed, I never drink anything if I have to drive - I wouldn't want that doubt in my mind if anything did happen, even if I was legally ok. Your earlier point about people still being over the limit the next morning and driving is a very good one - I bet not many people think about that.

 

[zefarelly]

I love driving
I love a drink

but never the two do meet, the car is on the drive and won't get touched until Boxing Day at the earliest !

 

[BensGrandad]

How many people would pass a breatherlyser at 10.am when they go visiting on Christmas Morning or on the way to QPR match.

 

[Gully]

I don't think the problem is totally with young drivers, look at the death toll from yesterday, not one person aged under 30. I haven't lived in Sussex for quite a few years now but even then identified the problem as older drivers taking a risk, safe in the knowledge that they would not get caught. I drank occasionally in the pubs around West Chiltington, a very rural village, I can say with a high degree of certainty that a large percentage of those people drinking there would be driving home.

Following the reorganisation of the Police divisions there was a large chunk of the county that went almost totally un-policed at the weekends and on evenings, resources were concentrated in the larger towns trying to keep the lid on things there. Perhaps the Sussex police should try sting operations like they do in parts of Scotland, they go round pub car parks and put small reflective stickers on the bumpers of all the cars there, later in the evening they pull over and breathalise any driver of a car with a sticker on it. Someone above cited the example of Sweden, I understand that the police wait at ferry terminals and breathalise drivers of all vehicles, just in case they are tempted to enter the country in an unfit state to drive.

This may sound somewhat draconian but I am sure there are plenty of people on here whose lives have been impacted by the effects of drinking and driving, I would certainly not consider it an infringement of my civil liberties to be pulled over by a cop and asked to take a breathaliser test. At the moment we don't know what the causes for the deaths of yesterday were, it is reasonable to say that stricter drinking and driving rules may have saved a life.