Mobile phone death driver jailed

"Anyone wanting an illustration of using mobile phones in a vehicle only has to look at the facts of this case. You struck a vehicle driving a 7.5 ton lorry. It ran over the back of it and it was crushed and became half its length and unrecognisable. This was because your attention was distracted. You did not see the signs ahead. You did not see the queues ahead."

So said Recorder Michael Brodrick of lorry driver John Payne, 31, who was using his mobile phone just before he smashed into a stationary car and killed a 23-year-old woman! He has been jailed for four years.

I would hope this is a salutory lesson to all. Whilst walking around, I see on a daily basis in Solihull people using mobile phones - BMWs, SUVs, white van drivers, young women in sports cars - all sorts, driving as if it didn't matter. I've even remonstrated with some (at traffic lights,etc). Do they mind? Not in the slightest!

I guarantee that if you walk about your local town, you will see about two every ten minutes (assuming there's a steady flow of traffic) and they all seem oblivious of their social responsibilities.

Well, there's a jailbird now, John Payne, who has got a couple of years to reflect on his criminal stupidity. And of the woman he hit? Let's not forget that Trinity Taylor died after suffering massive chest and head injuries.

So anyone out there rushing around in a tailspin, trying to chat to whoever, remember that the gas guzzler you've got is a potential killing machine. And I know that it's no joke using a pedestrian crossing when a flash git in a sports car slams on the brakes because he's talking on a mobile with his mind OFF the road!

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