Donegal Crash: Respect for the dead?

It says here [broken link removed] that the driver was convicted in 2007 of dangerous driving. Which would have made him about 20 when convicted. I have family in Donegal and it is a county I hate driving in, particularly at night, there are more dangerous drivers there I have never felt as unsafe driving anywhere else due to the speeds I see on the roads in Donegal. I am very sad thinking of that poor pensioner losing his life after a night at bingo where he was delighted winning €65, he sat every week with his friends having a night out at bingo. It is sad those young men died, sadder that their irresponsibility of piling 8 into a car and careless driving is what caused the tragedy.
 
Pique318 said:
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I believe that everyone of their age should be shown the car wreckage of this and other crashes involving similarly aged people. Bravado would soon be eliminated if the realities of what can happen are shown up close.
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Honestly I am not even sure that would work. Just under 3 years ago a young (21 yr old) friend of mine was killed in a car crash. He was a passenger, been out all night, as had the driver and 2 other passengers. One passenger had earlier got out of the vehicle, the 2nd one ended up with a broken arm, driver escaped unhurt. Despite the deep shock at seeing him lying in his coffin, within a matter of weeks I was hearing them saying how they were ok to drive home after "only" a few beers or "only" a bottle of wine or seeing first hand the speeds they drove at. I was dismayed that the death of their friend and the sight of him lying there was not enough of a wake up call. Only 2 weeks before he died he had crashed his own car while being over the limit. As sad as his death was there was a certain amount of inevitability about it

As for the driver of the car in Donegal getting the book thrown at him..some hope. The driver of my friend's car, despite having previous driving convictions and being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving was sentenced to 3 years, will serve 2 at the most and will be out in March next year at the latest.
 
I believe the Mr. Kelly who was convicted is not the same Mr Kelly. The media have jumped on this one, even though they have the name wrong. It's a bit like saying 'Mr Murphy' from Cork was convicted of....
 
Reminds me of the case in Monaghan in 2007.
5 young men killed

The media reported they were playing chicken on the roads but the parish priest lashed out and didn't want any comments as it upset the families.

So we didn't realy learn anything from it
 
colin79ie said:
I believe the Mr. Kelly who was convicted is not the same Mr Kelly. The media have jumped on this one, even though they have the name wrong. It's a bit like saying 'Mr Murphy' from Cork was convicted of....
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Either you believe or you know.

Which is it?
 


In fairness what do we need to learn to understand that playing chicken isn't a good idea. Stories gather speed and get blown beyond the truth.
 
I find it vary hard to have any sympathy for the 7 guys who died (ok, I have none what so ever). They all knew what they were doing.

I have huge sympathy for the auld guy who was on his way home from Bingo and I have huge sympathy for the families of all of those who died.

I would like to see the driver prosecuted on 8 counts of murder.
 

Bit of a contradiction if you want to prosecute one person for murder, yet you are also implying it was the victims own fault for being "murdered".

Murder also requires intent, I doubt very much if the driver set out intending to kill 8 people.

Having said that, he is repsonsible for his passengers and in the same way if I have someone in my back seat with no belt on and I get stopped by the gardai, I'm going to get the fine/points, not the passenger. Ultimately the driver is responsible for allowing 7 people in his car, some of whom cannot have been wearing belts and if he was driving dangerously (and we can probably assume he was), then a prosecution for manslaughter will surely follow
 

Hear hear, though I would say manslaughter would be the appropriate charge if the overcrowding in the car and speed were to be proved in court.
 
shnaek said:
Hear hear, though I would say manslaughter would be the appropriate charge if the overcrowding in the car and speed were to be proved in court.
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I suspect thats what will happen to him. There are already witnesses that he was driving dangerously.
However, I wonder if rather than spending a few years in prision, but it be of more benefit if he was made spend a couple of years visiting schools all over the country and telling his story?
 

So 7 young guys decide to do something foolish one night and it results in them being killed and another man also killed. You say good enough for them?
We have all done stupid things and most of us have been lucky enough to get away with it.
 
I have huge sympathy for tha families and for that man who lost his life. I have some sympathy for the 7 involved as they paid the ultimate price for a moment of utter stupidity. But they're reckless action of over-crowding a car and the driver's outright disregard for the rules of the road and its users caused this accident.

The 7 guys did a foolish thing. We have all done stupid things but I would hope that most of us have never put others at risk by doing something so blatantly dangerous.
 
MrMan said:
So 7 young guys decide to do something foolish one night and it results in them being killed and another man also killed. You say good enough for them?
We have all done stupid things and most of us have been lucky enough to get away with it.
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Where did he say 'good enough for them'? Nobody deserved to die but there was only one person in that crash who didn't go out and risk his life through idiotic actions.

It is the most tragic story one can imagine and we can all have sympathy for all the dead and their families but let's not pretend that it was simply an unfortunate accicent because it wasn't.
 
MrMan said:
So 7 young guys decide to do something foolish one night and it results in them being killed and another man also killed. You say good enough for them?
We have all done stupid things and most of us have been lucky enough to get away with it.
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8 Young men go out and knowingly do something very dangerous and highly illegal showing no regard for their lives or the lives of others or the grief and suffering they will inflict on their families and the families of those they kill. Shame on them all, most particularly the driver of the car.
 

What they did is Darwin Awards stuff.
 
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