Fatal accident in Penge 31/8/16

At some point recently a 23 year old male decided to take a car which didn't belong to him, for a drive.
In the time following this decision, the vehicle had been reported stolen, spotted by the police, and requested to stop by a marked police road traffic unit.
Subsequently the male decided today was not a good day to stop and be arrested, so failed to stop. With two marked Met Police road traffic units behind him, the man decided to lead them on a chase through the streets of South London, and eventually lost control on Lennard Road in Penge, SE London.

Tragically, he struck a number of pedestrians as he lost control, killing two instantly, and injuring a number more, who required hospitalisation. From a simple failing to stop and possible TWoC, to death by dangerous driving. Tonight family and friends of the victims of this event will be desperately looking for answers. Why their loved ones, how did this happen, who they should blame?

The majority of law abiding citizens will have it clear in their heads. A crime was committed, the police took action, it ended tragically. A car thief failed to stop, drove like an idiot, and killed their friends or family. Critically there is the point of the thief was only driving like this because he was being pursued. Or was he? Maybe his erratic driving is what drew their attention to him in the first place. Maybe he was fleeing an offence he had just committed. Whatever the case, it doesn't change the facts of what happened.

There are also others involved in this, and affected by it. The 23 year old male who now has this action playing over and over in his mind, and the guilt already eating away at him. The officers and other first responders, as well as the public who all assisted at the scene. A scene like this is not one you are about to forget quickly. One moment, dozens of lives affected for a long time.

So who do you blame, and how do you decide that?
If the guy didn't steal the car, it would not have happened.
If he stopped for the police, it would not have happened.
If he hadn't lost control, it would not have happened.
If they had not been standing there,it would not have happened.
If the police had not chased him, it would not have happened.
If they had aborted the chase, it would not have happened.

Lot's of if's there. But the fact of the matter is, it DID happen, and both parties must stand accountable for their roles in the events of today.
When you compare the sequence of events, one certainly looks worse than the other. The 23yr old male decided to take a car, uninsured, not belonging to him, and drive it around. No protocols, no rules. Just do as he pleases. When challenged by Met Police officers he made the decision not to stop, and began to flee. At this point a pursuit begins.
Over to the police.
On identifying and targeting the stolen vehicle, a stop would be put in. Lights and maybe sirens, directing the vehicle to stop. Meanwhile they would contact the control room and advise they have made contact with a stolen vehicle, and no failing to stop. As commentary begins, the inspector in the control room would observe and authorise or call off the pursuit. The officers would advise of the road conditions, speeds, driving manner. Conditions for the day, dry, clear, and average to low traffic volumes, this would usually dictate safe to pursue.
As it progressed a number of trained and experienced officers would continually make assessment, and decide to continue or abort. With 2 cars in pursuit, that is an extra opinion.

With all this in mind, it is quite mind boggling that in this day and age, so many people have taken to Twitter and other forms of social media to attack and blame the police. Stating it wasn't necessary, a car isn't worth a life, unjustified, excessive and many other ways of saying the police were wrong to chase a car, on what the media describe as a "quiet residential area" which is also a bus route (go figure)

Of course it is easy to look on in retrospect, with no responsibility in the matter and say coulda, shoulda, woulda. But the truth is, none of us were involved in those decisions. Very few people know the actual situation front to back. Had the car been involved in something else, was there a more pressing reason to get the vehicle stopped.

Now it is great to see that many people are aware of NPAS, and their ability to control a pursuit. But even based at the nearest location, their flight time is a few minutes from lifting, I have seen them in action, it's quick but not instantaneous. How long was the pursuit from start to finish, was there even time to request NPAS, if so, where was the nearest aircraft, was it even available. It is so easy to assume all resources are available at the drop of a hat, and look back with hindsight and say how a matter should have been handled. But the raw facts remain. A car was stolen, spotted, and requested to stop. It decided not to, and the police have a job to do.

Some of the responses on Twitter have ranged from making me angry at the ignorance or direct hatred of the police, to making me worry for the mental welfare of the people writing these things. I know some seeme as "pro police" or a mindwashed follower, but I have always tried to see both sides, especially when on the wrong side myself. On this occasion, to me at least, it is clear as day who is in the wrong.

So lets have a look at some of the tweets about the decision the police made today.

@EmeraldCityTrax  6h6 hours ago

@SkyNews How it's still deemed sensible to chase stolen cars at incredibly high speeds through build up areas is beyond me

@Nolfem  4h4 hours ago

@SkyNews why do Police insist on chasing these low life scumbags, risking our lives they should use intell to find them we know who they r..

@lewisbaker12345  6h6 hours ago

@SkyNews why are 2 police giving chase at them speeds at this time I'n the day on school holidays #stupid

@lewisbaker12345  6h6 hours ago

@AndrewY13422686 @SkyNews I'm sure we wil find out but I'm sure there told not to give chase on school holidays full of pedestrian

@Finlaybob301  4h4 hours ago

@SkyNews police have a duty off care.. Even when in police pursuits! Bottom line is innocents have died! Unnacceptable

So as you can see, some people certainly think the police are in the wrong. Fair to have an opinion of course, and fair play for airing it. 

Whatever you think about the matter, whatever your opinion. Please take a minute to think of the friends and families of ALL of those involved in today's events in Penge. 

For me, its plain and simple. Tragic, heartbreaking, but the results of the decisions an unnamed 23 yr old male made today. The police carried out their job, which will be scrutinised, dash cam footage reviewed, witnesses sought and interviewed by the IPCC, and a full investigation carried out on anyone who made a decision on that side of the fence during the event. The 23yr old male, well, I am sure he will have a compelling story to the delight of those wanting to find blame in the police trying to do their jobs.  

I wonder if the media can bring race into this at some point.

How the hell....

Small 20mph residential road with traffic calming measures, wet surface, early morning 'must get there' state of mind and most of all SPEED... That's how the hell you get an accident of such magnitude on a small road like this.
I walk this road daily while walking my dogs, sometimes straight up from where the distant shot was taken from, and other times emerging from the side road where the accident begun.

So let's hypothesise how all this happened shall we... Here is my take on it.

The Saab enters from the bottom of Kemble Road, picking up speed as it travels up the road. This road is a rat run, and the poor traffic calming just encourage it really. As the Saab approaches Loxton Road, about 75 metres up on its right, a Mini begins to emerge. I can only assume at this point there was a misjudgement of intention and speed, and the Mini is now 45 degrees into the path of the Saab.
The first impact occurs Saab offside front to Mini nearside door, punching the Mini off to the right, and causing the Saab to veer to the left (more than it already may be doing for evasive action.
As the Saab moves left it now makes a second impact with a parked Fiesta, this time Saab nearside front to Fiesta offside door. This impact heavier that that to the Mini, joins the cars together for a moment, causing the Saab to drag the Fiesta up the road a little causing the Fiesta's frontal impact with the tree. This impact frees the cars once again and the Saab now missing its nearside drive components, grinds to a halt.

Meanwhile on the other side of the road the Mini comes to rest quite firmly in the rear end of the 4th vehicle involved, this time a parked Micra.

My biggest worry is I know people who live on this junction, and I quite frequently stand and chat on the adjacent pavements. The sheer scattering of cars and debris could have caused nasty injuries to passing pedestrians.

The next concern is speed. I would say I'm not pointing fingers here, but the fact is I AM! Given the speed limit on the road, and the position of the cars post-accident, I would have to say the manner the Saab was driven is was almost reckless. Travelling @ 20mph, the impact with the Mini alone would have been almost enough to stop the Saab in its tracks. The fact it managed to punt the Mini so hard, and so far out of its way suggests there was either no time to react, or there was speed involved..

But that's not all. Not only was there such a violent punt, but then the Saab managed to carry enough speed (one would assume now under braking) that it struck a parked car further up the road. Again, under normal circumstances I would expect the second impact with a this time stationary object to end the motion of the car. However once again it doesn't. The impact is violent enough to embed the Saab in the Fiesta, transfer motion into the stationary and one would assume secured Fiesta. So much energy transfer that it managed to propel the Fiesta at a great enough speed into a nearby tree to cause extensive damage to the front of the vehicle.

NOW... The Saab is STILL carrying enough inertia to keep going still, separating from the Fiesta and continuing another car length before finally coming to rest. Assuming throughout this accident a reasonable reaction was made to try and stop the vehicle, the distance travelled and damage caused is quite astounding.

So, people of Forest Hill, and those who travel through it or to it for work.... Slow down eh!

I'm not for one second here saying the Mini didn't fail to look left, and pulled straight into the path of the Saab, causing an immediate, heavy impact. But I would say the damage from the subsequent impacts indicate the Saab was doing more than the posted 20. Maybe its time that Kemble Road was furnished with full length speed humps.?

OK, so just for a little clarification of the start and finish positions of the vehicles were, here is a little diagram.

Arrows are starting points of cars, rectangles end points. Stars are impacts (pink 1st, red 2nd.) Colours of symbols refer to the colour of the vehicle.
Hopefully this demonstrates the distance travelled by the Saab in total, and the road layout and markings.

Ten years later.

The next 48 hours see the commemoration of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre. The world watched on live on television as almost three thousand people died right before our eyes. With the introduction on the flood of live feeds of media that surged to the forefront of news reporting, this was the first time the modern world would watch a truly dreadful disaster unfold, live around the world.

The murder of a single person alone is so very wrong, but to witness the murders of so many people in such a way changed the way the average person perceives and understands religious fanatics, terrorism, and the simple vulnerability of human life. People in the buildings, on the planes, on the ground, going about their daily business were wiped out in the blink of an eye. Not a single pedestrian hit by a speeding car, nor a cowardly robbery going wrong, but something unimaginable and far far worse.

Many people lived out their last 30-60 minutes being held captive on hijacked planes, not knowing or understanding the causes they were being held for, and certainly never expecting to be used a missile being smashed into a building full of innocent people. A brave few tried to take control of the planes back, other desperately tried to contact loved ones on the ground to find out what was happening.

The whole world so learned this story, tales of amazing escape, horrific death, and how fate controlled who died that day. People over sleeping, others getting to work early and so on. Look at it from any perspective and the outcome is the same, fanatical religious people making a statement reigned terror on a previously safe country, taking the lives of almost 3,000 people, and changing the way the world functions forever more. Airport security, cargo scanning, and the worlds understanding of the lengths a fanatic will go to to get their 'message' across.

The result.. A decade of war, thousands more dying, and in reality absolutely no change to the state of things, other than what I can only call a poorer quality of life for those tangled up in all of this. Muslims around the world looked at in a different way, negative light brought to the Islamic nations of the world, making the mass public believe they stand for terror and are fanatically religious, instability in society. Sweeping judgements made on people because they 'fit the description' and so on.

On Sept 11 2001, a group of cowardly individuals, believing themselves to be martyrs, messengers from their god, reigned terror on the western world. Instead of achieving what they felt they would, by terrorising the world, they actually called upon the world to rise up against them, and all those people of similar beliefs, and rage war against them. Was the declaration of war against themselves worth the 3,000 people who died in the attacks, of course it wasn't. But is the price for their actions finally being paid, I believe so.

A decade on Afghanistan stands strong, and as it has for decades of the past, it remains defiant and impenetrable, certainly to the western influences on it anyway. Russia, USA, NATO, UN.. And so on, no body has ever had a positive impact on the goings on inside the country. However on the grand scheme of things 9/11 didn't impact avery aspect of life in the USA either, but it made some changes that will last for ever. Looking at it this way, it is fair to say that the efforts in Afghanistan from the outside world have done the same. Reducing poppy crops, taking money away from the Taliban, and impacting their effectiveness. Changing the mindset of some of those in the country, slowly installing a greater change from within.

Ten years on I believe in a strange way, we are all somehow wiser. Continued television coverage of efforts inside the country, tales from both sides of the fences told openly have enriched the worlds understanding of so much.
We are better educated about the Koran. Ten years ago a lot of people could not even tell you what it was, let alone much about the muslim faith. Now we are wiser, intelligent in our decisions and understandings of what these other religions other than christianity are all about.
We now see the plight of the normal people within these countries, and what these people really want. Not the fanatical regimes who have brainwashed the world into believing the whole country wishes to rage war against the UK or USA, but the other 99.9% who just want a free life, to live the way their elders did, and to follow the peaceful beliefs they have.
Libya stands as a great example of this. For so many years standing before as a nation of terror, responsible for Lockerbie, threatening danger and attacks at any moment. Yet suddenly we see the majority of the countryman standing up, rising above the regime, and putting their lives on the line to fight for a free existence, and no longer be repressed by the regime which has stood stong for four decades, and threatened to be handed down through the ruling family.

Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, where next? As the world continues to evolve, as man continues to grow wiser, and become more interested and educated in how fragile the divide between cultures really is, we can only hope that more nations revolt under their own steam, rather than the example of Iraq, where many years later, due to our misunderstandings, and misguided expectations of another culture, prevent us from having the effect we always claimed we wanted to achieve.

So tomorrow, as the world falls silent once again in respect of the innocent people who died in the attacks on the USA on 9/11 ten years ago, and hopefully also remembering those of 7/7 who were used in such a sacrificial way, a little light inside of me will glow a little brighter. As we remember those who perished, for a short moment the world will unite, one single shared thought on our minds, proving that race, religion, ethnicity, social class and whatever other pigeon holes exist, have no baring on our ability to believe.
Unity makes the world a stronger place, and tomorrows example will hopefully be another step closer to man understanding just how precious life really is. Your culture may not be mine, but I respect all other cultures, and believe the one common goal of all cultures are religion is a full and worthwhile life for all.

Thank you for reading this somewhat epic entry.
I will never forget the day I spent watching Sky news for 24 hours, watching the world I knew change for ever.

RIP all those who died on this day, and in subsequent campaigns of both peace and terror.

Just as a footnote. With all this speak of peace I have just done, I would like to say anyone who preaches hatred on this day as other grieve and show their respects, deserves no mercy and should be punished to the full extent of the law.
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