Que. man in fatal crash says he didn't know speedometer was in miles

[Praxius]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2008/01/24/qc-odometertrial0124.html

A Quebec man charged with killing a woman and seriously injuring her young son told a judge he didn't know the speedometer in his sports-utility vehicle was displaying the speed in miles per hour.

On June 15, 2005, Martin Ferland lost control of his Chevrolet Trailblazer and crashed head-on into a car driven by Louise Roy, whose four-year-old son was also in the car. Roy was killed instantly.

On the final day of his criminal trial on Wednesday at the Sherbrooke Courthouse, Ferland, 34, told Quebec Judge Michel Côté that he was driving between 90 and 100 in the moments before the crash.

What Ferland didn't know is those numbers were displaying miles per hour rather than kilometres per hour.

Ferland was actually speeding along at 160 km/h. He told the judge he was stunned when he realized how fast he was going.

The day of the accident marked the first time Ferland had used the Trailblazer.

He also said a heavy rain the day of the crash blinded him a few seconds before the collision.

The defence lawyer said the weather had more to do with the crash, which he considered an accident.

But the Crown said Ferland was driving way too fast, even if he didn't know his speed.

"Even at 100 km/h, it's dangerous to pass another vehicle … he had the obligation to reduce his speed in conditions where he wasn't able to see in front of him," said Crown prosecutor Corinne Girard.

The judge will render his verdict on April 3.

Exactly... what moron can't tell the difference between 90-100kmh and 160kmh? Frig, my car when I took it to 160 shook and felt like it was lifting off the ground..... You kinda notice that.

Second, wouldn't he have noticed he was going a lot faster then everybody else?

Third.... even if it was rainy out and had an effect on the outcome of the accident, hydroplanes occrur the most once you pass 90kmh anyways.... the idiot shouldn't have even been going that fast.

Forth.... Who buys a frigging car and doesn't look it over in detail? Oh ok... I'll just buy this car and hop in expecting everything will be alright. And don't most, if not all cars in Canada display both Miles and Kilometers? He must have bought it in the US perhaps.

^ But then wouldn't that automatically make you think "Hey... this car might be displaying Miles"

What a tool.

 

[#juan]

Going a hundred miles an hour on public roads is bad enough, but a hundred mikes an hour in a bloody Trailblazer is just stupid. There are worse handling vehicles out there but most of them, thank God, won't do a hundred miles an hour.