Swedish woman blames drink driving crash on Brexit

Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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Brexit gets blamed for many things, but this just takes the biscuit...

A boozed-up Swedish mother who ploughed her car into a ditch has blamed Brexit anxiety for the drink-drive crash.

Johanna Jeppson, 50, has said that Britain's looming October 31 departure date has left her fretting about losing benefits which could saddle her with 'catastrophic debts'.

"Left her fretting about losing benefits " - it just about says it all, really.

Swedish mother blames Brexit for drink driving crash: Fifty-year-old says stress of potentially losing her benefits made her crash her car into a ditch while nearly four times over the drink-drive limit

Johanna Jeppson, 50 blamed the looming October departure date on the crash
She overturned her vehicle on February 22 in Kintessack, Moray, in Scotland
She claims she was fretting about losing benefits and being lumped with debt

By Jack Elsom For Mailonline
6 July 2019

A boozed-up Swedish mother who ploughed her car into a ditch has blamed Brexit anxiety for the drink-drive crash.

Johanna Jeppson, 50, has said that Britain's looming October 31 departure date has left her fretting about losing benefits which could saddle her with 'catastrophic debts'.

And she maintains that this stress led to her overturning her vehicle in Kintessack, Moray, on February 22 when she was nearly four times over the drink-drive limit.


Johanna Jeppson, 50, has said that Britain's looming October departure date from the bloc has left her fretting about losing benefits and being forced to shoulder 'catastrophic debts'

Her solicitor Grant Daglish told Elgin Sheriff Court: 'This happened during a troubling time for her, as due to Brexit she was unable to apply for benefits which meant that she had to get a part-time job and was left in a difficult situation with catastrophic debt.

'She is not a UK citizen so cannot claim benefits and if she loses her licence today, she could become homeless.

'She lives in a remote area of Moray so her licence is important to her, her parents are trying to assist her as much as possible but they live in Sweden.'

At around 9pm on February 22, Jeppson was driven home and concerned onlookers called an ambulance along with police.

The court heard that officers found her car in the ditch and noticed she smelled strongly of alcohol.


She maintains that this led to the her overturning her vehicle in Kintessack, Moray, on February 22, when she was nearly four over times the drink-drive limit (stock image)

Fiscal depute Alex Swain told the court that Jeppson had been drinking throughout the day and had crashed as she tried to visit a friend.

She said: 'She had red staining on her lips, her speech was slurred, pupilsdilated and she was rambling.'

Jeppsson, of Ellands of Brodie, refused to give a breath specimen when asked and was arrested.

A breath test at the station showed she had 107 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 22mcg.

Mr Daglish said his client had misunderstood the situation and had only refused to give a breath specimen due to shock and her ignorance of UK law.

Jeppsson admitted refusing to give a breath specimen after a police officer suspected her of being in a road accident.

Sheriff Robert McDonald took into account her personal circumstances but told her the seriousness of her offence merited a ban.

He disqualified her from driving for five months and fined her £270.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...es-Brexit-stress-drink-drive-crash-ditch.html
 
Danbones

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Always every thing and everyone else's fault.
;)
drunks are like that.
 
Blackleaf

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Curious Cdn said:
Maybe, it was more that old "driving on the left thing" ...
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I can't see it. Driving on the left is safer. It's one reason why the UK has some of the lowest road deaths rates in the world - in fact, it's behind only Monaco, Vatican City, Micronesia and Kiribati.
 
C

Curious Cdn

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Blackleaf said:
I can't see it. Driving on the left is safer. It's one reason why the UK has some of the lowest road deaths rates in the world - in fact, it's behind only Monaco, Vatican City, Micronesia and Kiribati.
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Why do boats on your canals, ships in your seaways pass each other port-side-to-port-side, like we do in our cars? That morrow boat carnage is famous the world over.
 
taxslave

taxslave

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Vancouver Island
Blackleaf said:
I can't see it. Driving on the left is safer. It's one reason why the UK has some of the lowest road deaths rates in the world - in fact, it's behind only Monaco, Vatican City, Micronesia and Kiribati.
Click to expand...
No it's not. It is awkward and dangerous. Espeially when there is oncoming traffic.
 
Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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Curious Cdn said:
Why do boats on your canals, ships in your seaways pass each other port-side-to-port-side, like we do in our cars? That morrow boat carnage is famous the world over.
Click to expand...

Because of international rules.

Trains travel on the left in Britain, Sweden and France (where the first railways were built by the British).
 
C

Curious Cdn

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Blackleaf said:
Because of international rules.
Trains travel on the left in Britain, Sweden and France (where the first railways were built by the British).
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The Brits made the international rules of shipping, then made a mirror image of them for their roadways.

Stupid Brits.
 
Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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Curious Cdn said:
The Brits made the international rules of shipping, then made a mirror image of them for their roadways.

Stupid Brits.
Click to expand...

Our driving on the left derives from medieval times. In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him.

(Similarly, medieval castle staircases spiral in a clockwise direction going upwards, so the defending soldiers would be able to stab down around the twist but those attacking (going up the stairs) would not.)

Indeed the ‘keep to the left’ rule goes back even further in time; archaeologists have discovered evidence suggesting that the Romans drove carts and wagons on the left, and it is known that Roman soldiers always marched on the left.

This ‘rule of the road’ was officially sanctioned in 1300 AD when Pope Boniface VIII declared that all pilgrims travelling to Rome should keep to the left.



​
This continued until the late 1700s when large wagons became popular for transporting goods. These wagons were drawn by several pairs of horses and had no driver’s seat. Instead, in order to control the horses, the driver sat on the horse at the back left, thus keeping his whip hand free. Sitting on the left however made it difficult to judge the traffic coming the other way, as anyone who has driven a left-hand drive car along the winding lanes of Britain will agree!

These huge wagons were best suited to the wide open spaces and large distances of Canada and the US, and the first keep-to-the-right law was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792, with many Canadian and US states following suit later.

In France a decree of 1792 ordered traffic to keep to the “common” right and Napoleon later enforced the rule in all French territories.

In England there wasn’t much call for these massive wagons and the smaller British vehicles had seats for the driver to sit on behind the horses. As most people are right-handed, the driver would sit to the right of the seat so his whip hand was free.

Traffic congestion in 18th century London led to a law being passed to make all traffic on London Bridge keep to the left inorder to reduce collisions. This rule was incorporated into the Highway Act of 1835 and was adopted throughout the British Empire.



​
There was a movement in the 20th century towards the harmonisation of road laws in Europe and a gradual shift began from driving on the left to the right. The last Europeans to change from left to right were the Swedes who bravely made the change overnight on Dagen H (H Day), September 3rd 1967. At 4.50am all traffic in Sweden stopped for ten minutes before restarting, this time driving on the right.

Today, only 35% of countries drive on the left. These include India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and most recently, Samoa in 2009. Most of these countries are islands but where land borders require a change from left to right, this is usually accomplished using traffic lights, cross-over bridges, one-way systems or similar.

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Why-do-the-British-drive-on-the-left/
 
Blackleaf

Blackleaf

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Curious Cdn said:
Buy yourself a globe, some day. The Canadian perception of Britain is "claustrophobic" whatever the reality of the place is.
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The United Kingdom occupies two islands that are amongst the largest islands in the world - Great Britain and Ireland.

That's why it gets on my tits when people say "Britain is a small island." No, it isnt. Santorini, Long Island, Majorca, Rhodes, Skye, Hawaii, Streymoy, Tarawa and the Maldives are small islands. But Britain is a huge island.
 
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C

Curious Cdn

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Blackleaf said:
The United Kingdom occupies two islands that are in the Top 10 largest islands in the world - Great Britain and Ireland.
That's why it gets on my tits when people say "Britain is a small island." No, it isnt. Santorini, Long Island, Majorca, Rhodes, Skye, Hawaii, Streymoy, Tarawa and the Maldives are small islands. But Britain is a huge island.
Click to expand...
You're about the size of a Canadian province.
 
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