He thought it was the hard shoulder (hard shoulder being on the right in Germany), and another truck plowed into the back killing its driver.... A tragic accident. Oh well, one of those things, an honest mistake and no-one is to blame.

http://www.thisiscourier.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=142737&command=displayContent&sourceNode=142730&contentPK=17809155&folderPk=82904&pNodeId=142747

Not like this case, where a British motorcyclist stopping in the fast lane to use his phone, causing a crash.

http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/content/eveningstar/news/story.aspx?brand=ESTOnline&category=news&tBrand=ESTOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=IPED01%20Aug%202007%2013%3A24%3A29%3A137

The British motorcyclist got a 12 supervision order and 12 month driving ban. The german lorry driver got 4 YEAR PRISON SENTENCE. They plan to use the European Arrest Warrant to extradite him.

No racism there at all, no sir. Perhaps if they check his fingerprints he was a former asylum seeker and that will make it all right.

This story is so Foul!

Had to say it.

Will he end up doing bird?

I'm struggling to work out who is more culpable here. Is it the 17 year old joy-riding idiot or the 'Battery-farming' mo-fo's who kept 1000 stressed chickens locked up in a shed in the first place?

I reckon the other 700 chickens probably wish it was them that died...

He totally plucked up there.

Wonder if they stopped off at KFC

And it'll be a poultry sum I bet.

I read the comment "Did you hear about the German Lorry Driver who stopped in the M26 fast lane?" and followed the links. I could find no story concerning a motorcyclist, just one about yet another stupid teenage motorist. The motorist stopped in the outside lane because his bonnet had come loose, not to use his telephone. (Some people cannot read.)

to Anon, read the articles, not a motorcycle a car, no deaths only one serious injury. only used phone in fast lane after the bonnet incident, so possibility of imparement due to shock.

Stopping in the fast lane because its what you do at home is no excuse, because you are not at home! one person died and two were severly injured. so yes it is worse.

The German driver stopped to read a map, and a fatal accident resulted. It seems he couldn't be bothered to turn up to put his side of the case.

The British car (not motorcycle) driver stopped after a loose-bonnet incident (which he should have prevented) and no-one was killed.

>>"Oh well, one of those things, an honest mistake and no-one is to blame."

Someone was at least partly to blame - the supposed professional driver who parked a vehicle where it shouldn't have been.

Lorry driver makes stupid mistake, one person is killed and two people seriously hurt. He refuses to show up in court and gets 4 years in jail.

Motorist (NOT motorcyclist) makes similar stupid mistake, his passenger gets hurt but no-one is killed, he pleads guilty, gets 3-month tagged 'house arrest', plus 12 month supervisory order & driving ban.

Doesn't seem too out of order.

PS "German" and "British" are nationalities, not races.

Where is the IT angle to this story?

and also poor chickens never get a

break.

Weren't they going to kill them anyway ?

Sorry I'd say four years for killing someone is quite reasonable, the mere fact that the guy has refused to attend court after killing someone shows to me and no doubt the judge that he has little regard for the life his mistake took away.

The lad on the A14 'fessed up to it (although with a fractured spine he probably wasn't in a position to argue) and could be put down to him genuinely panicking given the circumstances (I've had a bonnet catch let go on the M25 and I can assure you it definitely qualifies as a brown-trouser moment).

Given that nobody died in the later of the two incidents and that the accused actually bothered to turn up for the trial I think the punishment that he got was appropriate.

Perhaps the anonymous poster is a little too keen to jump on the race bandwagon and is therefore blinkered to any other facts which may have swayed the judge/jury.

Maybe no angle, but also maybe the drunken teen used his gps to track to the nearest barn~

Well let's not have PETA "aggroed" to this article and stop the jokes.

That joyrider surely had egg on his face.

...Well, that's certainly a feather in HIS bonnet!

(Now, where'd I leave my coat...?)

That's actually very low. The poultry sheds you see in the UK contain 20-25,000 hens.

If they leave a window open, it counts as free range.

No need for the chickens to cross the road anymore.

It's a zen thing -- the road comes to the chickens instead.

It is, or used to be, the law in at least parts of the USA that drivers are responsible for avoiding obstructions. If there's something immobile in the road you're supposed to swerve or stop or do whatever's necessary to avoid colliding with it. If you can't manage that you're driving too fast and probably negligent.

So I'd say the incident was just evolution at work. The dead guy's contribution to the gene pool probably wasn't going to be that great anyway.

Q: Why did the German Lorry Driver cross the road?

A: Oh, for some fowl reason.

Martin

...that is why the chicken crossed the road. He was being chased by a German tanked teen.

(Grabs coat)

I don't beak-lieve it! The authorities must have been in a flap when they got the call and now they've realised the worldwide comedy potential they've decided to crow about it. I heard the man was drunk as he'd been down the pub because he'd had enough of his wife's hen-pecking.

Sorry.

Was he egged on by his mates? He certainly ended up before the beak.

...most fowl.

ich erhalte meinen Mantel

"It is, or used to be, the law in at least parts of the USA that drivers are responsible for avoiding obstructions. If there's something immobile in the road you're supposed to swerve or stop or do whatever's necessary to avoid colliding with it. If you can't manage that you're driving too fast and probably negligent.

So I'd say the incident was just evolution at work. The dead guy's contribution to the gene pool probably wasn't going to be that great anyway."

>> Thats a bit harsh on the dead guy I expect he would have tried to avoid it if he could.

It was at night on an unlit section of the motorway, the lorry and trailer were very poorly lit. No one drives down the motorway expecting to meet that at 70mph, and it sounds like the trailer was at an angle to the cab, so he may have been blocking two lanes which makes it very difficult to swerve around.

Anyway you yankees drive like a complete bunch of morons in my experience, you could do with a more difficult driving test something approaching the level we have over here.