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“merged entirely with the background”

How exactly do you merge with the background whilst wearing a High Vis Jacket? Being a former Royal Marine I know how hard it is to camouflage yourself completely, to do it whilst wearing high vis is bloody impossible! http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/12910874._I_didn___t_see_the_cyclist____...

A WOMAN accused of causing the death of a Hampshire cyclist through careless driving said she “couldn’t have done more” to notice him before he died.

Sophie Whitmarsh said she didn’t see 70-year-old William Logan seconds before he collided with her blue Audi at Kitnoks Hill in Curdridge.

Mr Logan, from Eastleigh, died at the scene on the A334 between Shedfield and Botley last April when Whitmarsh drove across from Reading Room Lane to enter Outlands Lane on the other side of the road.

Giving evidence at Southampton Crown Court yesterday she told jurors that she didn’t notice Mr Logan until she had pulled out of the junction on her way to Kitnoks Farm.

The prosecution allege that Whitmarsh was responsible for the accident.

When prosecutor Simon Edwards asked if Whitmarsh, 25, still maintained that she didn’t see him, she replied: “not until I heard a scream and looked out my right window.”

She said: “I wish I had seen him because then we wouldn’t be here now.”

She added: “I looked absolutely everywhere I could. I couldn’t have done more. I’m very careful, very competent.”

Earlier she said she knew the junction well and had taken that route to Kitnoks Farm ever since she was a child to see her horse.

Whitmarsh then said that Mr Logan’s body “merged entirely with the background”.

She said she was “completely startled” by the presence of Mr Logan hitting her car despite the prosecution saying he had been wearing a high-visibility jacket as well as a crash helmet and that visibility was good.

Whitmarsh, of Wylye Close, West End, denies causing death by careless driving.

R.I.P. William

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brooksby | 8 years ago
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Quote:

She said: “I wish I had seen him because then we wouldn’t be here now.”

Not "...because then he wouldn't be dead." but "...because I wouldn't have to come to court and maybe lose my licence or something, y'know."

The basic problem is that lots of things merge into the background, are camouflaged, or are invisible, IF YOU DON'T LOOK AT THEM!

(Reminds me of the character in the film Mystery Men - he has the super power of invisibility, but only when nobody is looking at him).

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BrokenBootneck | 8 years ago
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http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/12912968.Jury_urges_action_at_Hampshire_...

From the Judge.....He said he recognised there were a lot of mitigating factors and he was satisfied the case did not warrant a prison sentence but she would be disqualified and have to pay costs, whole or in part.

Judge Ralls described the accident as "a momentary lapse" on Whitmarsh's part, the consequences of which were appalling, and she would have to live with it.

"I would not be surprised if it did not keep her awake at night."

I wonder what the Mitigating factors were?

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BrokenBootneck | 8 years ago
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Love it how the paper states "he collided with her blue Audi"

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brooksby replied to BrokenBootneck | 8 years ago
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BrokenBootneck wrote:

Love it how the paper states "he collided with her blue Audi"

"The victim threw himself at the bullet at nearly a hundred miles an hour".

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