Drink driver Beth Mackie only gets 5 years

[glenn forger]

Getting in the car was a moment of folly. Speeding, another moment of folly. Failing to stop, another mof, lying to the cops, another mof. That's four, how many do you get?

 

[oldstrath]

How many do you get before what?

Has anyone on here actually never made a bad judgement, sober or drunk? This young woman made a series of very poor decisions and she killed someone. She should at least never be allowed to drive a car again. The prison sentence I'm not so sure about.

Well, not one involving lobbing around a tonne or so of metal while completely bladdered. More seriously, I (and probably others) get sick of seeing the police, the CPS and the courts offer up excuse after excuse to let off drivers who maim or kill. Then finally when one is convicted the sentence seems short for the act of taking away a life, regardless of whether it was 'an act of folly' or an act of malicious stupidity.

But ok, I'm no longer young, my stupidities now endanger mostly me and a few other willing participants, and I've never been to jail, so maybe I can't really empathise. There is, as I posted above, a technological fix for this particular kind of stupidity, and probsbly we shoild be asking MPs and cycling organisations to push for that, rather than hoping this one girl will get hammered.

 

[robjh]

One of the questions raised here is how you prevent disqualified drivers from driving anyway. I would favour some kind of personal ID tag linked to the driving licence, that had to be displayed in the windscreen whenever you drive a car, and can be read by road safety cameras, but I don't see a hope in hell of this or any other effective measure being put in place.

 

[young Ed]

2 things i have always sworn is that when i start driving i will never drink and drive and will never speed, ever!
Cheers Ed

oh and i will NEVER EVER fiddle with my satnav/phone/radio etc, weather stopped at lights/junction or on the move. especially after what happened a few years ago.

a very close friend of mine, only about 13 or so at the time, was on her bike crossing the road at a proper crossing whilst riding to school one morning and this driver fiddling with her phone or satnav looked up and saw the lights were green and though 'oh shoot it's green' and just stepped on it and boom! T boned my mate and another lady on foot, left other lady paralysed for life and my mate, after 50 metres flying through the air, dead both my mate and the other woman thought this driver was waiting and letting them cross
lesson learnt, don't fiddle with technology whilst driving!

when they do come out (besides an involved few) who will remember who they are? Will there be a new thread on here that "Beth Makay has been released"?
I expect i will remember the case, didn't know Mr Christian Smith my self nor Beth Mackie but it is one local to me and i find on things like this i seen to remember rather well for a fair few years
Sending someone down should, and is, only reserved for those that pose a danger to the public. Most sentences can be served "in the public", open prisions etc etc as although what they have done is wrong, very wrong, but in general they are not a risk to the general public, people they pass in the street etc. Is someone who embessled £4m from a bank a threat to the people in the park?
we get our piglets from a local womens open prison farm and i believe there are some rather serious ones in there that would be a serious risk to the public and are in for life but have served so many years under high security and a normal closed prison and have been good and sensible and not caused any trouble so are now trusted to be in an open prison

Cheers Ed

 

[Turbo Rider]

I don't think anyone's trying to underplay what she did or make excuses for her. Very wrong what she did, very wrong how she acted afterwards and very tragic for both sets of families, especially his. I do think though, that the eye for an eye attitude is asking for trouble and that if everyone went around with that attitude, there wouldn't be much left of the world. It's not that I think her punishment is too light, more that it's completely wrong and I don't think much good will come out of a prison term at all...not just for her but for anyone. Prevention would be the best answer of all, but you can't prevent what's happened already. Mandatory breath tests are probably the only way to stop these things in future though. Doesn't help with drugged up drivers though...

 

[Arrowfoot]

Not 'a moment of folly'. Either she is too sick with alcohol dependency ever to drive, or she made a conscious decision to drink, a conscious decision to drive, and a conscious decision to lie.

We all have seen tradesmen ripping off the vulnerable, the meek and even those that can stand up on for thousands of quid with bad, incomplete and even some yet to start to jobs and you do not see them behind bars even for a day. They have destroyed homes, families, relationships and the mental damage can be immense. Yet xwe think 5 years for a silly night at that young age of 18 yrs with no pre meditation, no plan to do any form of harm is still insufficient.

 

[Arrowfoot]

One of the questions raised here is how you prevent disqualified drivers from driving anyway. I would favour some kind of personal ID tag linked to the driving licence, that had to be displayed in the windscreen whenever you drive a car, and can be read by road safety cameras, but I don't see a hope in hell of this or any other effective measure being put in place.

This is indeed a serious concern.

 

[Roadrider48]

We all have seen tradesmen ripping off the vulnerable, the meek and even those that can stand up on for thousands of quid with bad, incomplete and even some yet to start to jobs and you do not see them behind bars even for a day. They have destroyed homes, families, relationships and the mental damage can be immense. Yet xwe think 5 years for a silly night at that young age of 18 yrs with no pre meditation, no plan to do any form of harm is still insufficient.

Are you seriously comparing death by drink-driving to a plumber charging a bit too much?

 

[Arrowfoot]

Are you seriously comparing death by drink-driving to a plumber charging a bit too much?

That's a strawman argument. Would you lose sleep if a plumber overcharges - certainly not.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Why would that stop them driving?
One local to me had a 19 year ban to serve, once he was old enough to drive. Now he's driving despite the ban being in place.

So you've shopped him?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

As to the OP. At least she was prosecuted and convicted. ~The Met seems to giving up on even charging drivers who kill cyclists.

 

[glenn forger]

Leaving aside the offence for a moment, five years is a long stretch for an 18-year-old who may have been 17 and a youth in law when the offence was committed.

She was 18 when she killed Mr Smith.

 

[MacB]

How many do you get before what?
Has anyone on here actually never made a bad judgement, sober or drunk? This young woman made a series of very poor decisions and she killed someone. She should at least never be allowed to drive a car again. The prison sentence I'm not so sure about.

I suppose it really comes down to whether you believe that loss of liberty should be a punishment or a safety measure to protect society. In the cases of violence or the threat of violence I can see the need for prison. Beyond that I can only really see a desire for revenge with some very weak claims around rehabilitation draped over the top.

 

[oldstrath]

We all have seen tradesmen ripping off the vulnerable, the meek and even those that can stand up on for thousands of quid with bad, incomplete and even some yet to start to jobs and you do not see them behind bars even for a day. They have destroyed homes, families, relationships and the mental damage can be immense. Yet xwe think 5 years for a silly night at that young age of 18 yrs with no pre meditation, no plan to do any form of harm is still insufficient.

If you mean she didn't set out to kill that particular man, then i agree there was no premeditation. But i can't see how anyone with enough intelligence to pass a driving test can fail to understand that driving while pissed is likely to endanger other people. So I would argue that the act of getting behind the wheel, indeed the act of driving to a place she planned to drink, constituted either a premeditated intention to put other lives at risk, or is evidence of such immaturity that she should never have had a driving licence.

 

[Arrowfoot]

If you mean she didn't set out to kill that particular man, then i agree there was no premeditation. But i can't see how anyone with enough intelligence to pass a driving test can fail to understand that driving while pissed is likely to endanger other people. So I would argue that the act of getting behind the wheel, indeed the act of driving to a place she planned to drink, constituted either a premeditated intention to put other lives at risk, or is evidence of such immaturity that she should never have had a driving licence.

Its the 5 years thats I am disturbed with.

Sadly alcohol, good crowd, great fun leads to impaired judgement. Sadly she must had idiots as friends as I know that the mob I am with will not allow a mate to drive off in this manner.