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A lorry driver caused a crash on the M1, hitting a car and killing two people, Leicester Crown court heard yesterday.

The driver of the lorry, 75-year-old Mr John Leadenham, crashed in to the rear of Paul and Doreen Tomlinson’s vehicle on the M1 in October 2008. Their car was then crushed against another lorry.

Mr Leadenham is accused of braking too late on the motorway having failed to note traffic braking ahead because of an accident. He braked at 17 metres before the queue of vehicles and came to a halt at 68 metres. Mr Leadenham is alleged to have told officers at the scene that he was unable to brake in time because cars pulled in front of him. However, analysis of CCTV has indicated that all cars remained in the same lanes in the seconds leading up to the crash.
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A report in to a disaster involving the 1994 Chinook helicopter crash has found that the crash may have been caused by faulty computer software. The incident was originally believed to have occurred as the result of gross negligence by the vehicle’s two pilots. The incident resulted in the death of all 29 people on board when the helicopter crashed during fog on the Mull of Kintyre.

Now it has emerged that an internal Ministry of Defence report, written just nine months prior to the incident, identified the software as “positively dangerous”.  The report alleges that the deficiencies in the software meant that the pilot’s control of the engines could not be assured.

The official RAF enquiry indicated that the crash was a result of the negligence of the two pilots of the helicopter but this latest report adds to a growing amount of evidence suggesting otherwise. Another report, written on the day of the accident, stated that it was imperative that the RAF cease operations with the Chinook helicopter and also the helicopter test pilot, Squadron Leader Robert Burke, has indicated he felt that he believed the RAF rushed the machine in to use knowing that it was dangerous.
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Doctors in Belgium are to re-examine dozens of coma patients following the case of Rom Houben. Mr Houben lay imprisoned in his own body for over two decades before doctors in the department  of Neurology at Liege University hospital discovered through a PET scan that he was conscious and had an ”almost normal” level of brain activity.

According to the Guardian, Mr Houben was believed to be in a vegetative state following a car crash which occurred in 1983 and doctors told his family that he could hear and feel nothing. Now Mr Houben is able to communicate following physiotherapy on his finger, using a touch screen attached to his wheelchair. This does appear to be the limit of his recovery but his mother, Mrs Fina Houben, having already campaigned for 26 years to get her son’s consciousness recognised, refuses to concede that this is it, stating “We continue to search and search”.

Mr Houben’s case is exceptionally rare and there is apparently great difficulty in distinguishing using current technology between minimal levels of consciousness and a vegetative state. Indeed, it was only because of Mr Houben’s level of brain activity that his condition was discovered.
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Justice Secretary Jack Straw has called for an increase to the maximum sentence for dangerous driving. Currently the offence carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment but under Mr Straw’s proposals that could increase to five.

According to the BBC, the proposals follow a campaign by the parents of toddler Cerys Edwards. Cerys was aged just 11 months when she was struck down by a car travelling more than 70 mph in a 30 mph zone. The driver was sentenced to two years for his crime but served just six months.
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The Government is to give £20 million to victims of thalidomide and will apologise for their suffering.

According to Sky news, the Department of Health intends on paying the money to the Thalidomide Trust over a period of three years.

Thalidomide is a drug that was provided to pregnant women in the 1950s and 60s as a treatment for morning sickness or insomnia. Unfortunately the drug was found to have disastrous side effects, including limb malformation and defects. There are 463 surviving victims of the drug in the UK and the money will provide much needed financial security for thalidomide victims. The money will go towards providing victims with the adaptations that they require in their everyday lives, be these wheelchairs or car adaptations or even alterations to houses.
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Doctors are used to scrubbing up before surgery, but at Alder Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool they are being asked to scrub the wards as well!

Both medical staff and managers were asked to pitch in before a visit from the Care Quality Commission (or CQC). According to the BBC, the commission had previously criticised hygiene standards at the hospital when they visited in April of this year.

The hospital trust have stated that participation was on a voluntary basis however, Dr Jaswinder Bamrah of the British Medical Association has criticised the move as “not right” and many doctors felt under pressure to comply according to the trade union, Unison.
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Government ministers have advised councils to reduce speed limits on roads which are accident black spots.

According to the BBC, the ministers want the national speed limit reduced from 60 to 50 miles per hour on selected roads in rural areas and they also are requesting a gradual move towards 20 mph in residential and school areas. The aim of these proposals is to reduce the number of deaths on Britain’s’ roads. Over the past 10 years the government set itself a target of cutting the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by road traffic accidents by 40 % by 2010. This target has already been reached but, with 32,000 deaths still having occurred as a result of accidents on roads, ministers feel more can be done.

The move will be unpopular with many motorists but safety experts state that deaths are not falling fast enough, partly because of poor driving.
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Can sleep walking be dangerous for us or anyone around us?

This was such the case for Christine Thomas when her husband killed her ‘during a dream’.

The couple had been together for 40 years and enjoyed a happy marriage. In July 2008 the couple decided to take a holiday in their motor home to Aberporth, Wales.

During the night Brian Thomas dreamt that intruders had broken in to their motor home and he was fighting them to get out. Earlier in the night a group of young individuals had come in to the car park screeching their breaks and tyres. Mr and Mrs Thomas moved their motor home to the lower car park in order to have some peace and quiet but during the night Mr Thomas experienced dreams that he was being attacked and as a result he killed his wife.
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Dog bite claims can be particularly serious and happen more often than you would probably imagine.

If you are attacked by a dog that has not been appropriately controlled then you may be entitled to bring a compensation claim for the injuries you have sustained.

The owner of the dog has a duty of care to ensure that their dog does not cause harm to others around them.

Under the Animals Act 1971; strict liability in the law of tort (negligence) is applied if it is foreseeable that an animal can come to cause injury to another person, i.e. if the owner knows the vicious nature of their own pet.
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The AA has stated that half of the UK’s local authorities only have enough road salt for six days of freezing.

According to the BBC, last year’s heavy winter has severely depleted supplies and means that some councils are having to borrow from others. The AA stated that it had been advised that local councils have approximately 250,000 tonnes less road salt in stock than they had ten years ago.

Icy roads are a major cause of road traffic accidents during the winter months and it is vital that councils are able to grit roads to limits skidding vehicles and people losing control. Criticism has been put to the council that they should have larger quantities of salt in reserve or they risk being vulnerable to the kind of chaos that was experienced on roads last year.
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