I thought I would post this here, and ask your opinion on what penalty you think might result!!! It might well be one of my acquaintances from church....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/7067916.stm
Quote:
Pensioner drives wrong way up M6
An 82-year-old woman was stopped by police after she drove for four miles the wrong way along an unlit section of the M6 on Sunday night.
Police said "numerous" drivers spun out of control and one car crashed swerving to avoid the pensioner's Peugeot in the fast lane near Shap in Cumbria.
Patrol cars halted the woman, from Windermere, near Shap Beck. No-one was seriously injured in the incident.
A spokesman said she could face a charge of dangerous driving.
Sgt Paul Brown, of Cumbria Police, said the pensioner was taken to Penrith Police Station for questioning following the incident.
Remote area
He said: "She's quite confused about what happened.
"We've established that she was trying to travel between Carlisle and Windermere and has somehow managed to make a wrong turn and has ended up coming back up the motorway."
A police spokesman added that it was a "miracle" a serious collision had not occurred.
He said: "We believe she was going the wrong way for up to four miles and she was travelling between 60 and 70 mph in the southbound fast lane.
"The motorway at this point is remote without street lighting and drivers travelling southbound would have only been aware of the approaching vehicle as it was almost upon them."
The driver of a Daewoo car was treated for whiplash at the scene after crashing into the central reservation to evade a head-on smash with the Peugeot.
The Crown Prosecution Service will now decide if she should be charged.
Given this is Callaghan Country, what charges is she likely to face?
Clearly if she did not realise she was on a motorway, then 60 to 70 on an unlit three lane road qualifies this for SPEEDING!
There is something strange here, as because of the separation of the carriageways at this point of the M6, she would not necessarily realise what she had done when she turned onto the motorway - but the road OFF the M6 from Carlisle is not a roundabout, and the A6 is someway from the M6 here - how did she get back onthe way she should have come from?
I suspect she came off the motorway - crossed over to the southbound sliproad.
Realised what she had done, U-turned, but then gone straight over again.
In her defence, it was an appalling night of heavy driving rain, and the junction at Shap is not lit, and at the brow of the off ramp, you cannot see where the junction is until you are right on it.
Because of this, I would not favour the dangerous driving charge unless something in the incidents which followed as she drove the wrong way gave cause.
Careless driving - yes.
Should she keep her license? Hmm. Not sure - any 82 year old prepared to do 60 - 70 these days, has obviously dispensed with the Werthers Original!
How about prosecuting some of the cyclists around Windermere without lights?