警告を与える: Text driver ahead. How texting while 運動ing ended with 悲劇の consequences for one girl

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The tyre blow-out could hardly have come at a worse place or time for Victoria McBryde. Her gold Fiat Punto shuddered as it lost 速度(を上げる）. The pretty 24-year-old fashion 卒業生（する） pulled over to the 味方する of the A40 二重の carriageway, which links the M40 with Oxford. There is no hard shoulder on that stretch of road, so McBryde was unable to pull off the road 完全に.

She was also in 不明瞭 and silence. The damp and chilly November night 申し込む／申し出d no moonlight and there were no streetlights. The nearest village, Wheatley, was one mile away. She searched inside the car for her 動きやすい phone and 焦点（を合わせる）d on trying to find help.

McBryde, who had been travelling 支援する from London to stay with a friend in Oxford, first called the RAC. But after a fraught conversation she discovered that her mother's cover did not 延長する to her. So she called her mother, Jennifer Ford, 54 miles away at the remote family home in 田舎の Northamptonshire. It was 10.57pm.

'This is late,' said her mother. 'Are you all 権利?'

Victoria explained her predicament. Her mother felt a 静かな alarm and asked her if she had her hazard lights on.

'Of course, Mum,' her daughter sighed.

Ford told her daughter to hang up and that she would を取り引きする the RAC. In the 合間 a disconsolate McBryde settled 負かす／撃墜する into her seat while she pondered her next move. （電話線からの）盗聴 out a text to one of her friends at 10.58pm, Victoria asked: 'Can things get any worse?'

Philippa Curtis had だいたい 260 yards in which to see Victoria McBryde's Fiat Punto. When her Peugeot 106 攻撃する，衝突する the 乗り物 at between 60-70mph - McBryde's car was thrown 今後 some 20 yards by the 衝撃

Within moments of McBryde hitting send, they did.

Jennifer Ford called her daughter 支援する minutes later but received no reply. The RAC, she had discovered, couldn't 延長する the cover. After texting and 繰り返して calling her daughter, Ford was 軍隊d to live in hope and asked her partner Andy to chase the RAC to find out what was going on.

At 12.45am Ford, who was still waiting for news from Andy, could hear the dogs they used to patrol their 孤立するd farmhouse working themselves up into a frenzy. つまずくing 負かす／撃墜する the stairs, Ford tried to placate the dogs, and realised that someone was banging on the 前線 door loudly. When she swung the door open she was 直面するd by two 制服を着た police officers.

One of them was carrying Victoria McBryde's green 捕らえる、獲得する, which her mother recognised 即時に. They asked if Victoria lived at the house, how Ford knew her, and then held up her 運動ing licence to 確認する her 身元.

One of the officers then said: 'I'm afraid there has been an 事故 and Victoria McBryde has been killed.'

'It went in straight away,' says Ford. 'I knew it had happened.'

Within minutes, however, 否定 始める，決める in and Ford tried to 納得させる herself that it had been a 事例／患者 of mistaken 身元. Her youngest daughter Charlotte and son Cameron tried to console their hysterical mother, who realised that the truth was inescapable. Her mind began to shut 負かす／撃墜する.

'Cameron tried to console me but I cannot remember much after that,' she says. 'I don't remember sleeping, just the house becoming 十分な with police and people I didn't recognise. Then I remember the police asking me to come and identify the 団体／死体. My eldest sister decided to come along with me. They took us in a police car and this 女性（の） family 連絡事務 officer was chatting away.

'She was very jolly and I remember thinking, "Why are you so jolly when you are taking me to the worst thing a parent can have to do: identify their dead child?"'

At the 霊安室 Ford, 46, was taken aside by an attendant.

'He explained that the 権利 味方する of Victoria's 団体／死体 would have no 肌 on it because of the 衝撃 of the 事故. He was 準備するing me for the worse: to mitigate the shock. But the shock was that it was 明確に her. She was laid out on a 厚板 covered with sheets. There were flowers and candles all arou nd her. It was done 同様に as it could be done.

'I 選ぶd her up and my sister kissed her. I really thought she would wake up, that it was a big mistake. Then I realised how our lives were going to be changed forever. There was no going 支援する and nothing was ever going to be the same. It hasn't been.'

Philippa Curtis's blue Peugeot 106 is on the 権利, its bonnet embedded in the parked Asda lorry

運動ing 支援する in a daze, Ford snapped to attention when one of the police officers について言及するd one small 詳細（に述べる）.

Ford says: 'She said that it appeared that the girl who had 攻撃する，衝突する Victoria had been using her 動きやすい phone.'

Philippa Curtis had だいたい 260 yards in which to see Victoria McBryde's Fiat Punto on the night of November 20, 2007. She had already been 運動ing for at least 90 minutes, from the village of Icklingham outside Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk, where her family live.

Curtis had left the restaurant where she worked, which was の近くに to her family home, in a 'hyper' 明言する／公表する. 誇るing that she had served and serenaded the singer Dina Carroll with her own 攻撃する，衝突する tune, Curtis wrote: 'Yer I got on the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業. I get crazy around the famous!'
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A friend then texted Curtis to tell her she had 現実に sung a song by a different musician. Curtis replied: 'Oh s*** I singin the wrong song!'

The third of four children, Curtis lives with her parents in a large rambling period cottage in the picture postcard hamlet where her mother Beverley takes an active 役割 in the 地元の community. The family also has a luxurious holiday home in Egypt. Her father Simon Curtis is a world renowned farrier and author of several 調書をとる／予約するs on equestrian care. His large family 会社／堅い in nearby Newmarket has catered to some of Britain's 主要な stables and shod many successful racehorses.

Curtis was on her way to stay the night with her boyfriend in Oxford when her blue Peugeot 106 攻撃する，衝突する the Fiat at between 60-70mph - McBryde's car was thrown 今後 some 20 yards by the 衝撃 before coming to 残り／休憩（する） upside 負かす／撃墜する in a drainage 溝へはまらせる／不時着する to the left of the 二重の carriageway.

An Asda lorry, which was also 運動ing に向かって Oxford, pulled over within seconds of the 事故. Driver John Spencer got out of the HGV cab but was 軍隊d to take 避難 when he heard a second 衝突，墜落. This time a white 維持／整備 先頭, also travelling に向かって Oxford, struck Curtis's car, which had come to 残り／休憩（する） in the outside 小道／航路 直面するing in the wrong direction at a slight angle. Driver 示す Richardson had tried to 避ける the 静止している car but was hemmed in by the safety 障壁.

The 衝撃 sent the Peugeot spinning 負かす／撃墜する the carriageway before it became embedded in the 支援する of the Asda lorry. Although the nearside of Curtis's car was almost 完全に destroyed as it became wedged under the lorry's tail, Curtis miraculously escaped with a comparatively minor 傷害.

McBryde, however, was not so fortunate. By the time the police arrive d at the scene the 24-year-old was dead. Because she wasn't wearing a seatbelt at the time of 衝撃, Victoria had struck her 長，率いる and been （判決などを）下すd unconscious almost 即時に by the 致命的な brain 傷害 she received.

It was now the 仕事 of the police road 交通事故 捜査官／調査官s to 設立する 正確に／まさに what had happened and why.

The inane messages of Philippa Curtis that led to the death of Victoria McBryde

Gary Baldwin of the 法廷の 衝突／不一致 調査 部隊 at Thames Valley Police has dealt with more fatalities than he cares to 収容する／認める. After more than 20 years 調査／捜査するing road 交通事故s, the father of three prefers to stick to the 証拠 rather than rely on the recollections of drivers.

同様に as a 法廷の 分析 of the 乗り物s 伴う／関わるd in a 衝突／不一致 there is also the 仕事 of 解釈する／通訳するing the area surrounding the 衝突，墜落 場所／位置.

But in this 事例／患者 one of the first things that struck Baldwin when he analysed the scene of this particular 事故 was how unusual it was.

'We look at skid 示すs and the 証拠 left on the road. If you steer hard or ブレーキ hard you get 示すs on the road and you can see the 損失 when you 選ぶ up the 乗り物s. There were no skid 示すs and that l eaves you asking why?'

When Baldwin and three of his 同僚s 熟考する／考慮するd the road at night they could see that Curtis would have had a （疑いを）晴らす 見解（をとる） of McBryde's Punto, 供給するing it had its lights on, from nearly 300 yards away.

At the 事業／計画（する）d 速度(を上げる） of 60-70mph that would have given Curtis seven to eight seconds to 反応する to the hazard. 'In real 運動ing 条件 eight seconds is forever but here we had no 証拠 that the driver had 反応するd at all. There was no 証拠 of steering or ブレーキing.

'All she needed was 18 インチs or one degree of steering to 行方不明になる the car. We are talking about the thickness of a headlight 議会 here. One of the 推論する／理由s why it was impossible to 決定する the exact 速度(を上げる） of the car was the absence of skid 示すs, and also because the 衝突，墜落 was 相殺する.

'The Peugeot didn't 直接／まっすぐに 運動 into the 支援する of the Punto but ちらりと見ることd its offside. Cars tend to 鎮圧する worse at the 後部 and tend to look worse as a consequence.

'Victoria was 攻撃する，衝突する so hard that her car was overturned and that is probably when the brain 傷害 was 支えるd.'

法廷の 捜査官／調査官s work out the angle of the oncoming 乗り物 in part by 焦点（を合わせる）ing on the '主要な／長／主犯 direction of 軍隊'. In this 事例／患者 they looked at where the 後部 offside light had been embedded in McBryde's 難破させるd car.

The remains of the 鎮圧するd 後部 lamp in the Punto's 難破 was （疑いを）晴らす 証拠 that the oncoming car was 長，率いるing straight 今後 when it struck the 静止している car.

Although the 法廷の 捜査官／調査官s are deliberately kept separate from the 衝突，墜落 関係者s ーするために 確実にする their 調査 is 独立した・無所属, it was becoming （疑いを）晴らす that C urtis's 運動ing begged questions. So did her 初期の interviews with Baldwin's fellow officers.

'When interviewed afterwards she didn't even know what she had 攻撃する，衝突する because she literally didn't see what she 攻撃する，衝突する,' says Baldwin.

What Curtis did 収容する／認める was that she had been using her 動きやすい phone in the run up to the 事故, although in the 初期の interview she had neglected to について言及する this.

The waitress said she used the phone to call a taxi 会社／堅い to take her on to her boyfriend's house in Oxford, once she had reached the city's park-and-ride 場所／位置. The 21-year-old 認める she had no 手渡すs-解放する／自由な 道具, but 主張するd that she had not been using her phone at the time of the 事故. This すぐに 現在のd the police with a problem.

'The 基準 手続き now is to look at the phone 記録，記録的な／記録するs of the drivers,' says Baldwin. 'The problem with 動きやすい phone use at the time of an 事故 is how do you 証明する it unless someone sees it? It is difficult to 証明する unless you have the exact time of the 事故. What you are doing then is looking at the previous history of the driver with that phone.'

What the police could 証明する was that contrary to Curtis's （人命などを）奪う，主張する that her last call had been a かなりの time before the 衝突，墜落, she had made her last call at 10.59pm to the taxi 会社／堅い. The 衝突，墜落 happened at around 11pm.

Crucially, the phone 記録，記録的な／記録するs also showed that Curtis had received a text at 10.59pm aler ting her to the fact that she had three new 発言する／表明する messages. This, however, went unread. The beeps from this text 警報 were probably Curtis's final distraction just seconds before the 致命的な 衝突，墜落.

Baldwin and his 同僚s then looked at the SMS 記録，記録的な／記録するs for Curtis for the previous two hours. They discovered that not only had she received and read 13 text messages, Curtis had also managed to send eight while 運動ing.

にもかかわらず drink-運動ing deaths 落ちるing by three ４半期/4分の1s since the Seventies, fatalities 伴う／関わるing the use of a 動きやすい phone have been a 乱すing 最近の 傾向. The Department for 輸送（する） says that in 2008, the last year for which 統計（学） are 利用できる, there were 16 致命的な 事故s 伴う／関わるing drivers using 手渡す-held 動きやすい phone, with a total of 19 people killed.

But the 王室の Society for the 予防 of 事故s (Rospa) argues that this is an underestimate, because the use of 動きやすい phones often 現れるs after 事故 統計（学） are 収集するd.

Since 2007, drivers using 手渡す-held 動きやすい phones behind the wheel have been 罰金d £60 and had three 刑罰，罰則 points 追加するd to their licence. For England and むちの跡s there were 116,000 直す／買収する，八百長をするd 刑罰，罰則 notices 問題／発行するd for using a 動きやすい phone while 運動ing in 2008 alone? -? any number of these could have ended tragically.

'It （機の）カム 負かす／撃墜する to semantics,' says Baldwin. 'The time the text was received was within a minute of the 衝突，墜落 but whether you can say Curtis was going to open it is debatable. She said "no" but based on the previous history, where she had opened 13 事前の texts, why would this one be any different?

'She had so long to see that car with 事実上 制限のない visibility, and we could show that at the time of 衝撃 she had not 攻撃する，衝突する the ブレーキs a nd there had been no last-minute swerving.

'Careless 運動ing is, 簡単に put, where your 基準 of 運動ing 落ちるs below that of a 慎重な 運転者. But in this 事例／患者 the 運動ing fell way, way below that. This is why the 栄冠を与える 起訴 Service felt that this could only be a 事例／患者 of death by dangerous 運動ing.'

'That was the only time I became angry: when it first went to 法廷，裁判所,' says Jennifer Ford.

At the 初期の 審理，公聴会 in Oxford 栄冠を与える 法廷，裁判所 Curtis pleaded not 有罪の? -? a 嘆願 that shocked the police and 検察官，検事s, 同様に as Ford.

'She sat next to me with her dad,' Ford 解任するs. 'They didn't realise who I was. When the 裁判官 left, the police realised what had happened and tried to get in between us.

'As I got up I turned around to her and told her she was a 殺害者.'

The police and 起訴 were in for another surprise: the family of Philippa Curtis had 雇うd Richard Latham QC, who is 広範囲にわたって regarded as one of Britain's best 犯罪の barristers. Such 合法的な heavyweights can cost up to £500 an hour, with as much as £145 per hour for 準備の work.

When the 事例／患者 opened in December 2008, Latham, who 起訴するd Ian Huntley for the Soham 殺人s, questioned whether McBryde's lights were working at the time of the 事故. The suggestion was that Curtis 簡単に couldn't see the Punto because the lights were not on.

But taped conversations between McBryde and the RAC 明確に 選ぶd up the familiar clicking sound of the hazard lights. Although 法廷の 証拠 cast 疑問 on whether the hazard lights were working at the time of the 衝突，墜落, this was probably because the 衝撃 had 原因（となる）d them to turn off. As to the car's other lights, Baldwin and his team had ample proof they were working.

'We had all the bulbs analysed,' he says. 'What we could show was that the 後部 light filaments were 損なわれていない but had become distorted. This shows that they were hot at the moment of 衝撃. So Victoria's lights were working and on when the 衝突，墜落 happened.'

It was a 決定的な moment during the 法廷，裁判所 審理，公聴会. But perhaps as important was one 明らかにする／漏らすing moment when Curtis, giving 証拠, said that she felt it was 承認する to use the phone and 運動 at the same time.

She said: 'I don't think I should be chatting away while manoeuvring roundabouts.'

The 検察官，検事 Alan Blake asked her: 'In the 権利 条件s on the M40 at 70mph?

Curtis replied: 'I probably would have slowed 負かす／撃墜する.'

Mr Blake 追加するd: 'Why did she never see a car? The only explanation is that she was not 支払う／賃金ing attention to the road ahead. She could not leave that 動きやすい phone alone.'

Curtis said that she felt 'awful' at 原因（となる）ing the death of another young woman. She 追加するd: 'I can't really 述べる in words how bad I 現実に feel. I just feel awful that I was 伴う／関わるd and I can't imagine how the family must feel.'

After いっそう少なく than an hour's 審議 the 陪審／陪審員団's 判決 was 全員一致の: 有罪の.

In February 2009 Philippa Curtis was 宣告，判決d to 21 months in 刑務所，拘置所 for 原因（となる）ing death by dangerous 運動ing. She ended up spending only six months in 刑務所，拘置所.

Victoria McBryde's mother has been left counting each and every day since the death of her daughter and also 対処するing with the long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 cost to her family.

'I was 権利 about life never 存在 the same again,' says Ford. 'Andy and I 分裂（する） up a few months after Tory's death. Charlotte and Cameron still live with their stepfather but they have changed so much. We all have.

'Cameron and Charlotte 戦う／戦い with each other 絶えず. They have so much 怒り／怒る inside them. We have gone from this loving family to where we are now. They say time 傷をいやす／和解させるs but in reality it is like this 爆弾 has 爆発するd in the middle of this family and we are all left to 選ぶ up the pieces on our own. We have all gone our separate ways.'

The 刑務所，拘置所 宣告，判決 for Curtis 供給するd scant なぐさみ to Ford, who believes that only shock 策略 will bring drivers to their senses.

She says: 'We need stiffer 宣告，判決s because it is the only way people will get the message. People need to understand that you cannot use your 動きやすい phone while 運動ing.'

For Gary Baldwin, the trip to 法廷，裁判所 申し込む／申し出s little personal or professional solace.

'Both girls were from nice families and both families will have to live with the consequences,' he says, 'because one girl did something stupid, which is something we have all been （刑事）被告 of at times.

'Having said that, if Philippa Curtis had shown 本物の 悔恨 I don't think she would have pleaded not 有罪の. In my opinion she got off やめる lightly but there is no use in demonising her. But if you look at the texts sent and received, they were rubbish. There was nothing of importance there.'

Since McBryde's death the 政府 has introduced the offence of 原因（となる）ing death by careless 運動ing ーするために 減少（する） the balance of 証拠 needed to 起訴する after an 事故.

Before this offence, 運転者s 伴う／関わるd in a 致命的な 事故 would probably 直面する the offence of careless 運動ing if the police and CPS felt there was insufficient 証拠 to 証明する 重過失 on the part of the driver. Baldwin believes that while the 刑罰，罰則s are 十分な the 施行 isn't; not least because the 資源s of the police are thinly stretched even before the 予報するd 政府 削減（する）s start to bite.

'We are at the 行う／開催する／段階 with 動きやすい phones where we were with drink-運動ing 30 years ago,' he says. 'Then it was an occupational hazard if you got caught: you were not a bad person, just a bit unlucky.

'Now 態度s to drink-運動ing have changed beyond all 承認. We have got to the 行う／開催する／段階 where using a 動きやすい phone is a bad thing in the sense that, "It is bad for everyone else but I am 承認する." But with proper 施行 you will get a lot of public 憤慨.

'People will think, "You have got enough 資源s to stop me using my 動きやすい phone but not when I complain about my garden shed 存在 broken into."

'But they 港／避難所't seen the horrific results of a 致命的な traffic 衝突／不一致. I have - and it is high time that we 直面するd up to this problem.'

大きくする ?

THE SCENE OF THE CRASH: HOW THE EXPERTS WORK

By Dr Roy Smith, traffic 衝突／不一致 捜査官／調査官

'What all 交通事故 調査s have in ありふれた is the primacy of 速度(を上げる）. 捜査官／調査官s first look for skid 示すs? -? 手段 the length of the skid 示す and you will get a base guide for the 速度(を上げる） of the 乗り物.

The problem is that 天候, the road surface and the car ブレーキing system will all introduce 重要な variables, which is why the police 捜査官／調査官s first on the scene usually try to replicate an 緊急 stop.

If the 衝突，墜落 乗り物 is in good enough 条件 the police will, within hours, skid it to a stop, 手段 this against the 事故 skid 示すs and extrapolate from this the 速度(を上げる） of the car. If the car is a 令状-off police will use another car with a 類似の ブレーキing system.

複雑化s 始める，決める in with 事故s that 伴う／関わる cars coming off bends or spinning in circles. 捜査官／調査官s rely on コンビナート／複合体 決まり文句／製法 or computer models to calculate the 速度(を上げる） from the 示すs on the road.

With 長，率いる-on 衝突／不一致s Euro NCAP charts are used. These are safety 実験（する）s on all cars used in Europe. Cars are driven into 障壁s at different 速度(を上げる）s to 実験（する） how far they 鎮圧する. If a car is 伴う／関わるd in a 長，率いる-on 衝突，墜落, 捜査官／調査官s will look at how far the 前線 of the car has been 押し進めるd 支援する and 手段 this against the NCAP charts to 決定する the 速度(を上げる）.

In a 衝突／不一致 between a 歩行者 and a car, one of the first things to look for is a scuff 示す on the road. There could be just the 示す of a shoe left at the point of 衝撃 which catches the trained 注目する，もくろむ? -? then you have to move on to the pool of 血 or the 団体／死体...

Needless to say the 職業 of a 交通事故 捜査官／調査官 is not for the faint-hearted, not least because it needs a 冷淡な-血d analytical mind where 科学の 決まり文句／製法 rather than emotions kick in.'