From the BBC:
The inquest heard the teenager's sledge crashed through the wire fence after sliding 650ft (200m) down the steep slope at speeds of up to 60mph. Francesca, of Mosborough, Sheffield, and four friends used an upturned Land Rover roof to go down the slope, which is a popular sledging location.
The coroner heard the girls found the piece of metal, dragged it to the top of the hill and got on. Witnesses described how the improvised sledge set off at such a speed that everyone on the hillside stopped to watch. After 650ft it crashed through the wire fence, which had been put up in 2006 to keep sheep out of an area used for archery. As the sledge hit the fence, Francesca was thrown off and suffered serious brain injuries from which she later died.
"Death, the great leveller!" I hear you cry, "That's her out of the gene pool!"
Nope, the modern cure for stupidity is...
The coroner said she would be writing to the chief executive of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, which operates the park, to recommend safety measures. She said the slope should either be closed to the public or steps should be taken to make sure that the wire fence, which has since been removed, is never reinstated.
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2 hours ago
14 comments:
"She said the slope should either be closed to the public or steps should be taken to make sure that the wire fence, which has since been removed, is never reinstated."
Wow! Severe brain damage is contagious!
You can obviously get it just by reading about it in your reports...
Seriously, how the hell do you close a slope? This daft woman needs to be taken out into the street and pelted with rotten cabbages by the people who are taxed to pay her wages.
Pretty typical repsonse of our risk avoidance /cheat death culture. Close it or Ban it or Destroy it.
Someone falls out of tree, cut the tree down. Pretty soon we'll all have to carry out 'Risk Assesments' before leaving the house.
Not that we don't, but those are our personal, mental ones. I'm talking about the ones that have to be submitted in triplicate to the All Seeing Public Safety Committee who will then decide if it is safe for you to leave your house.
Witnesses described how the improvised sledge set off at such a speed that everyone on the hillside stopped to watch.
And not because four teenage girls were screaming with delight?
No doubt the council will grit the slope every winter to prevent another accident occurring. Why not just remodel the bottom of the hill into a ski-jump so that in future winters the fence could be cleared (assuming you have enough speed on the approach)?
Just wanted to say, heh.. to say...heh, heh.
I really have a,heh,heh point to make. It will be...ah, Ha,Ha Ha.
Oh FFS!
Ho de bloody ho.
'There's a fence!'
'You grass!'.
'No, Analise, it's a fence'.
'No shit?'.
'Your choice'.
STB.
PC, indeed.
CFF, firstly they've removed the fence, and secondly, what happens if you're travelling too slow and land on the fence from above? That'd be worse than hitting it sideways on IMHO.
STb, "fence" as in "purveyor of stolen goods" and "grass" as in "informing the police"?
There is this self-actualizing tendency, that's true.
For once, I go against your opinion. The girl was unless I'm mistaken, 16. She probably didn't understand the risk. I'd expect a 25 year old to size it up, and if they'd taken the risk, I'd call them an idiot....but a schoolgirl...well, god (if he exists) bless her. It's a shit way to go
OT - another one for THe Cow Files:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/8259363.stm
"Thames Valley Police said an officer with cow herding experience advised the man about how to disperse the animals.
He was told to be stern, walk out of the river waving his arms and if possible to do so while holding a stick.
He then met police officers waiting for him at the Swan Hotel, Radcot, who checked he was all right..."
Good job it worked then!
I would like say just, Oh, God pls save her. Its not a right way to go. God pls help her.
I'm with rogueboy. Some kids went sledding with an improvised sled. Not the first time, not the last time, not unreasonable and not really Darwin Award material.
They didn't predict how much faster it would be than a regular sled, and I doubt at sixteen I would have either. You could also argue the person who decided to put the fence up didn't predict it either.
Replacing the fence with a thick hedge would be favourite.
The fence was put up as an H&S measure (to stop people stepping in front of arrows) & is removed as an H&S measure. It is certain that the H&S executive cost lives - this is the law of unintended conaequences.
At sixteen you have all the sense you are ever going to have. And how do you replace the fence with a 'thick hedge'?
@ RB and RLJ, the article in today's Sun explained that the girls had first watched a group of boys using the roof as a sledge, and all the boys jumped off before it hit the fence.
So the girls knew perfectly well:
1. How fast it would go.
2. That it was a good idea to jump off before it hit the fence.
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