Opinions of Gary Hart, the guy who caused the Selby train disaster (UK)

In My Humble Opinion
1

As I watched One Life on BBC1 last night I wondered what other people from an impartial position thought of him.

The families of the dead, and the survivors understandably see him as evil, unsympathetic.

I could only see him as an incredibly unlucky man, and if it is true that he fell asleep at the wheel, A careless man. But not evil (I also thought he was quite self-centred). I feel sorry for him having to live with the knowledge that his actions caused the death of 10 people and the destruction of quality of life for many others, and with the experience of the event.

I can’t quite decide whether he got what he deserved. He’s not evil. But he might have been careless (driving while tired). Maybe that type and level of carelesness is enough to cause 3 or 4 injuries and deaths of other motorists. This guy was unlucky enough to have caused a train disaster and 10 deaths with the same carelesness. That is assuming he did fall asleep.

Some blame might be more appropriately put in the lack of ‘fool-proofing’ in the ‘system’ (the system being roads and railways). Humans are imperfect. Mistakes are quite common. So systems are designed to accomodate those mistakes. In this case the system was lacking some of that accomodation. It was lacking crash barriers which could have prevented the car from getting near the track.

I put this here because I am expressing an opinion and asking for others’. If it is more appropriate for somewhere else please move it. Thanks.

2

I have some sympathy for the guy.

OK, so he was an idiot for driving while very tired. And he seems a ‘bit weird’, because he sat up all night talking to somebody he’d met online, or whatever it was. Unfortunately, that’s enough to make somebody guilty as sin in the eyes of the tabloid media (btw have you seen Monkey Dust, with the ‘Paedofinder General’? “By the power invested in me by irresponsible speculation…”)

Certainly I consider it scandalous that there’s not been a concerted effort to put decent barriers in place where major roads cross or run beside major rail lines. A good set of barriers costs a few thousand pounds. A new signalling system on the railways costs hundreds of millions.

Only a few weeks ago, a van managed to lauch towards my local main line to London, I know the section where it happened, and there’s only a few feet of earth separating the A12 from a 100mph stretch of line. By chance, the van came to rest against a pole and nobody was hurt. If the dice had rolled differently, it could’ve been another Selby, or worse.