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Great Acts Of Stupidity

Another news item suggests they may actually have set out from Newlyn, not Marazion:

Penguin and Santa towed to Newlyn by lifeboat crew.
By CG_Oscar
Saturday, December 28, 2013.

Two men in an inflatable boat, one dressed as a penguin and the other in a Santa costume were towed back into Newlyn harbour today after they were spotted drifting out to sea off Marizion.
The men claimed they were raising money for the Help the Heroes charity.

Penzance coastguards and the Penlee inshore lifeboat were alerted to the two men, neither of whom were wearing life-jackets.
A spokesperson for Falmouth coastguard said: “ The inshore lifeboat got alongside and found one was dressed as a penguin and the other as Father Christmas. They said they were raising money for the charity, but the Penlee crew persuaded them not to go any further and towed them back to Newlyn.’’

Read more: http://www.cornishman.co.uk/Penguin-San ... z2ooBbQUY1

ramonmercado, you could have become one of my Auxillliary CGs if you'd posted this story on the Lone Coastguard thread! :D
 
Blackburn charity canal jumper seriously injured after missing water

A MAN suffered serious head and chest injuries when he jumped off a canal bridge for charity but missed the water.

Witnesses said Lewis Elliott had stripped to his underwear and was aiming for Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

But he slipped as he climbed over a barrier and hit the tow path instead.

They said the 25-year-old, of Bedford Street, Blackburn, had decided to jump off the 20ft-high bridge to raise money for a charity which helped his ill baby as he drank in the Navigation Inn, in Mill Hill.


Police said Mr Elliott was reportedly ‘drunk’ at the time.
Click to expand...

There's a rather intrusive photo of him sprawled across the towpath in just his boxers. Not a good look.
 
Motorist banned after driving with no hands
A 36-year-old man is banned from driving for 12 months after being caught on camera driving with no hands
[Video:]
2:50PM GMT 06 Jan 2014

A Whitby man has been banned from driving for 12 months for driving with no hands.
Richard Newton, 36, was found guilty at Scarborough Magistrates Court of dangerous driving. In addition to the ban, he was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work in the community and was fined £625 with a £60 surcharge.

Mr Newton was captured by North Yorkshire Police’s mobile safety camera on the A171 near Scaling Dam reservoir at around 6.20pm on Friday 9 August 2013.
He was filmed as he drove past the safety camera van with both hands on his head and continued along the road for around 25 seconds driving at between 60 to 63mph.
The road is a two-way ‘A’ road with a solid white line on his side. Numerous vehicles passed him on the opposite side of the road.

Dave Brown, head of North Yorkshire Police’s Mobile Safety Camera Team, said: “This case demonstrates two things, one is the sheer stupidity of some people who put others in danger, and the other is the ability of our safety camera to capture a range of offences.

“This is yet another case which shows that these cameras are about safety and not just speeding. We will take action against all manner of offences to ensure we keep our roads as safe as possible for everyone.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... hands.html
 
Reminds me of the story from a while back about the New Zealander who was caught driving with his feet. At least he had an excuse - he didn't have any arms.
 
Woman gets electric shock after climbing on to freight train

22-year-old in serious condition after touching 25,000-volt overhead wire at Hackney Wick station in London

A woman is in a serious condition in hospital after climbing on to the top of a freight train in London and getting severely burned by live overhead cables.

The 22-year-old touched the 25,000-volt wires on Wednesday night and was thrown six metres on to the platform at Hackney Wick station.

Witnesses said that the woman removed her high heels and climbed on to the train before spending 15 minutes dodging between carriages, at one point posing for friends who were watching and laughing from the platform. Then there was an explosion.

Alexandra Rucki, a journalist from Tooting who witnessed the incident, told the Evening Standard: "I was walking up the platform when I saw a huge bang, it looked like a firework."

"I saw a group of people crying and saying 'oh my god' running away from the bridge. I spoke to a man on the platform who was crying and said someone touched a cable and exploded into bits.
Click to expand...

This won't end well. :(
 
There's a video of an Indian man doing the same thing in front of a crowd in daylight on youtube, it may have been mentioned on here. Can't understand how the Hackney Wick woman survived.
 
It's peculiar when you think that the amount of current that it takes to stop a person's heart is infinitesimal, yet people can get literally 'fried' and not die outright.

Dunno if this one will see next week.
 
Yup, like the idiots who try to steal copper piping from electricity substations and are immediately cooked from the inside. :shock:

Some make it home afterwards, still burning - didn't one run up his stairs with his hair on fire to ask his girlfriend to ring for help?

Stupid hardly covers it.
 
Some make it home afterwards, still burning - didn't one run up his stairs with his hair on fire to ask his girlfriend to ring for help?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that one was local to me... can't find a link for it now... seem to recall he somehow drove back to his girlfriend's house with his clothes burned off and his skin coming apart like pork crackling. :shock:

Edit: Found link, the story is added in to the Deep Fried Copper Theives thread.

"His skin was splitting on his hands and lips. His T'shirt had been burnt off. His face was all burnt, the only white was his eyes and teeth. His eye brows and eye lashes were all burnt."
Click to expand...

Took him 10 days to peg it.
 
That is a truly nasty way to die. :nooo:
 
Man critical after van 'surfing' fall in Worthing

A man left in a critical condition after falling from a van in West Sussex may have been "surfing" on the vehicle.
The 26-year-old suffered serious head injuries after falling from the van as it was driven in Charmendean Road, Broadwater, Worthing, on Sunday.
Police said the victim was "possibly surfing", a term used for a person standing on a moving vehicle.

He was flown by air ambulance to Southampton General Hospital. The van driver is being questioned by police.
The 27-year-old, from Goring-by-Sea, was arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving, driving without care and attention and causing serious injury by dangerous driving, after the incident which happened at about 23:00 BST.
He was released on bail until 24 June, Sussex Police said.

The injured man from Lancing is in hospital in Southampton in a critical but stable condition.
A Sussex Police spokesman said they could not confirm if the man was standing up or lying down on the van and were trying to establish exactly what happened.
Sgt Stewart Goodwin, of the Arundel road policing unit, said: "We would like to hear from anyone who saw what happened or who may have information about exactly where the casualty was prior to being injured."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-27373864

(Related video included)
 
What were these people thinking?

South African giraffe dies after 'hitting bridge'

South Africa's animal rights body is probing the death of a giraffe that was reportedly injured as it was being transported on a motorway.
Eyewitnesses say the giraffe, one of two on a truck, hit its head on a bridge on Johannesburg's N1 motorway.
The vehicle then broke down and had to wait several hours to be repaired.

Both animals were then taken to a vet, but the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal (NSPCA) said one died on arrival. :evil:
The incident has created a stir on the social networking site Twitter.

Thinus Botha tweeted that he had been driving behind the truck when the animal struck its head on Garsfontein Bridge.
There was "lots of blood", he tweeted.

NSPCA's manager Rick Allen confirmed that the giraffe had sustained a head injury but said that an autopsy was necessary to determine the cause of death.
He said the animals were on route to a game farm in Warmbarths, about 160km (99 miles) outside Johannesburg.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28586702
 
Rachel Titley death: Yarmouth text message driver jailed

A driver who was distracted by his mobile phone before a head-on crash which killed a woman has been jailed for six years.
Craig Ecclestone-Todd had also been drinking when he received a text from his wife on the night of 11 October, 2013, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
He crashed head-on into a car killing Rachel Titley, 28, on the A3054 at Bouldnor near Yarmouth, Isle of Wight.
Ecclestone-Todd was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

The 27-year-old, from Clifford Street, Newport, had spent the evening with friends at a pub and received the message during the drive home.
Lindsay Pennell, senior crown prosecutor, said: "...either reading or replying to this text message, [he] was so distracted that he failed to negotiate a left-hand bend, crossing the central white line into the path of Miss Titley's oncoming car.
Speaking after the sentencing, she said: "[The jury] was satisfied that Mr Ecclestone-Todd was using his mobile phone to read or send a text message at the time of the collision and that in doing so his driving fell far below what was expected of a competent and careful driver and was dangerous."

Police were unable to take a breath test at the scene but said Ecclestone-Todd had drunk "at least three to four pints of lager".
A blood test taken several hours later showed he was marginally under the limit but officers maintain he would have been over the drink-drive limit at the time of the crash.

Speaking outside court, Miss Titley's father John said: "We don't think it's enough, it never would have been enough.
"Even if he got the rest of his life it hasn't brought Rachel back.
"At least we feel that justice has been done."

At the time of her death, the family of solicitor's clerk Miss Titley, from Totland, said she was "unique" and "special in every way".
In a statement, they added she was "loved by everyone whose life she touched".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-30655028
 
This type of thing fills me with dread. Not only the senseless of it but the fact that thousands of tiny factors led those two people's paths to cross (literally :( ) at that precise moment. A few seconds' difference and it could have been the next car, or perhaps the road would have been clear and he might have realised as he swerved back over that he was too worse for wear and should stop (though unlikely as he sounds like a selfish arsehole). Situations like that, where tiny decisions converge with terrible consequences, always set me off thinking too much.
 
Saw a TV series about this once, the idea of chance and how randomly disaster might strike.
One episode featured car crashes where people were killed who'd been safe just a second before.

A couple out for a Sunday drive swapped seats so that the woman and not the man was killed when their car was sideswiped.
A man died when a car flipped over and landed on his: he and a friend had gone to collect a vehicle together and he was a couple of cars in front of the friend, who saw the accident.

If you dwelled on these things you'd never go out!
 
"Miss Titley, from Totland" sounds like a character in a corny comedy. Sad that she was brought to our attention by a terrible tragedy. :(
 
Tarlee, NSW, Australia:
A youth who had his legs amputated by a train during a stunt has died. His drunken friends harrassed the Ambulance and Police officers who were trying to attend to the critically wounded teenager, which is probably what caused his death in the end. The delay in stopping the flow of blood meant he bled out and was too far gone by the time paramedics were able to do anything for him. It was his 18th birthday.

Wh... ?? ... Words fail me.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/2788408/teen-who-had-legs-severed-by-train-has-died/
 
Yes you do. You go to work and you drink tea in public. Also, I've met you.
 
5 January 2015 Last updated at 18:09
'eBay driver killed road worker'

A van driver was "on eBay" around the time he killed a road worker, a court heard.
Anthony Tompkins was driving at 55mph on the A361 in north Devon when he veered into highways workers.
Steven Tolley, 48, was hit by the wing mirror of the van inside protective cones and suffered head injuries.
Mr Tompkins, 45, has pleaded not guilty at Exeter Crown Court to causing death by dangerous driving.

Richard Posner, prosecuting, said records showed Mr Tompkins used his phone four times in the half hour before the accident, with a six minute internet session around the time of the collision at approximately 11:00 GMT on 29 January 2013.
Technology expert Mr Posner said Mr Tompkins supplemented his income as a driver by buying and selling furniture on the online auction site eBay.
He said: "There is compelling evidence that he accessed eBay, a site which he visits to buy furniture, and as a consequence of his behaviour he caused the death of Mr Tolley. That is the irresistible conclusion we invite the jury to reach."

The prosecution said a police technology expert had set up a Galaxy Mobile telephone identical to the one owned by Mr Tompkins with the same eBay app and found it was not possible for it to be activated unwittingly.
The court heard Mr Tompkins, of Trehurst Farm, Saltash, Cornwall, claims he was suffering from a condition called sleep apnoea which caused him to have a "mini-sleep" at the time of the crash.

Mr Tolley, from Tiverton, was thrown into the air by the force of the impact and died six days later in Derriford Hospital, Plymouth.
Other road workers were also injured after jumping out of the way of the van.
The trial continues.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-30685581
 
I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often, particularly for the amount that I see motorists checking their phones on my commute... they probably think no-one can tell because it's on their lap, except it's bloody obvious when they keep looking down and don't keep both hands on the wheel.

or I could be wrong and they might just be wanking.
 
It could be both. Seriously, though, why has the internet become so irresistible to drivers? You don't see people reading books while driving.
 
In the future when we're all wearing google glass, will people on bikes do it? Might be harder to have a wank on a bike, but check ebay I mean.
 
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