Serious question here. How do i convince my wife to slow down in her car.?

Question

Her typical speed on the motorway is 100 MPH. Yesterday she was late for picking up our son from school and achieved 110 MPH in a poxy Vauxhall Corsa. I said to her yesterday the only result at that speed is 'death' if you crash. Any advice from police officers welcome coz i am worried now.

Answer 1

I am a cop and one of my primary roles is to reconstruct fatal motor vehicle accidents. We don’t actually call them accidents. We call them collisions because there really is no such thing as ‘an accident’. When a collision occurs it’s my job is to figure out who screwed up. The main cause of most collisions is stupidity. Yes, most collisions have contributing factors such as speed and alcohol but when you get right down to the most basic reason it almost always boils down to stupidly but unfortunately there is no ‘stupidly box’ to check on an accident report.
Let me give you a quick example as to why they should put a check boy for stupidity on the report.
The thing that nobody really understands about motor vehicle accidents, unless they are directly involved in them, is how a collision can affect or even drastically change a person’s life.
I was called out to investigate an accident where a pedestrian was struck by a car while crossing the street. After striking her the driver of the car decided it would be in his best interest to leave the scene so he drove off leaving her broken and bloody on the pavement. That moment changed this poor girl’s life forever. What she had to look forward to for years to come would be numerous surgeries and extensive rehabilitation. We found the car and after intense investigation it was determined that the driver of the car was scratching a lottery ticket while driving and not really paying attention to the road. Hey, that’s as good a reason as any to screw up someone’s life.
But let me talk about speed for a moment. Most of the fatal accidents that I investigated are related to speed, alcohol or a combination of the two.
I have gone to accident scenes where the speed had been so intense that even with a seat belt the person never stood a chance. One collision in particular sticks in my mind. I was able to determine that the collision occurred at approximately 75 to 80 miles per hour. This woman (Operating vehicle #1) crossed over from one lane into another and struck a car with a pregnant woman driving head on.
The driver of vehicle #1 was killed instantly and the impact was so intense that the front end of the car (engine included) were pushed upward into the driver’s compartment nearly cutting off both of her feet at the ankles. The dashboard and steering column crushed against her upper thighs and being a heavy woman her upper legs literally exploded. When I got to the scene I saw that there were thousands of these tiny clear balls mixed with blood splattered up onto the ceiling of the vehicle. I had no idea what they were so I asked a paramedic.
He smiled at me and said, “Those are fat cells.”
The impact was so intense that the bolts holding the driver’s seat in place snapped so that her upper body was now in the back seat with her legs pinned under the dash. The car then flipped onto its side before coming to final rest. Although she sustained more blunt force injuries than you could count her cause of death was a broken neck. Because the seat snapped there was no protection for her head which snapped back and forth so violently that it severed her spine at the base of her neck.
But let’s not forget the operator of vehicle #2. She was critically injured but actually lived but her baby wasn’t so lucky. You think the accident might have changed the life of operator #2?
Another accident that I investigated where the speed was approximately 75 to 80 miles an hour happened on one of our main roads. Once again vehicle #1 crossed over into incoming traffic and hit a car head on. Both drivers’ were killed instantly but there was a passenger in vehicle number two that I was able to interview. In case you might be wondering what someone might say under such circumstances the last words of the driver of vehicle #2 were, “Oh, S**T!” and then his life was snuffed out.
Having investigated hundreds of serious motor vehicle collisions and more than a few dozen fatal accidents I could sit here pretty much all day and write horrific stories about what I’ve seen but it probably would stop her from speeding.
So let’s look at the facts. The fact is she’s not just putting her life at risk but she’s endangering other people including your son.
The first thing that I would do is stop your son from riding with her and if she doesn’t like that then too bad. The safety of your child should be your primary concern. Would you hand your child a loaded handgun and tell him to go outside and play with it. Of course you wouldn’t because it would be completely irresponsible so why would you put his life into the hands of someone as irresponsible as your wife.
Driving that fast is not only reckless driving but Risk of Injury to a minor.
She may believe that she is in complete control over her vehicle at high speeds but the reality is she’s not. Professional car drivers have difficulty controlling vehicles at such high speeds and they’re usually just going around an oval track and machines (such as cars) are not infallible and neither is any human being.
If killing or maiming someone, perhaps even her self or your child, isn’t enough of a deterrent to her then perhaps going to jail for vehicular manslaughter or losing everything that you’ve worked so hard for over the years in a civil lawsuit will be.
Her reckless driving isn’t just about her. It can affect a lot of people’s lives including yours. You have to ask yourself, how are you going to feel when the cops come knocking at your door one day and they tell you that they’re sorry but your wife or child have been killed in a traffic accident and you know that you’ve had the opportunity to do something about it and didn’t.
The accidents I’ve talked about here were at seventy-five to eighty miles per hour. At a hundred or a hundred and twenty miles per hour seat belts and airbags aren’t going to do a thing to help her.
In a head on collision with another vehicle or a tree or telephone pole at one hundred miles per hour I promise you that the engine is going to be in the driver’s compartment where the driver was sitting only moments before. At that speed the impact will cut a vehicle literally in half. I know that for a fact because I’ve seen it.
Or maybe you won’t die so quickly. Here’s one last story that I will tell. I was working 4 to 12 when a call came in of an accident on a major highway. I got there within a minute or so and saw that a car that had obviously been traveling at a high rate of speed had gone off the road and struck a tree head on. The driver was pinned (trapped) in the car and still alive but the major problem was the car was on fire.
I tried to get him out but the impact had pushed the doors back so they were jammed and within seconds the car became a raging inferno. There was nothing I could do but stand there and watch. I can tell you that I will never forget the look on his face in the last moments of his life nor will I ever forget his screams as the flames engulfed him. When the fire was finally extinguished and they were removing his body from the car there was nothing left to his face but a skull.
You might want to share these stories with her and ask her if she is willing to face that same fate or put your child into a situation where he may have to face that fate.

I really hope that this helps.

Answer 2

Well here is what I would do. Tell her to make other arrangements to have your son picked up from school. For the reason that as your Son's Father you have the right to place your sons safety of paramount importance.

Explain that she is being selfish as she could leave you a widower and your child motherless or fined and imprisoned for her gross stupidity

Also refuse to fund her need for exhilaration and thrills at high speed no mot car tax or money for pertrol.

Suggest she finds a local race track to expend this energy

Anyway why has she got a poxy car if she is carrying your son around in something more substantial please.

It must be a thing about these cars as nearly everyone I see on the roads are being driven at break neck speed and almost always driven by young lady drivers.

Answer 3

Your son is an important part of her life, if she picks him up from school with a mate and crashes at that sort of speed she has murdered her own child and another parents child too! It is not an accident it is MURDER!!! The speed limit is there to protect her and other road users. Rather be a little late than not there at all. Plus it's normally the person who is travelling at the right speed that ends up dead!! if a person kills by speed, then it's the same as you going out with a gun and taking pot shots at whoever walks by!! For her own good if you see her speed at that sort of excess then report her!! You would if she had shot that gun or drunk driven!! If I see her speed I will report her!!! Just look in your local paper and see who was killed on the road last week by a speeding or drunk motorist or some wally using their mobile whilst driving!!! FOR YOUR WIFE "SLOW THE F*(K DOWN"

Answer 4

Well I'm not a police officer, but I would say that you need to stage a sort of "intervention". Just as drugs and alcohol could ruin her life, this may too. Maybe she is not understanding how concerned you are not only for her life, but for your son and anyone else who may be either in the car with her, or on the road around her. It seems that she isn't understanding how serious what she is doing is. If out of respect for you she doesn't slow it down, maybe you could speak with local law enforcement in your area for seminars and such to visit. Or even volunteer both you and her at your local hospital helping people who are recovering from crashes. Hope it works out ok for you.

Answer 5

I have the same problem with my bf, I say to him you'll die or kill someone else driving like that, he seems to think he can control the car. I must admit he doesn't drive as fast as your wife on the motorway, I always try the argument of are you not happy with your life? do you want to die? do you not value yours or other peoples lives that much? It seems to work and now he doesn't drive like it when I'm in the car but I still worry about him. I would never wish any harm to come to him but I often think a speeding ticket might help people think and slow down.

Answer 6

John, at speeds like that on the Motorway her chances of surviving a collision would be slim, including those of any passengers in the car. Also she would have less time to react at faster speeds. The same can be said speeding in the suburbs. How would she feel if she were to have a collision and kill someone, possibly her son who was a passenger or someone elses child. I've been to countless fatals and had to give death warning to relatives. It aint nice I can tell you. DRIVE TO ARRIVE...ITS BETTER TO ARRIVE LATE THAN NOT TO ARRIVE AT ALL!!!!

Answer 7

Tell her to go find out whats happens to when you crash a car at those speeds. As survival rates are very low.
Tell her if she keeps this up the next time she drives you WILL alert the Police to this fact give the police the route she will drive she will be automatically banned from driving if caught at 100 miles an hour. ask her how fast she can get to places with out a car.

It's your child too.

Good luck

Answer 8

I'm not an officer but I would suggest given her a few different visuals. for instance. her doin that speed, get into an accident and she lives but u guys sons doesn't make it. or some 1 goin gthe same speed as does and hit her...the likely hood of her surviving is minimal or her breaks gos out at that speed and there's nothing she can do. or a tire blows out and she begins loose control remind her that u love her and wouldn't want to loose her, death is perminant so could she slow it down. many test have shown how speeding to a destination won't get u there much quicker that going at reg speed, so its no point.......... arrive alive

Answer 9

You could show her some clips of what happens in a crash even at 60mph let alone 110. Hope she slows down when your sons in the car or i would grass her up.Advanced driving course maybe? or she can come and talk to my mate who lost both legs, arm and eye in a crash doing 50 mph

Answer 10

Ask her if she remembers what happened to Princess Di, and Dodi. Although their driver was also drunk - high speed was also involved.

Besides if she were to get a flat tire at that speed - she'll be unable to keep the car in control. She's not the only one on the road, and just because she seems to have a death wish - others don't.

Answer 11

I think you may want to take your wife to a crash test centre.. and show her exactly what would happen to her little Death-Trap of a car at 100mph

.. Corsa GSI or SRI cars should be banned, as they have no way to protect the occupants at high speed.. if you want a safe car Volvo s70 is the civilian equivilant to a sherman tank