A 96-year-old driver killed a pedestrian as he crossed the road after refusing to give up driving despite suffering from deteriorating vision. The 84-year-old victim was declared dead at the scene after being run down by the driver's Peugeot 208.

William Beer was suffering with bilateral cataracts and wet macular degeneration when he hit Illtyd Morgan in Caerphilly on April 6, 2021. He had been advised by an optician in March 2019 to give up driving, but the defendant renewed his licence after his wife was diagnosed with dementia.

A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court on Friday heard Mr Morgan was crossing Bedwas Road at 12.15pm on a "straight and level" stretch of road. There was nothing obstructing Beer's view of the road or his victim, who had been in the road for seven seconds prior to impact.

Following the collision, Beer was asked to read a number plate but was unable to accurately read it until he was seven metres away. The legal requirement is 20 metres. He told police Mr Morgan had run out into the road but CCTV showed the victim using a walker to cross the road.

Sentencing, Judge Richard Williams said: "At no time has medical practitioner or healthcare professional rescinded the advice you were given not to drive. At no point did you ask a medical professional or healthcare practitioner between March 2019 and the collision whether the effect of treatment was such you would be able to take up driving again.

"I am sure you have known since that visit to the opticians that you eyesight was not good enough to allow you to drive and it must have been obvious to you at all times it wasn't. This was borne out when you couldn't read the number plated until you were seven metres from it. I don't think you were truthful when you said you saw an improvement. You may have felt you were obliged to drive because you were devoted to your wife and determined to look after her yourself."

Mr Morgan, in contrast, had voluntarily given up his driving licence because of his failing eyesight. Judge Williams described the "devastating loss and devastating effect" Mr Morgan's death had had upon his wife Hazel and son Gareth, as a result of Beer's "selfish" decision to drive.

He added: "The victim's family and friend may feel cold and dispassionate discussion has taken place in court about a person loved by many who has died as a direct result of a criminal offence. The court is aware offences such as this directly involve the death of a person much loved by family and friends. Nothing the court can do can bring him back or reduce the distress family and friends have suffered."

In mitigation, defence barrister Malcolm Galloway said his client's wife died just at Christmas last year, which had left the defendant and his family in grief. He said Beer was of "impeccable" character and had been driving for 76 years prior to the collision without incident. He said Beer had worked as a driver for blood transfusion services and had worked as a coal miner during the Second World War. Since the collision, he voluntarily revoked his driving licence.

The defendant was briefly called to give evidence about his knowledge of the deterioration of his eyesight. He said he was receiving injections which he believed had improved his eyesight, but hospital records stated the treatment was to stabilise the condition, which could not improve. He said: "I thought the injections were for the purpose of healing my eyes.... That was what I thought they were doing and that was the impression it gave me when I started the injections. They didn't say at the time they were to stabilise my eyes."

Beer, of School Street, Llanbradach, was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for six years and two months. He had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. He will serve half the sentence in custody before being released on licence.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/driver-96-killed-man-crossing-26093991

Old news: UPDATED 18:01, 27 JAN 2023

Simon Mason <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> A 96-year-old driver killed a pedestrian as he crossed the road after
> refusing to give up driving despite suffering from deteriorating vision.
> The 84-year-old victim was declared dead at the scene after being run
> down by the driver's Peugeot 208.

> https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/driver-96-killed-man-crossing-26093991
>

--
Spike

On 21/10/2023 11:42 am, Simon Mason wrote:

> A 96-year-old driver killed a pedestrian as he crossed the road after refusing to give up driving despite suffering from deteriorating vision. The 84-year-old victim was declared dead at the scene after being run down by the driver's Peugeot 208.
>
> William Beer was suffering with bilateral cataracts and wet macular degeneration when he hit Illtyd Morgan in Caerphilly on April 6, 2021. He had been advised by an optician in March 2019 to give up driving, but the defendant renewed his licence after his wife was diagnosed with dementia.
>
> A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court on Friday heard Mr Morgan was crossing Bedwas Road at 12.15pm on a "straight and level" stretch of road. There was nothing obstructing Beer's view of the road or his victim, who had been in the road for seven seconds prior to impact.
>
> Following the collision, Beer was asked to read a number plate but was unable to accurately read it until he was seven metres away. The legal requirement is 20 metres. He told police Mr Morgan had run out into the road but CCTV showed the victim using a walker to cross the road.
>
> Sentencing, Judge Richard Williams said: "At no time has medical practitioner or healthcare professional rescinded the advice you were given not to drive. At no point did you ask a medical professional or healthcare practitioner between March 2019 and the collision whether the effect of treatment was such you would be able to take up driving again.
>
> "I am sure you have known since that visit to the opticians that you eyesight was not good enough to allow you to drive and it must have been obvious to you at all times it wasn't. This was borne out when you couldn't read the number plated until you were seven metres from it. I don't think you were truthful when you said you saw an improvement. You may have felt you were obliged to drive because you were devoted to your wife and determined to look after her yourself."
>
> Mr Morgan, in contrast, had voluntarily given up his driving licence because of his failing eyesight. Judge Williams described the "devastating loss and devastating effect" Mr Morgan's death had had upon his wife Hazel and son Gareth, as a result of Beer's "selfish" decision to drive.
>
> He added: "The victim's family and friend may feel cold and dispassionate discussion has taken place in court about a person loved by many who has died as a direct result of a criminal offence. The court is aware offences such as this directly involve the death of a person much loved by family and friends. Nothing the court can do can bring him back or reduce the distress family and friends have suffered."
>
> In mitigation, defence barrister Malcolm Galloway said his client's wife died just at Christmas last year, which had left the defendant and his family in grief. He said Beer was of "impeccable" character and had been driving for 76 years prior to the collision without incident. He said Beer had worked as a driver for blood transfusion services and had worked as a coal miner during the Second World War. Since the collision, he voluntarily revoked his driving licence.
>
> The defendant was briefly called to give evidence about his knowledge of the deterioration of his eyesight. He said he was receiving injections which he believed had improved his eyesight, but hospital records stated the treatment was to stabilise the condition, which could not improve. He said: "I thought the injections were for the purpose of healing my eyes.... That was what I thought they were doing and that was the impression it gave me when I started the injections. They didn't say at the time they were to stabilise my eyes."
>
> Beer, of School Street, Llanbradach, was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for six years and two months. He had pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. He will serve half the sentence in custody before being released on licence.
>
> https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/driver-96-killed-man-crossing-26093991

If you are lucky and do not repeat any of your previous notorious
behaviour, you too might one day end up being in your nineties.

Don't, for God's sake, decry older people just for being older. Many of
them are far better people than you. A friend of mine is in his
mid-nineties. He is a good, safe driver. He, for instance, wouldn't
drive a car without all of its safety equipment working. Would that we
could say that about everyone, hmmm?

But... thirty-seven months in prison at 96? That sounds ominously like a
death sentence. A bit much for merely over-estimating his own abilities.
He wasn't drunk (like you have been on the road). He wasn't drugged up
(like those whom Collins supports). He was not obviously driving
dangerously (had he been, it would have been very obvious much earlier
and he would have been stopped by the police). His car is not reported
as having been in an unroadworthy condition. That sentence should have
been fully suspended.

Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends on his 104th birthday?
Will his sight have returned by then?
Will he even be alive?

Simon Mason <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:

> Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends
> on his 104th birthday?
> Will his sight have returned by then?

> Will he even be alive?

Will you? It’s a fair question.

--
Spike

On Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2:45:39 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:
> Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends on his 104th birthday?
> Will his sight have returned by then?
> Will he even be alive?

Mr Magoo - can you read the number plate on the car over there?
"What car"?

FAILED!

Simon Mason <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2:45:39 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:
>> Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends
>> on his 104th birthday?
>> Will his sight have returned by then?
>> Will he even be alive?
>
> Mr Magoo - can you read the number plate on the car over there?
> "What car"?
>
> FAILED!

It is clear that the warm glow imparted by a show of petty vindictiveness
was too strong to resist.

--
Spike

On Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2:45:39 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:
> Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends on his 104th birthday?
> Will his sight have returned by then?
> Will he even be alive?

Even Philip chucked it at 97 after he twatted that car.

Simon Mason <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2:45:39 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:
>> Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends
>> on his 104th birthday?
>> Will his sight have returned by then?
>> Will he even be alive?
>
> Even Philip chucked it at 97 after he twatted that car.

What is ‘Even Philip’ supposed to mean?

--
Spike

On 22/10/2023 01:51 pm, Spike wrote:

> Simon Mason <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2:45:39 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:

>>> Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends
>>> on his 104th birthday?
>>> Will his sight have returned by then?
>>> Will he even be alive?
>
>> Even Philip chucked it at 97 after he twatted that car.
>
> What is ‘Even Philip’ supposed to mean?

He is obsessed with anyone who has more income than he does.

He's not the only one, of course.

QUOTE: William Beer was suffering with bilateral cataracts and wet macular degeneration when he hit Illtyd Morgan in Caerphilly on April 6, 2021. He had been advised by an optician in March 2019 to give up driving, but the defendant renewed his licence after his wife was diagnosed with dementia. ENDS

Will his macular degeneration have cleared up by the time of his 104th birthday, or something?

On 22/10/2023 04:13 pm, Simon Mason wrote:

> QUOTE: William Beer was suffering with bilateral cataracts and wet macular degeneration when he hit Illtyd Morgan in Caerphilly on April 6, 2021. He had been advised by an optician in March 2019 to give up driving, but the defendant renewed his licence after his wife was diagnosed with dementia. ENDS
>
> Will his macular degeneration have cleared up by the time of his 104th birthday, or something?

Has yours?

JNugent <jnugent@mail.com> wrote:
> On 22/10/2023 01:51 pm, Spike wrote:
>
>> Simon Mason <swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 2:45:39 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:
>
>>>> Are you really going to give Mr Magoo his licence back when his ban ends
>>>> on his 104th birthday?
>>>> Will his sight have returned by then?
>>>> Will he even be alive?
>>
>>> Even Philip chucked it at 97 after he twatted that car.

>> What is ‘Even Philip’ supposed to mean?

> He is obsessed with anyone who has more income than he does.

> He's not the only one, of course.

Ah, I see.

--
Spike

On Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 4:13:59 PM UTC+1, Simon Mason wrote:
> QUOTE: William Beer was suffering with bilateral cataracts and wet macular degeneration when he hit Illtyd Morgan in Caerphilly on April 6, 2021. He had been advised by an optician in March 2019 to give up driving, but the defendant renewed his licence after his wife was diagnosed with dementia. ENDS
>
> Will his macular degeneration have cleared up by the time of his 104th birthday, or something?

It does not "improve" at all - licence will get destroyed instead.