Asleep at the wheel only careless, not dangerous?

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales...st/6724367.stm

"Giving evidence, he admitted falling asleep, but denied being too tired to drive." Huh?


"Near Kilgetty on the A477, he fell asleep and his BMW veered to the far side of the road into oncoming traffic, knocking Mr Freeman, 58, off his motorbike. Drage told the court he did not wake up until after he had hit Mr Freeman."

I'm not going to do the outrage stompy feet line, because I don't know the full details, I'm just really baffled. I can understand that if he had nodded off before the incident, woken up, and then had a crash, then this could be considered careless rather than dangerous as he wasn't asleep at the time. However the quotes seem to suggest he was actually asleep at the time of the crash, yet this is not considered dangerous?

Lesson would appear to be that if you ever drive like a knob and kill someone, just claim you were asleep at the time....

i read about that case yesterday. according to the bbc he said he thought he had dealt with the situation by turning on the fan in the BMW and blowing cold air onto his face. WTF

the earlier article gives more background to the story

Still a charge equal to causing death with any other weapon IMHO. Manslaughter or above.

The driver is in charge of the vehicle, if that driver is sleeping whilst the vehicle is moving, they should be hung drawn & quartered, when no-one else is involved in any incident (or even lack of incident).

The fact someone died makes this whole scenario worse, and of course, we'll all feel more angst against it because the victim was a biker.

[Luckypants]

Yes I am totally baffled how he managed to be not guilty of dangerous driving. Did he cop a plea to the lesser charge of careless?

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Yes I am totally baffled how he managed to be not guilty of dangerous driving. Did he cop a plea to the lesser charge of careless?

I think he did. How can they judge that to be careless? He was unconscious!.
Driving while asleep is not dangerous then?

What would the crime be if the deaths were in a car I wonder. I feel quite sickened by this.

Nah, he admitted careless, prosecution (rightly imho) pressed with a dangerous charge.

Selby train crash, 10 dead after land rover driver fell asleep, drove down an embankment and into a train = 5 years in prison.

Hard as it is, I believe the outcome should largely be seperated from the crime - if you forget to put your handbrake on and your car rolls down the hill and breaks the neighbours rear light, then it's a 'doh moment. If it rolls down the hill and takes out a bus stop full of school kids, then it's actually the same crime.

I just can't see how being asleep at the wheel is anything other than "dangerous" regardless of the outcome.