Young driver car insurance firms hail Clarkson's truck crash stunt as useful

Has Jeremy Clarkson gone soft? Is he about to be hailed as a hero by the exasperated providers of car insurance for young people? Will he finally be able to halt the occurrence of catastrophic car accidents by way of a selfless act of bravery?

No, I think not.

Why? Because his love of dodgy jibes, aimed at almost every section of society, has got him into trouble once again and what could have been a very useful and serious road safety message has been lost under a pile of moaning, whinging media pundits who love having a go at BBC presenters.

Now, I'm not saying that his latest stunt of crashing a truck into a brick wall was a selfless act of bravery, but, the BBC reporting afterwards made for some very sensible reading, especially when you are in the business of selling car insurance for young drivers.

In case you haven't seen the episode, Clarkson and his co-presenters had been set the challenge of finding out how difficult it was to be a lorry driver. So, various hilarious truck driving scenarios later, Clarkson is seeing if he can stop his flat out 56mph Renault Magnum truck by driving into a brick wall.

The footage is quite amazing. If you've ever watched crash test videos you will be familiar with the leaping and jerking of the lorry cab. The sheer impact of fast moving metal on solid brick wall is gasp inducing. The lorry tractor literally bounces and jerks around as if being yanked by an invisible sky-hanging cable. The difference in this footage is that instead of a dummy in the front seat, the driver's position is occupied by Jeremy Clarkson (yes, I know, Clarkson/dummy, I see your point).

The Top Gear presenter is seen plunging forward as the cab hits the wall and as the vehicle slows suddenly he is then thrown violently backwards. His neck suffers massive hyperextension, as is typical in many whiplash injury cases. He immediately loses control of the vehicle as he instinctively takes his hands off the steering wheel in an attempt to protect his head and when the truck finally comes to a halt he appears to clutch at his chest.

A Top Gear spokeswoman said the presenter was "quite badly injured". He described it as, "screaming agony".

But before you berate Mr Clarkson for his stupidity, listen to what he has to say on the matter:

"At the moment, teenagers see Bruce Willis driving his car into a helicopter and imagine that you can get out afterwards and still be well enough to punch a baddy in the face.

"This isn't accurate. I emerged from my high speed head-on impact in what can only be described as screaming agony. I couldn't walk. I couldn't talk. I couldn't think."

He described his injured index finger as looking like "a burst sausage" and reports of injuries to his back and leg were also confirmed.

He wrote on the BBC website, "Everyone should experience this before they are given a licence.
It would let them know that crashes really really hurt and that it would be a good idea to not have one."

Yes, Mr Clarkson, those companies out there that provide car insurance for young people have been saying this for as long as young drivers have been killing themselves and other road users. Yours may not have been a brave or selfless act in order to keep youngsters alive, but the message is sound. So, why Jeremy, why did you have to ruin it all with a vaguely slanderous stab at truck drivers, because your crash and its serious message have now been lost.

Digg!

 

 

 

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