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Part 1. The beginning: I KILLED A MAN

I killed the man

I must clearly point out that this book is based on fiction and ‘some’ real events in my life but mostly ‘not’ a true account of my life……but if I can help save one persons life, then I hope it’s yours…..

rip

…..I killed a man in 1994…..not a day goes past when I don’t think of him, if I could turn the clock back I would but sadly I can’t…..

So, all I can do is tell you my story in the hope that it may help you or someone you know, in some way and may be we can prevent another person from needlessly dying.

Etched in my memory is the date October 13th 1994, quite a nice sunny day if I remember. I was working as  a metal trader in the Docklands and  I was driving back through the City to my home in South London. The traffic was just as chaotic as always and after hours of driving, or so if felt like, I was finally nearly home. I must have been less than 2 minutes from my home when all  of a sudden, this idiot in the car in front of me stopped at an amber traffic light…aaaggggghhh!! Really, who stops at an amber light in London?? Come on, hand ups……..oh you bunch of liars…..I can assure you, a lot of people in London slip through an amber light, even to the point of it turning red.

You get the picture, I wasn’t happy, the same as a lot of people in London who drive to work every day aren’t, we all just want to get home. Anyway, after a few minutes the lights changed and we continued on our journey (I’ll go back to that few minutes at the lights later on). The car in front started to indicate at the next set of lights, yup the way I was going, just typical I thought. As we both turned left at the next set of lights the car in front went straight, but I knew there was a short cut that would head them off up the road if I hurried. So I decided to take the immediate right after the lights and try and beat them – I’m now less than a minute from my house!

narrow road

This road I took was not your normal road, it had no white lines in the middle of it and was just about wide enough to squeeze two cars past each other and only if you went very slowly, but the road was rarely used. It was a long straight road, say quarter of a mile, with a very sharp left hand bend at the end. On the left hand side of this road were houses, set well back from the pavement and on the right hand side was a grass common with trees that ran all the way down the side. It was just getting dark, I’d say it was dusky, so I had my lights on and being 24 years old, I also had my front fog lights on. I was driving a gray Renault 5 turbo, my friends and I bought and sold cars, I’d only had this a few days.

I’d also only just got my driving licence back after a years ban for drink driving the week before, which is bad enough I know but it gets worse. While I was banned I had a friend who was a driving instructor, Derek was a professional heavy weight boxer too and he helped me to take my test again when I got banned so that I could continue driving. This was all back in the day before everything was linked up to computers, you can’t do this now-a-days but back then you could. I did my driving test again no problem, all that was different on my licence was my date of birth and address where I was living.  I even got insurance for the car too just in case I got stopped by the police, so that everything would check out……..although I would not be covered if I had an accident…….at 24 years of age I told myself I’m not going to crash, I’m invincible!

speedo

The pedal was flat to the floor as soon as I entered this road, engine roaring and like a bullet I flew down it. I was half way down when this grey shadow, which at the time I had no idea what it was, appeared in the center of the road completely out of nowhere. My reactions were very quick and I slammed the brakes on as hard as I could……..there was an almighty BANG, the window smashed, I was covered in glass, the car was still rolling forward…..panic hit me…..and I drove off……….

9 Comments

  1. Andi

    Rich,

    I just learned of your site from Matthew Loomis’ Blogger Success Bulletin, and I am enthrawled. I can’t wait to read more of your stories and learn how you turned your life around after facing such a tragedy. Keep up the awesome work!

    Cheers,
    Andi, http://www.thegumblog.com

    • Rich

      There is a point to this Ivon, I want people to read it and think I know someone who needs some direction before someone gets hurt or worse killed. Thanks for reading and I hope you continue to read on and tell your friends.

  2. Marsha Katalinic

    What a compelling read, from a very easy to read book, written by a man generous to share his life with us….! Highly recommend.

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