Philippa Curtis, 21, Kills Fellow Driver While Texting
17 December 2008, 4:20 PM. By Alex Alvarez
Phillippa Curtis thought our recent stories on the perils of texting while drunk and/or stupid weren’t warning enough, so the 21-year-old went ahead and made headlines of her own by texting and calling friends while driving at 70 mph. Philppa, 21, ended up hitting — and killing — 24-year-old Victoria McBryde, who had stopped her car because of a burst tire.
The prosecutor against Ms. Curtis, Alan Blake, said she was pretty much acting a fool her entire time on the road:
“She made and received 20 SMS messages from her female friend.”
“It was clear she was both reading and typing text messages as she was driving along major roads. As the defendant approached her final destination, at 10.58pm, she made a short, unsuccessful call to try to speak to her boyfriend.”
“She then placed another brief call to an Oxford taxi company to try and arrange her onward journey from a park-and-ride.”
McBryde’s car lights were on while she waited for help with her tire and, asserts the prosecution, her vehicle was visible from several meters away. Curtis did not initially mention being on her phone at the time of the accident and said, instead, that she “didn’t sort of know what had happened.” Her trial is still ongoing.
The source article makes sure to identify Curtis as a “woman driver” in its headline, a choice we found to be a bit unusual. Do you suppose most texting and cellphone-related accidents are caused by women and do you think that, just maybe, the Daily Mail was trying to tell us something about female drivers in general? Because we’re fairly certain men still have to pay higher prices on car insurance for a reason.
Woman driver ‘killed motorist after she crashed while sending text messages’ [Daily Mail]
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diss! we do have to pay higher insurance rates. it’s like suicide rates, women attempt more, but men complete more. sorry about the super morbid comparison, but it just popped into my head.
men and women may be similar in everyday harmless bad driving, but men take it to a new level of dumb shit driving by street racing and other ridiculous risks, so we have to pay more.
what does that have to do with anything.
bananas are yellow by the way.
Hahahaha… this comment made me laugh. I guess to be fair the article to provoke discussion does mention insurance etc etc…..
surprised it wasn’t in Cacafornia.
I blame it on them driving on the left side of the road.
It’s a shame that because of a thoughtless act someone is dead and the other one will have to live with what they did for the rest of their life. If only people would realise that the very reason mobiles aren’t allowed when driving is that this sort of thing happens. I hope others will learn from her mistake and park off the road if they need to text/ phone whilst on a journey. Please have a good and safe Xmas.
Why did the court not investigate whether Curtis had been adequately taught by her driving instructor about the dangers and irresponsibilty of using a mobile phone whilst driving ?????
As none of you were not in the court, it would probably be a good idea to not assume anything, or believe everything papers tell you. They tell it the way that sells, not the completely truthful side.
a life has been taken i understand ms curtis is not a murder but is not at tall acting in a responsible way so she must pay in some way and hopfully this will stop other people from getting hurt and parents having to watch there child go to jail
I dont think it’s fair to slate this girl for what she has done unless you can safely say, I have never used my mobile phone whilst driving. It was a accident. Charlotte aged 19.
“I dont think it’s fair to slate this girl for what she has done”
Yeah, I mean she has only killed someone while doing something (using a phone) that she knew to be illegal. The woman is almost a saint…
Are you serious? It’s perfectly reasonable to expect drivers to stop thinking about themselves, put their social life on hold for a while and try to avoid needless accidents such as this. And if you don’t think that, maybe your not mature enough to be in such a position of responsibility.
As for the woman driver thing, yes it is highly unusual to refer to a person of the female sex as a woman driver. What with her being a woman and all. Get over it! A 24-year old woman has tragically lost her life here and you’re quibbling about that.
you’re an idiot
And who pray tell is an ‘idiot’? Everyone is entitled to an opinion, that is the point of a chat forum like this. It is somewhat rude and un intelligent to post such a comment. Charlotte aged 19 is the sister to the deceased in question and is therfore more entitled to have an opinion than anyone else here. Perhaps you should respect others and their opinions in the future and if you genuinely disagree, put that across in a respectfull and adult way!
Contrary to the press reports Phillipa Curtis was not using her mobile phone at the time of the collision. This was accepted by the prosecution.
Victoria McBryde had also been driving and using her telephone for approximately 20 to 30 minutes prior to the collision and only finished the telephone conversation when her car suffered a puncture which caused her to stop the vehicle.
Yes, you are right, Philippa Curtis was not using her phone at time of impact… She was fumbling around in her car for it - not even looking at the road ahead. She should have been done for manslaghter. As for Victoria, well may her soul rest in peace.
Firstly i must say that it’s clear that both Victorias and Phillipas family and friends have commented here and thus further comments should show a degree af sensitivity to both parties. May i also add that Charlotte i think you show extreme maturity in not blaming and hating for your sisters death.. even though the next anon person to comment seems to disagree and think you somewhat insane. Fair point that we have all used our phones whilst driving before (i am guessing.. i know i have) so yes this could have happened to anyone of us. The one small ray of light and justification for Victoria so tragically meeting her end would be that we all now vow to take heed and leave the phone alone whilst driving. Phillipa did clearly not ‘murder’ anyone or wish to cause a loss of life in this way, but the fact is that she did and therefore is now suffering the consequences. This is what we call ‘law’ and the effects of living in a ‘civilised’ society! If such acts did not carry a sentence, where would the deterent be for others? Having said this, i truly hope Phillipa finds her own peace and lives a long and happy life. Vix would have wanted nothing less. Claire 31 x
This is shocking. I read in a previous article that Philippa was well organised, mature etc prior to the crash. What mature young lady sends over 20 text messages, when driving along such major roads? And thinks it is acceptable? I live in Bury, God help us all when she gets back on the road.
This is Ben, Pips boyfriend, I’m very sorry what has happended, i miss Pip so much, its untrue. If Victorias family could reply with their email addresses or phone numbers i would much appreciate that.
Philippa’s parents have the address if you wanted to get into contact. Can’t reply with such information, sorry.C
Valid point about Vic’s phone record, however the problem is, she has passed away. If I could bring her back, I would. I am in not suggesting it was acceptable that she used her phone, but she did not kill anybody (could have - but didn’t) and that’s the luck of the draw. She had made errors during her life and has drove carelessly in the past. She has paid the ultimate sacrifice. Please let her soul rest in peace - she deserves that at the very least.