Oh no no no no no

[mandragora]

The news about Richard Hammond is distressing me hugely. I love cars, you see, the sleeker and faster the better. I love speed (in safe conditions - I'm not an idiot and do actually care about other road users and pedestrians). Unsurprisingly, I'm an avid fan of Top Gear, which has the accolade of being the most downloaded TV programme round the world and is massively popular. If you like cars, chances are you'll like Top Gear. Well, so long as you find the laddishness amusing. Mostly, I do.

So the news that Richard Hammond has crashed whilst filming for the programme and is critically injured is-- God, I'm all choked up. He's my favourite of the presenters (yes, yes, because I'm shallow) and I just really, really hope he'll be okay.

Comments

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

350 million is a lot of people. After I read your post I went and looked on the BBC website. It sounds like it was a dangerous thing he was filming, but not *notably* dangerous. I mean, it sounds like they had all the right safety personnel there and everything. And if this is the first accident associated with the show, I'm guessing they're pretty careful about that kind of thing. Which almost makes it worse, in a way. I mean, if the jet-powered car crashes because of poor maintenance or poor safety procedures, at least there's a reason. If it just crashes inexplicably, well, that just seems so random. Which is stupid, because random or as the result of someone's carelessness, the person's still horribly injured. But we see these daredevil stunts on TV and in the movies all the time, and they always seem to go well, so it's a bit of a shock when they suddenly don't.

At least 'serious but stable' is better than 'critical'. That's what the most recent article I read said. When they say critical, that often means the person might die. I feel bad for the wife and kids. I mean, okay, he does this for a living, so okay, his statistical chances of getting hurt in a car crash are higher than the average joe's, but it's not like you can prepare for something like that. Not really.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean re the daredevil stunts. The BBC is usually pretty safety conscious, at least since a member of the public was killed performing a stunt for the leading Saturday night entertainment of the day.

It sounds as though something went wrong when the parachute opened. We may never know what, as it may depend on whether Richard retains any memory of the accident - I can't remember the skiing accident in which I was knocked unconscious.

Latest news is better, thankfully. He's got 'significant head injuries' but the doctors are 'reasonably confident' that he will 'make a good recovery'. He's the lead story on the BBC News at Six this evening BTW.