A “frustrated” teenager drove his car at more than 140mph (225km/h) on his way to the gym before crashing into a taxi.

Max Dangerfield, now 20, was driving in the early hours of 25 January 2025 on the A48 near the Cross Hands roundabout in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, when he ploughed into the back of a taxi that was taking two women home after a night out.

The taxi driver suffered broken ribs, bleeds on the brain, a punctured lung and a lacerated liver in the crash.

Dangerfield, who was uninsured, was banned from driving for 50 months at Swansea Crown Court on 13 August, and must serve 28 months detention in a young offenders institution.

He must pass an extended test before he can get a licence.

  • BuyEU@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Why does a 20 year old even own a car that can go that fast? Actually why can any car go that fast? You’re not allowed to go even close to that on most highways.

    was banned from driving for 50 months

    50 years would be too short. Someone like that shouldn’t be allowed behind a wheel ever again.

    • Souvenir@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Actually why can any car go that fast?

      German car, Autobahn. But most modern cars can go similarly fast. Petrol/gas usually faster than comparable diesel.

      The high top speed is a by-product of the amount of power cars now have, power they need to accelerate from 0-60 fast enough for modern traffic, get up a hill, tow a caravan or whatever, and to comfortably and safely maintain motorway speeds.

      Cars which can’t reach higher speeds are really slow to accelerate and aren’t comfortable, reliable, or safe at motorway speeds.

      Eg. depending on the model a Lada Niva will have a top speed of only 120kph/75mph, but you really wouldn’t want to drive over 100kmh/60mph for extended periods. It’s not reliable, comfortable, safe, and I suspect it isn’t efficient either.

      Now obviously, you could limit the top speed but that’s a matter of regulation, and relatively easy to bypass.

      Luckily this will soon largely be a thing of the past, electric cars are different. AFAIK you can achieve acceptable levels of acceleration with lower top speeds.

    • ScreamingFirehawk@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      Public roads in the UK aren’t the only place you can drive a car, speed limits don’t apply everywhere

    • Kairos@lemmy.today
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      2 days ago

      The vast majority of cars can go 140mph. Some take a long time to accelerate to that but nearly all can when going downhill.

  • Souvenir@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    Bit of a tangent, don’t know what happened here, but risk taking behaviour is often associated with suicidality.

    I’m not alone in thinking that a lot of suicidal behaviour, conscious or unconscious, flies under the radar because it happens in traffic.

    It’s weird how if someone’s suffering mental health issues, we wouldn’t leave them alone with a knife or enough medication to overdose on, but will leave them a set of car keys.

    Really hope fully self-driving cars will come on the market soon.

    • possumparty@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 day ago

      ah yes fully self driving cars so they can actually control where you can and can’t go, no flock surveillance needed👍🏻

      • Souvenir@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        I mean, I take the bus and occasional taxi, fundamentally not that different. Especially now that that’s increasingly difficult if not impossible to do with cash.

        Also, unlike the US most modern cars in Europe already have tracking and monitoring included with eCall, that automatically sends your GPS location to emergency services. Ie. the police can track you at all times anyway. And obviously they’re tracking your phone 24/7.

        no flock surveillance needed👍🏻

        Are you American? The UK doesn’t have flock AFAIK. There’s already a much larger network of CCTV, facial recognition vans, license plate scanners, and the like which are being supplemented by palantir contracts as we speak. This has been a thing for decades now. Millions of cameras across the UK.

        You’re shit out of luck already in the UK, unless you cycle everywhere and dress appropriately.

  • Albbi@piefed.ca
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    3 days ago

    My bike is limited to 32 km/h before the engine stops providing power. Why is a car able to reach such speeds?

    • waz@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      On the German autobahns there is no speed limit, but there is a convention between car makers that the electronic limiter is set at usually 255kph ~= 155mph. It’s quite common for real fast car owners to have the limiter removed or raised, so getting passed by a Porsche doing 300kph is a real possibility. And amusingly, the winter tyres maximum speed is 210kph. As a UK driver, we have 70mph as max, so it’s mental the first time you drive there.

      • Souvenir@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        Winter tyre maximum is often lower. 100mph/160kmh is common.

        I regularly reach speeds of 240kmh/150mph on the Autobahn. Bog standard VW. TBH it’s boring.

        For those wondering, yes it can save time.

        For example, if you maintain a high average speed driving from Brussels to Berlin, roughly 750km, you can make it under 6 hours. Add a short lunch break and that means you’re able to leave Brussels in the morning and arrive in Berlin before the rush hour begins. Perhaps still do something in Berlin after you’ve arrived.

        If you maintain 80mph/130kmh, in theory it’d take 6-7 hours, but you’re far more likely to get stuck in rush hour traffic. That means you potentially end up DOUBLING journey time. At which point you arrive in the dark and too tired to go to an interview or whatever. Day after sucks too.

        So driving fast makes the car a viable alternative to a plane or the ever unreliable Deutsche Bahn. And if you’re not alone in the car, it’s far more environmentally friendly than the plane, even if you’re driving fast.

        This is all theoretical. IME nowadays Germany’s Autobahn is 50% road works.

    • boonhet@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      You know you can just unlimit your bike? Right?

      One reason is that unlimited speed roads and also racetracks exist and cars generally require much more driver certification than bicycles which anyone with a pulse is allowed to ride in a lot of places. I know I did over 50 km/h a couple of times as a teenager and pulled all kinds of stupid shit because it’s not like they can take your cycling license away lol

    • dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      I don’t think it’s 50 months and he just gets to drive again. It’s 50 months until he can attempt whatever the “extended test” is. Not sure what that all entails.

      • BuyEU@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        I don’t doubt that he is technically qualified to drive. He can do a 3 point turn and read a speed sign during any test. What I doubt is that he will follow the rules when not in the middle of the test.

  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    The last time I heard someone get to the gym in such a hurry, it was this guy:

    Spoiler for The Good Place

    This guy is a demon pretending to be the soulmate of Eleanor, the lady in the picture. He was told that when he got asked tough questions, to say he was “going to the gym or something.” So almost every time she talked to him, he’d hurry away saying he was “going to the gym.”

  • average [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    Megan Williams, defending Dangerfield, said on the night in question he had become emotional after an argument with a friend and had decided to “drive to the gym in order to release his frustration”.

    I had to go read the article before I made the assumption that he went lifting instead of punching his girlfriend. However, that seems like a totally plausible explanation.

  • Gentryfried@feddit.uk
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    3 days ago

    “I need to get to the gym ASAP, I just had a freaking argument with someone!!!”

    The goyim are helpless. It is not good to live your life slaveishly following trends.

    • mannycalavera@feddit.uk
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      3 days ago

      Damn dude. I was thinking he should be banned for life from driving as punishment as well as serving a stint in jail but thought maybe that comment might have come across as too harsh.

      But shit, you went all in!

      KILL HIM! REMOVE THIS VOAL FROM MY SIGHT!

      Fucking hell, lad. Scary stuff.

      • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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        2 days ago

        Nobody here is advocating for killing him, we just hope he dies.

        As a mental exercise let’s change the tool he used out for a different one: if he had dragged the other person out of his vehicle and beat him near death and unconscious with a metal bat instead, would you still be defending them? Because the results are exactly the same.

        • mannycalavera@feddit.uk
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          2 days ago

          But he didn’t.

          What you’re describing is a deliberate act of aggression. Your fictional perpetrator armed himself with a weapon with the sole intention of doing harm.

          This kid didn’t get in his car and speed down the street intent on crashing into the cab driver. It was a mistake. A stupid irresponsible mistake. But not a deliberate act. Unless you have evidence the court hasn’t heard? This kid had a grudge on the taxi driver? He diddled him on a cab fare? Refused to pick him up?

          Punish this irresponsible kid and ban him from driving. But wishing death upon him. Jesus titty fucking Christ.

          • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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            2 days ago

            So you don’t support the random bludgeoning but you also do support it? Sounds like your conflict is internal, not with me.

            The man’s actions led to this and anybody could have told you this might happen beforehand.

            • mannycalavera@feddit.uk
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              2 days ago

              I’m not sure you’ve read, or understood, a word anyone had said to you. 😬

              Anyways, enjoy your life. Take care. 👍

      • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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        3 days ago

        Sure, and we’re not capable of administering mortal judgement upon another outside of our defence, but tolerance also has to end somewhere. Like a brick wall perhaps. So let us hope.

        • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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          3 days ago

          He was 19 at the time, practically a kid dude. People have to be given a chance at some point too. Not just immediately shown the wall.

          • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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            3 days ago

            I wasn’t out committing manslaughter at 19 so I guess it’s hard for me to sympathize.

            Most cultures treat you as an adult at 18, some as early as 14.

            • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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              3 days ago

              You act like this shit was premeditated murder, corporeal punishment fetish or some shit

              • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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                3 days ago

                He went 140 MPH and hit somebody.

                The only thing separating him from killing 5 children and their parents is blind luck.

                Sick of people treating cars like they’re benign and voids all responsibility for harm done.

                • Sanctus@anarchist.nexus
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                  3 days ago

                  I’m talking about the fuccen kid who you are wishing death on, the vehicle isnt up for consideration.

      • FiniteBanjo@feddit.online
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        2 days ago

        No he’s an adult who knew the risks of his actions and did them anyways, resulting in indiscriminate bludgeoning of a random man just doing his menial job.