Not to beat about the bush on the 31 December 2008 on a trip to New Zealand for Christmas and to attend his Uncles funeral Jim was killed in a head on car crash on State Highway One near Taupo. It was his fault with the most likely cause given as fatigue, ie went to sleep at the wheel. Unfortunately Jims dad, David, was in the car at the time and suffered a broken neck which was not properly diagnosed until some weeks after the crash. His brother Peter was in the following car and saw the whole event unfold and suffered a degree of trauma as a result the depths of which only he knows.
As his best friend since the age of 12 and expecting to grow old with my best mate in a way that my own father did with his I have suffered a grief ever since not only of a friend lost but as a future robbed. A future discussing cameras, cars, gadgets, families, ex's and presents and movies , the list could go on.
The ripples across Jims family have been profound and even though I've spent a lifetime in Crash Analysis nothing can really prepare you when its this close to home. So eight years since he went I still miss our conversations, nobody has replaced them and I often wonder where both our lives would be if he had not made a stupid mistake which cost him his life.
Some time in the early 70's
