07-02-2022, 01:16 PM
(07-02-2022, 09:10 AM)ijmorlan Wrote:(07-02-2022, 06:09 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Yes, if a driver hits someone they will not face charges. But this isn't really a new or unique problem. The police *may* choose to charge a cyclist, which would be problematic, but I actually doubt that will happen. Or at least in my experience, for all WRPSs faults, they haven't shown a preference for charging pedestrians or cyclists who are hit by cars even when the right of way is questionable.
Hang on a second, what’s going on here? I mean yes, I know, bias, but legally, doesn’t everyone have the obligation to avoid collisions as much as possible, no matter the events leading up to them? If I’m driving down the street and a car turns left in front of me illegally, I’m not allow to just plow into them — I have to attempt to avoid the collision, presumably by braking.
So even if the person on a bicycle is in the crossing illegally (which it shouldn’t be, as you point out, but that’s another story), shouldn’t the driver be liable to be charged?
Is it just bias or do I misunderstand the law?
Big caveat: IANAL...
Yes, I think in theory if you could prove that a driver was negligent (or homicidal) then they could get charged in a situation where another driver was breaking the law and they weren't.
In practice, this never happens.
You want to know a story that makes me angry. A driver was making a left turn, they dropped a water bottle on the ground, looked down IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR TURN and started looking for it. They left the roadway and killed or maimed (I cannot remember) a pedestrian. They were charged, but the judge ruled that looking away from the road for an extended period of time during a critical dangerous maneuver and driving up onto the sidewalk into a person did not "deviate from the normal standard of driving".
I.e., our society has such a low standard of driving, I'm not sure it's even possible to be negligent without being homicidal...like, if you hit someone NOT on purpose, it seems likely that there is no level of lack of due care which will legally qualify as negligence.
But even if you felt the driver hit you on purpose...I think you'd be hard pressed to convince the police of that, without some pretty compelling evidence.
I have a low opinion of the legal framework around driving. It's firstly designed first as an insurance adjustment system and only second as an enforcement organization. It focuses on specific driver errors for which fault has been quantitatively assigned.