09-21-2020, 06:37 PM
(09-21-2020, 12:24 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: I do agree that in practice, this is rarely the issue, our actual standards are basically zero....there was a collision where a driver killed a pedestrian on the sidewalk, while looking around on the floor of their car for a waterbottle for more than five seconds, while making a left turn, the courts dismissed the charges because the justice felt that not looking at the road for 5 seconds straight did not deviate from a normal standard of driving.
Lots of good points. Thanks especially for pointing out the distinction between liability as assigned by insurance vs. by police/prosecutors/courts.
That last example is truly appalling. While on one level the justice is absolutely right — it’s totally normal for drivers to behave with extreme negligence — on another more relevant level that is just an absolutely appalling miscarriage of justice. Basically, murder is A-OK as long as it’s really common. Seriously, somebody accused of a gangland hit should try that one — “we’re always offing each other, I just happened to be the one to conduct this particular hit”.