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Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by tomjen3 on Wednesday April 26, 2017 @01:17AM (#14200592)
If I flip unto the curb by accident and kill someone, what would be the point of punishing me in court? Unless I drove recklessly I couldn't really prevent the accident.
Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by alistairSH on Wednesday April 26, 2017 @08:41AM (#14202443)
How do you "flip unto the curb by accident" if you are driving within the limits of the car and driver? Cars don't randomly spin out of control - when they do spin, it's almost always because the driver wasn't paying attention or was driving too fast for conditions.

Yes, sometimes, some other vehicle will swerve and force you off the road. That seems to be the exception, not the common case.

Very rarely, a mechanical fault will cause an accident. But, even those are generally do to lack of maintenance. Personal example - I was almost hit by a detached car wheel/tire a few months ago while riding my bicycle on a bike trail. The car was an old beater. No muffler, rusty, etc.

Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by astrodust on Wednesday April 26, 2017 @02:01AM (#14200794)
If you flip onto the curb "by accident" and kill someone then, sorry, you suck at driving. The roads should be reserved for people who can control their vehicles, and in that instance you proved you couldn't.

Current laws don't do much, but an incident like that should be a minimum automatic five year suspension with mandatory re-testing.

Re:Is Every Speed Limit Too Low? by nommm-nommm on Wednesday April 26, 2017 @07:39AM (#14202168)
To reserve the roads for people who are able and willing to control their vehicles enough to not "accidentally" flip onto the curb. The majority of "accidents," especially those involving pedestrians, are caused by a wonton disregard for safety. I was almost run over at a clearly marked crosswalk crossing at the prescribed time following the "walk sign." The driver than screamed profanities at me for getting in his way. If he would have killed me it would have been a "accident."

Click on the last link and watch the video. It's a video that can only be described as a brutal and unprovoked attack with a deadly weapon, caught on camera. The author described it as "attempted murder." If someone was caught on camera beating someone else with any other weapon (nightstick, bat, hammer) police would be a lot more interested in following up and making sure the attacker doesn't attack again.

I think the big problem is there is rarely any sort of investigation unless it's really, really egregious. You just say "whoops" and maybe get a ticket for speeding or failure to keep right or running a stop sign and that's the end of it.

The fact this comment actually exists shows the problem.