It’s one thing when something unavoidable happens like a kid darting out from behind a truck and not being able to stop in time. It’s another thing if someone is willfully not paying attention and careens into a crosswalk full of children. So I would both agree and disagree with your sentiment depending on the circumstances.
I’m thinking of one case of a high school student driving so fast on his way to school that he couldn’t stop for a school bus, and instead steered around the side of it, and killed a 12-year-old student waiting for the bus. There definitely were people in social media saying that we shouldn’t ruin the young man’s whole life over a mistake.
On the other hand, I’d agree with the example of drivers hitting people walking in the roadway on a limited-access highway at night as not at all a fault. The whole point of limited access is to reduce the number of things that a driver needs to anticipate. But a kid running out from behind a parked vehicle? That happens in places where kids live, and if one is driving in such places, it’s totally one’s fault for not driving slowly enough to react to a kid doing natural kid things.
Where I’m at, we’ve got a 45mph truck route going through the middle of a residential area, which lead to a kid running out in front of a semi a few years back. I’d say the primary blame for that specific incident is with whoever zoned it like that, and not the trucker who wasn’t familiar with the area.
It’s one thing when something unavoidable happens like a kid darting out from behind a truck and not being able to stop in time. It’s another thing if someone is willfully not paying attention and careens into a crosswalk full of children. So I would both agree and disagree with your sentiment depending on the circumstances.
I’m thinking of one case of a high school student driving so fast on his way to school that he couldn’t stop for a school bus, and instead steered around the side of it, and killed a 12-year-old student waiting for the bus. There definitely were people in social media saying that we shouldn’t ruin the young man’s whole life over a mistake.
On the other hand, I’d agree with the example of drivers hitting people walking in the roadway on a limited-access highway at night as not at all a fault. The whole point of limited access is to reduce the number of things that a driver needs to anticipate. But a kid running out from behind a parked vehicle? That happens in places where kids live, and if one is driving in such places, it’s totally one’s fault for not driving slowly enough to react to a kid doing natural kid things.
Where I’m at, we’ve got a 45mph truck route going through the middle of a residential area, which lead to a kid running out in front of a semi a few years back. I’d say the primary blame for that specific incident is with whoever zoned it like that, and not the trucker who wasn’t familiar with the area.
Agreed on that one.