Re: House arrest after killing cyclist in hit and run.

On Sat, 1 Mar 2025 08:06:30 -0600, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

On 2/28/2025 9:05 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 2/28/2025 8:09 PM, AMuzi wrote:

On 2/28/2025 5:40 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 2/28/2025 3:18 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

>
In my view, a person who kills someone with their car
should never, ever be allowed to drive again.
>

First, let's acknowledge that rule will never be
implemented in the U.S. But if it were, driver caution
would increase many times over.
>
After the first few "dumbshit walks in front of car"
episodes actually resulted in "no more driving" and were
publicized, motorists might begin slowing to non-fatal
speeds when pedestrians (or bicyclists) are within walk-
in- front range.
>
As I've said here before, if an overhead crane operator
killed someone in a factory, I think they'd never be
allowed to operate the crane again, no matter what their
excuse.
>
Humans have given up far more than we should have to
motordom. Streets and roads were once the domain of
pedestrians, of kids playing, of people interacting.
Turning them entirely over to motorists was a deliberate
campaign goal of the car manufacturers.
>
https://marker.medium.com/the-invention-of-jaywalking-
afd48f994c05
>
>

>
I (naively?) assumed you meant 'by negligence or malice'
and I was happy to agree with that.
>
But I can't agree with you here.  Extend that argument and
we'll charge train operators with murder when jerkoffs
drive around the gate.  Or auto drivers who hit red light
running cyclists for that matter.

 
Given the legal system of the United States, I'd assume that
if such a law were implemented, there would be gaggles of
lawyers rushing to any accused motorist to defend his right
to run down anyone who impeded his speed.
 
So think of my position as an initial step in negotiations.
Let it apply in, say, residential areas, where kids should
be able to play in streets. Or in pedestrian heavy business
districts.
 
But as we all know, the present situation is closest to "I
didn't see him!" or "He came out of nowhere!" followed by at
most a slap on the wrist. And any imperfection in the
pedestrian's behavior is a coupon for no motorist penalty at
all.
 
Locally, about six months ago we had a young, well loved,
well respected music teacher, church organist killed by a
car when walking across a street. About a week ago, another
young man was killed crossing the plaza-infested five lane
at 6 AM. Details on the first are sketchy to me - it sounds
like he was in a legal crosswalk - but cops said the latter
was "not crossing in a designated crosswalk" so the motorist
is off completely free. And in a different city, a young
woman I know well was knocked to the ground and injured
while crossing in a crosswalk with a green "walk" signal.
 
(BTW, Ohio law has a virtual crosswalk at any intersection,
whether it's marked or not. Still, expecting pedestrians to
walk an extra half mile to avoid being called a "jaywalker"
seems unfair to me.)
 
I'd like a law that makes motorists think "Holy shit,
there's a pedestrian. I'd better be _really_ careful."
 

>
No one discounts those or other tragedies such as that of my
friend Jeff Archer:
>
https://www.wbtv.com/story/32500249/popular-owner-of-local-bike-shop-killed-after-struck-by-car/
>
But we have a few hundred years of statutes and tort case
law (i.e., this is not new ground for humans), and although
errors do exist, the system works fairly well in principle.
>
We can agree that legal and criminal responsibility is all
too frequently passed over by weak enforcement/sentencing.
This is a significant and untoward trend but there are
better remedies than punishing the innocent.

The article seemed to say the driver of the auto was drunk.

Has the driver shot Mr.  Archer: with a gun or even worse with an
assault rifle there would have been speeches, demonstrations and all
the trimmings but in the case above it was just a short line near the
bottom of the article....

It says something about the U.S,that when someone is killed by a drunk
drive is such a common thing that it is hardly mentioned in the news
article. Just a sort of "ho hum, another drunk..."
.
--
Cheers,

John B.