Re: [St] Justice finally? NOT!!! again

[JES_VFR <jes_vfr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 03:08 PM 2/26/2008, you wrote:
>Hey John,
>
>I feel I need to ask a question here. What happens to the average 
>driver that kills someone else due to negligent homicide in a car- 
>car accident? I am not up on the statistics, so cannot speak 
>knowledgeably. My perception, however, is this: Statistically, a 
>higher percentage of deaths will occur from car-moto accidents than 
>car car accidents, becuase of the lack of protection the rider has. 
>That being said, in the same " she just turned left in front of him" 
>accident, the rider is much more likely to die than the driver of 
>another car. OK, if I am the driver of the offending car, here is my 
>point of view: I turn left in front of someone and cause an 
>accident. With another car, driver survives, with a bike, rider does 
>not. I dont mean to minimize my guilt or remorse, both of which 
>would be significant, but even though I would feel worse about the 
>rider because he is dead, does that justify more penalty on my end? 
>It was his choice to ride a bike. If the typical punishment for 
>negligent vehicuklar homicide is jail time, then fine, jail time it 
>is. My point is that the driver of the offending vehicle should not 
>be penalized more because the victim was on a bike. Not more, but 
>certainly not less either. The same. If this has already been stated 
>and I have missed it then never mind.
>
>John ( who is stuck in the office today and doesnt
>want to write a difficult quote... )

If a driver kills another in a car-car accident that is deemed 
Negligent Homicide then that person goes to jail (depending on the 
state anywhere from 6-12 years for a single count first time offense) 
and their insurance gets to pay the other drivers family a sh!t load of money.
I'm sorry but it all boils down to the negligence stand point. The 
offender caused the death though some act that showed negligence and 
that lack of respect for another life needs to be punished. It 
doesn't matter if Adam was on a bike, his motorcycle, in another car, 
crossing the street on foot or driving a mack truck. This old woman 
caused the accident that killed him because she could/or would not 
bother to be responsible for her actions. End of debate.

My point is that it should have involved serious jail time and 
serious fines, and I think the Judge was ass when it came to 
sentencing in this case. Not because he looked at this old woman and 
would not put her in jail for the rest of her life, not because he 
took away her license permanently, but solely because he also reduced 
the fine to a pitiful 500 bucks. I don't know what TX law allows as a 
minimum fine for a vehicular homicide charge, but I believe its 
something like 15-20000 thousand dollars up here. If the judge was 
not going to throw her in jail, that is fine, but he should have 
fined her more than 20,000 dollars!

That is my point, punishment did not fit the crime. I'm not saying 
that it should be more for a rider than another motorist, I'm saying 
the Judge went did not do his job in this case.
And I think maybe it was because the guy was on bike as much as the 
woman was old.


JohnS
A Dragon Ascending
"Forging my body in the Fires of my Will"

_______________________________________________
Triumph Sprint ST/RS mailing list
Send list posts to ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Change your list options at www.Triumphnet.com