A Stupid Judge

[Grenadier]

Try driving in Appalachia, where the roads are bad, steep, and curvy, and lunatics whiz up and down them like madmen.

[karlthepagan]

Why wouldn't this idiot make an example of a drunk driver? I've had family friends maimed and friends of friends killed by repeat drunk driving adults.

Kids like this are usually not responsible, so in WA they cannot drive with minors in the car if there is not an adult present (some exemptions).

[Grenadier]

The girl I had my very first crush on along with a close cousin of mine were killed by a drunk driver when I was a freshman in high school. He's probably out of prison by now.

[lattd]

I think the UK government should force a retest for drivers every 25 years, the amount of times ive been close to being hit by a car while crossing a pedestrian crossing is crazy, and my pet peeve is people not indicating!

[Grenadier]

Not using turn signals is a very common thing in my area too. But they go one step beyond. They'll be wanting to turn off the road and will actually cross into the lane on whichever side the turn is on 100's of feet from the turn. Even though the road isn't marked or set up for it. So you'll be going down the highway and some guy is swerving into your lane before he makes the turn. And they also ignore no passing lanes and will pass whenever and wherever they want!

My van got totaled by two drunk rednecks in a Blazer. The section of highway I was on had three lanes. The center one being a turning lane for some homes on the side of the road. And I did everything right, including having my indicator on. I'm patiently waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear so I can make my turn. And it clears. Just as I begin turning a red streak from BEHIND me plows into my side of the van. Spun my van around in a 360 degree spin with parts flying everywhere. Hit me on my side just ahead of the door.

That Blazer came from behind. He tried passing me as I'm waiting to turn by going into the oncoming traffic! And before I made the turn I had to switch to that turning lane. And when I did I remembered checking my rearview to make sure nobody was behind me as I switched lanes. This means that Blazer was FAR behind me. He had to be going 90. So that shows these idiots were far behind me on the road and speeding for them to have caught me as I was making a legal turn.

[Joshuawesome]

I don't know the full particulars. The reports I've seen didn't go into detail. Just that they hit a tree. So one can assume it may have been a single car accident. And one can speculate what led to that. But no other details were presented.

The litigiousness of our society here is as stupid as this judge's ruling. For example a man sued a dry cleaner for ruining his pants for millions of dollars. And the man filing the suit was a judge!

Eh... I'd be hesitant to criticise the judge without knowledge about the full details of the case.

what did the kid do? was his driving not only reckless but ridiculously idotically so? how bad were the injuries? was it only a weeks-long coma?

without the full particulars it's hard to determine whether a lifetime ban is justified or not.

The kid could very well have been going at a hundred miles per hour, the wrong way down a busy highway while flipping other drivers off. It could very well be that he could have gotten many people killed and it was only through some miracle that the worst thing that happened was he put his friend into a coma. It could also very well be that lives would be saved if this numbskull never drives ever again.

Again, all speculation. We need to look at both sides of the coin, and for that we need the full details.

[Drunkencorgimaster]

Consider Osama Bin Laden. On his orders 1000's of lives were taken. Each of those lives had a circle of family and friends. All now affected by the loss of those lives. Multiply that by 10's of 1000's people affected by the loss of his victims.

32,708 people were killed in motor vehicle collisions in the USA in 2010. A lifetime licence ban for a teen is probably too severe, but I am okay with judges getting way more serious about getting psychopaths (like the rednecks who hit you) off the highways.

[eldargal]

That is simply horrific. Britain averages around three thousand a year, ten percent of the total in a population one sixth as large as yours. Even scaling it up would come to 18,000.

32,708 people were killed in motor vehicle collisions in the USA in 2010. A lifetime licence ban for a teen is probably too severe, but I am okay with judges getting way more serious about getting psychopaths (like the rednecks who hit you) off the highways.

[Grenadier]

Well, you know we have that whole "the punishment fits the crime" thing here and that pesky little "cruel and unusual" punishment thing too. Now from what I gather nobody died in this incident though one did spend time in a coma. A lifetime ban doesn't fit the crime obviously. A temporary ban perhaps. Paying restitution definitely. In the cases of those rednecks hitting me I should have gotten a new van out of it. In the case of my cousin and first crush the driver should have had at least 30 years in prison.

32,708 people were killed in motor vehicle collisions in the USA in 2010. A lifetime licence ban for a teen is probably too severe, but I am okay with judges getting way more serious about getting psychopaths (like the rednecks who hit you) off the highways.

[Necron2.0]

That is simply horrific. Britain averages around three thousand a year, ten percent of the total in a population one sixth as large as yours. Even scaling it up would come to 18,000.

The US is a car culture. We drive far more here in the States than anywhere in Europe. Zoning laws in the US generally result in people living far from where they work. As example, I drive roughly 48 miles a day to and from work, and I'd consider myself fairly typical. My daily commute starts with checking the news to see which roads are closed because someone splattered themselves. I have personally witnessed two fatal collisions in the past five years. I've seen countless other wrecks and fender benders with varying degrees of injury. I even managed to get myself splashed across the inside of my car once.

Unfortunately, our driving habits aren't really a matter of choice in many cases. Mass transit in the US is largely non-existent. What little there is generally is more of a nuisance than a help, and nowhere is the infrastructure set up to allow for it.