Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
So, in the articles I saw on this accident, I never really saw *how* it happened. I mean, the truth is that jay walkers don't usually get hit during run of the mill jay walking. There are always the idiots who try to cross a divided highway, but they are more of an exception. People usually pay attention when they're crossing the street ,and drivers usually see someone and take appropriate action.
So how did this one come about? Anyone know? Was it dark on an unlit street? What's the speed limit in the area? I know krnlmustard said he or she had sped on the road before and that it was hilly and curvy, but is the visibility that short?
Just kind of curious since it does seem unusual.
So how did this one come about? Anyone know? Was it dark on an unlit street? What's the speed limit in the area? I know krnlmustard said he or she had sped on the road before and that it was hilly and curvy, but is the visibility that short?
Just kind of curious since it does seem unusual.
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
I think I remember reading somewhere that they made it to a divide in the center of the street and were waiting for traffic to clear on the other side when she lost control of the child and they darted out into traffic. Sounds plausible, but I could be mistaken.WEDFan wrote:So, in the articles I saw on this accident, I never really saw *how* it happened. I mean, the truth is that jay walkers don't usually get hit during run of the mill jay walking. There are always the idiots who try to cross a divided highway, but they are more of an exception. People usually pay attention when they're crossing the street ,and drivers usually see someone and take appropriate action.
So how did this one come about? Anyone know? Was it dark on an unlit street? What's the speed limit in the area? I know krnlmustard said he or she had sped on the road before and that it was hilly and curvy, but is the visibility that short?
Just kind of curious since it does seem unusual.
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
I have to ask, after reading the article, what that guy was doing driving if he was not only drunk and on painkillers, but only partial vision? He was almost blind in one eye. I thought you had to be able to see clearly with both eyes in order to drive? Or at least have limits put on your driving?
I remember mom telling me how when she was 6, there was only one girl in her class that lived nearby who was her age. One day, mom and her friend were walking home from school together, and my grandma told mom that a letter had arrived for her. So mom went into her house to get the letter--I asked but she didn't remember who it was from--and her friend continued home. She was crossing the street when a woman who had just been told by her doctor to stop driving because her vision was so bad was turning onto the street mom's friend was crossing, as she was on her way home to put her car away after being at the doctor's--obeying his instructions to go home and not drive again. Her vision was so poor she couldn't see mom's friend, hittiing and killing her. Mom heard the sound of the car hitting her friend, went outside and saw what happened. Really bugged her for years after. I think one time we were visiting local cemeteries looking for family graves, and mom stopped at her friend's grave for a moment. Really tragic how that woman could've had someone drive her to and from her doctor appointment, it's not like she had to be told how bad her eyes were. But back then--late 1930s--most families, if they owned a car, had only one, not the car for every driver in the family scenario like now.
Writer Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind) died in a similar accident, but friends said she frequently would cross the street without looking. She was struck and killed by a drunk driver while jaywalking.
I remember mom telling me how when she was 6, there was only one girl in her class that lived nearby who was her age. One day, mom and her friend were walking home from school together, and my grandma told mom that a letter had arrived for her. So mom went into her house to get the letter--I asked but she didn't remember who it was from--and her friend continued home. She was crossing the street when a woman who had just been told by her doctor to stop driving because her vision was so bad was turning onto the street mom's friend was crossing, as she was on her way home to put her car away after being at the doctor's--obeying his instructions to go home and not drive again. Her vision was so poor she couldn't see mom's friend, hittiing and killing her. Mom heard the sound of the car hitting her friend, went outside and saw what happened. Really bugged her for years after. I think one time we were visiting local cemeteries looking for family graves, and mom stopped at her friend's grave for a moment. Really tragic how that woman could've had someone drive her to and from her doctor appointment, it's not like she had to be told how bad her eyes were. But back then--late 1930s--most families, if they owned a car, had only one, not the car for every driver in the family scenario like now.
Writer Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind) died in a similar accident, but friends said she frequently would cross the street without looking. She was struck and killed by a drunk driver while jaywalking.
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
No opinion on this incident, but I still shudder thinking of one evening after a ballgame, when my sons and I were crossing the parking lot from the shuttle bus to our car, and my oldest (then around 10) darted into the path of a car without looking. Thankfully the driver was on his toes (perhaps literally) and slammed on the brakes, but it would have only taken a moment of inattention and my son would have been flattened. And it only took a split second to go from a fun evening to near-tragedy. It still scares me to think about.
Actually, we were blessed on two accounts that night -- first, that he wasn't hit; but also that my heart was in relatively good shape, because it was pounding hard enough after that that I could've been a goner, too!
Actually, we were blessed on two accounts that night -- first, that he wasn't hit; but also that my heart was in relatively good shape, because it was pounding hard enough after that that I could've been a goner, too!
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
If that is the case, then I don't see where the issue is even the jaywalking. I mean, what if she had been walking down the sidewalk and that happened?Lasolimu wrote:when she lost control of the child and they darted out into traffic. Sounds plausible, but I could be mistaken.
It is a tragedy, and should not be more in my opinion.
When I drove school buses in Oregon, I had an incident where a dog was harassing a bicyclist on the road, and just as I came upon the scene, the dog ran right out in front of my bus. The dog was lucky, because while I did make contact with him, I must not have injured him too badly. He ran across the street (TV Highway on the way out to Forest Grove, for those of you following along) and into the woods. Amazingly, this happened at the only time I have ever seen that there was not other traffic on the road.
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
Yes, if it had happen while they were walking down a sidewalk, then jaywalking wouldn't be involved, as they wouldn't be attempting to cross the street in the first place. However, they were jaywalking, instead of crossing at a crosswalk, and that does make a difference.Big Wallaby wrote:If that is the case, then I don't see where the issue is even the jaywalking. I mean, what if she had been walking down the sidewalk and that happened?
It is a tragedy, and should not be more in my opinion.
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
The problem in this case was how far away any crosswalk was.PatchOBlack wrote:Yes, if it had happen while they were walking down a sidewalk, then jaywalking wouldn't be involved, as they wouldn't be attempting to cross the street in the first place. However, they were jaywalking, instead of crossing at a crosswalk, and that does make a difference.
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
So.... inconvenience is now an excuse to kill someone?Amphigorey wrote:The problem in this case was how far away any crosswalk was.
If sustained on appeal, that will let us get rid of *thousands* of SGs!!!
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
Doesn't matter. A guy I worked with for years tells the tale about a friend of his. The friend was crusing through downtown (25MPH) when a guy bolted out from between 2 cars. 3400lb car,1,180lb guy,0. The jaywalker was 35' from the crosswalk,the driver wasn't charged. If the pedestrian had been in a crosswalk,different ending.Amphigorey wrote:The problem in this case was how far away any crosswalk was.
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Re: Women convicted of vehicular homicide for j-walking
I have very mixed feelings on this, and I know I don't have all the information. We all occasionally do things that are somewhat unsafe in order to avoid inconvenience. In this case, it's not a small inconvenience. Whenever she and her three children returned home via bus, they were facing 6/10ths of a mile of extra walking, possibly after a very tiring outing, and during that walk there was really just as much of a chance that she could lose control of a child and have that child run into the street. I'm a big one for following rules, and I believe that if you choose to break a law, you should be prepared for the consequences. In this case she paid a tremendously steep penalty. She lost a child. What would have been the benefit of pursuing further punishment through the law? She wasn't a danger to society. It would not help the victim. It was unlikely to act as a deterrent. It would deprive her other children of their mother at a time of crisis. What was the prosecutor thinking? To me it just seems counterproductive. Also, it sounds as if the driver was possibly not obeying all the laws, so perhaps his violation of the law was every bit as responsible for the child's death as hers, yet his punishment would have been less. I freely admit this is where I don't have enough information. If he was, in fact, operating his vehicle within the law, then he shouldn't be held responsible.