Perhaps not. But for all your self-righteousness here, YOU have once by your own admission. And once is all it takes.
Question – Under existing laws, is there a charge of reckless driving or driving to endanger that carries a stiffer sentence?
The year maximum is based on the charges chosen, if she was particularly reckless I have no doubt they could have chosen more severe charges that have a longer maximum sentence.
Excessive speed is a red herring, latched onto by some as if it’s the holy grail of safe driving. Screw the idea of “everyone has sped” because there’s always one in the crowd who claims never to speed. Everyone makes mistakes, and I defy any person who drives regularly to claim they’ve never made a mistake on the road. You make a mistake with a big lump of steel going 50 miles an hour and someone can die. You make a mistake with a big lump of steel going 5 miles an hour and someone can die.
Yes. The particulars, of course, vary by jurisdiction but in general, the charge of reckless driving carries a more severe penalty than mere careless driving.
I see no reason to doubt you TDN. But if you lived in LA and drove at the speed limit there would be an angry line of drivers behind you honking their horns and swearing. You might also have a problem being distracted if your halo slipped while you were driving.
Frankly, I think the idea that there are criminal charges involved a traffic accident - people were all driving about the same speed on a freeway which suddenly slowed, and she wasn’t able to stop - is ridiculous. 1 year in jail for an accident? That’s insane.
I was driving along the freeway in Toronto last year, and as a large number of cars that were doing just about the usual speed on that highway crested the top of a hill, we discovered that traffic on the other side of that hill had come to a dead stop because of a jammed up off ramp. Everyone slammed on their brakes, dove for the median lane, etc, but a large truck behind me jack-knifed and wiped into several cars, while several more hit it from behind. No one died in that accident, but that was only a stroke of luck.
Stuff like that happens, and it sucks, but we didn’t know traffic was jammed through the roof on the other side of the hill. And yes, we were all following too closely, really, since many people couldn’t stop without hitting the car in front of them - but when you’re on a highway where absolutely everyone follows too closely it’s pretty much impossible to not do so. If you hang back and leave a reasonable open space in front of you, someone else moves into that space. I still try to leave more than the usual space in front of me, but I’m only very rarely able to during rush hour, and even then, usually only if I get into the fast lane, which requires driving faster than I’m comfortable with.
It’s because of scenarios like that, that I think this is so much crap. A whole bunch of people were driving badly, and she happened to be the person who made first contact, so she maybe gets to go to jail for a year? If she’d been drunk, or weaving in and out of traffic or driving like an asshole, sure, but the stories I’ve read seem to indicate she was driving with the flow of traffic.
Self-righteous? I think not. I was merely trying to illustrate that staying within safe speeds is not at all impossible. Would that more people took care behind the wheel.
And your “once is all it takes” statement is pretty ridiculous. I already explained how safe the situation was. I’ll go further and state that I was at the top of a hill, so I could see pretty far. The road was straight. There were no side roads. And I had driven that road many many times. Trust me (or don’t) that the chances of me hitting another vehicle were nil.
But let’s go with your “once is all it takes” statement. Isn’t that all the more reason to NEVER speed?
Do you have this feeling of gross inadequacy often?
So are you starting to catch on then, finally? 1 year is the maximum for THIS PARTICULAR CRIME. If she had done something more negligent, they would have charged her with a DIFFERENT crime that carries a higher penalty max. There’s nothing wrong with capping the punishment for a particular crime: it keeps the criminal justice system from handing out wildly inconsistent punishments despite the fact that they cannot prove anything more than the same basic crimes at the same standard.
The chances of never having sped are a gazillion to one. You don’t know how fast you’re going if you have your eyes on the road. I’d venture to say that if you’ve been driving for 10 years or more, you’ve done it hundreds of times.
It’s even more complex than we’ve made it out to be. In point of fact, if you’re the only one driving the speed limit while everyone else is doing 10 MPH over, you are certainly driving legally while everyone else isn’t but guess who is the unsafe driver here? Yep, it’s you.
In Boston too, as many angry drivers have reminded me.
But my halo never slipped, as I had it securely nailed in place.
From the opening partagraph in the linked story
So, the police recommended to the DA that she be charged with a misdemeanor. That means that they felt that it warranted more than simply the ticket that I am sure the officer at the scene wrote up, but that it did not warrant the more severe felony vehicular manslaughter or negligent homicide or other charge.
There are a whole range of criminal laws to cover these situations (varying in language by state), and it was the judgment call of the police department that her actions were more serious than a simple Assured Clear Distance violation (ticket) and less serious than a specific felony charge that states or implies recklessness.
One year sounds somewhat excessive to me. I really don’t see what good it would do for her to be in jail. . .unless your opinion of justice is that it’s “whatever might make a vindictive person feel better”.
From what I heard on the news last night, the chance of her spending any time in jail is very small since this is her first offence.
You do know that in many jurisdictions the cops will ticket YOU for driving too slowly?
The speed limit isn’t some magical number handed down by the automobile fairies. It is a legal guideline intended to prevent serious accidents. If you routinely drive slower than everyone else you aren’t preventing accidents. In fact, you are likely to cause an accident. You are a reckless driver, that is, one who’s actions are likely to cause an accident.
Cops can give you a ticket for speeding if you are driving UNDER the speed limit if road conditions are bad. They can also give you a ticket for too slow driving. And safe driving isn’t just about speed. Ever driven when you were tired? Angry? Upset? Ever looked out your car windows at the scenery? Read a road sign? Looked down at your speedometer? Fuel gauge?
So take your sanctimony and shove it. You’re a dangerous driver, and the fact that you never exceed the posted speed limit is irrelevant. Actually, the fact that you brag about angry drivers piling up behind you is proof you’re a dangerous driver, since you care more about following the letter of the law than about reducing accidents.
Since other laws could have been used, I’m fine with the one year thing. Thanks everyone for setting me straight.
Kalhoun, Kalhoun, Kalhoun. You normally post such logical things. But you’ve really slipped off the rails with this.
Are you seriously suggesting that in order to stay within the speed limit, one must constantly fixate on the speedometer? Ever hear of glancing down?
Yes. No one can maintain an even speed constantly. So pretty much the only way to guarantee that you never go even 1 mile over the speed limit is to maintain a speed that’s about 10 MPH lower than the limit. Which is probably a lot more dangerous in a lot of cases than going 10 MPH over the limit.
Her point is that if the speed limit is 40, and you are attempting to maintain that limit, you will hover AROUND 40…sometimes a little over, sometimes a little under, unless you are staring at the spedometer and concentrating on maintaining exactly 40.
You’re conflating the two issues. One is what Brandy di in this particular case. Specifically, to what degree was her speed excessive? The other issue is the one year maximum for the offense in general, and whether or not something like talking on a cell phone or watching a video (like some NBA was doing while having an accident) moves it into another realm. It may very well, but where is the line? Cell phone? Fumbling for cigarettes?
Liar.