# Egg a car, get shot? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 3, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682 "2006-12-03T14:18:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/61 "2006-12-04T22:05:27Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] 1. Anyone who would hunt down and kill a kid for throwing eggs is an asshole. [/quote] Yes, unless the kid had a habit of throwing eggs at you or other cars. > [@](#): > > 1. There are assholes out in the world. Yes. > [@](#): > > 1. It is conceiveable, at least in theory, that an egg thrown at a vehicle travelling at high velocity could cause an accident. Yes. 1. It is conceiveable, even with high-quality video and audio data and a plethora of high-reliability witnesses, that identification of serial vandals could be mistaken? (I’m not going to sully your list by adding: “It is inexcusable to mistakenly apply the death penalty?”, because not everyone would agree that it’s _not_ worth it to “break a few eggs” in the name of the **Omelette of Justice** (da da DAAAAA). That caveat is the reason I do not condone state-sponsored or freelance blood vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/62 "2006-12-04T22:11:59Z")
[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster] Why? What is the huge deal about it? It wasn’t rocks. Eggs smash upon contact, unlike pretty much any other projectile. So why these violent and angry reactions? Is this not sweating the small stuff writ large? Really, what is it that makes it SUCH an egregious sin that people are frothing at the mouth here? [/QUOTE] Because having something smash into your vehicle while you are traveling down a highway could very well cause someone to panic and swerve and cause an accident, maybe not you or me but i know something as small as that would freak out my mom. Because if you don’t stop and do something then nothing will get done and this kids will grow up into adults who excuse this kind of behavior with a “come on, didnt you do anything like that as a kid? i did!”, but mainly because a kid doing this deserves a good beating to teach him not be such a fucking asshole. [QUOTE=Mangetout] So are you saying that in some cases, two wrongs do actually make a right? [/QUOTE] Well not exactly, im saying them getting away scot free would be more wrong than them getting beat up or maced or tazered, all of which i would consider adequate in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/63 "2006-12-04T22:23:12Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] 3) It is conceiveable, at least in theory, that an egg thrown at a vehicle travelling at high velocity could cause an accident. [/QUOTE] This is a test for the Mythbusters. I say that it is about as plausible as me becoming the next queen of England. This “eggs are deadly weapons” argument reminds me of that Dan Ackroyd skit in which he’s killed by the nerf ball. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/64 "2006-12-04T22:32:38Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] This is a test for the Mythbusters. I say that it is about as plausible as me becoming the next queen of England. This “eggs are deadly weapons” argument reminds me of that Dan Ackroyd skit in which he’s killed by the nerf ball. [/QUOTE] Anything at all hitting your car while traveling at a high velocity like on a highway will be LOUD and DISTRACTING, the fact that it was simply an egg would not likely be inmediately obvious unless they happened to nail your windshield which just leads to a different kind of trouble. Accidents happen over things as simple as changing radio stations or talking on a cell phone, ANY distraction while you are driving a vehicle is dangerous, specially something as completely unexpected as your car being struck by anything while traveling down a highway not to mention that a windshield wiper is not likely to clear away the mess if it happens to hit your windshield and then you are dealing with low visibility on top of the surprise at having been hit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/65 "2006-12-04T23:02:52Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] This is a test for the Mythbusters. I say that it is about as plausible as me becoming the next queen of England. [/QUOTE] But Your Majesty, an egg hitting the windscreen directly in front of the driver need only cause momentary panic or disorientation in order to cause an accident, especially if the vehicle is travelling at speed. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/66 "2006-12-04T23:08:54Z")
[QUOTE=DigitalC] Well not exactly, im saying them getting away scot free would be more wrong than them getting beat up or maced or tazered, all of which i would consider adequate in this case. [/QUOTE] Although I agree that a thrown egg _might_ cause a serious accident, I’m still a little shocked by the above quoted comment, and I don’t agree that bodily harm enacted upon the perpetrator is preferable to their unprosecuted escape. How is it _anything but_ “two wrongs make a right”, when you’re advocating grievous violence as appropriate response to petty violence? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/67 "2006-12-04T23:33:38Z")
Fine. Show some incidents in which egging has caused serious accidents resulting in injury. I’m not saying that there isn’t some scenario we can concoct in which an egg could set off some terrible chain of events. Nor am I saying that egging isn’t immature and antisocial behavior. I’m saying egging resulting in serious car accidents is so unlikely that we ought to apply some perspective to the reality of that “threat.” If there’s a lot of car crashes out there I am not aware of that have been caused by eggings, I’ll gladly admit I’m wrong. But if there’s only one or two – or god forbid zero – incidents in recorded human history of drivers freaking out, driving off the road, and causing serious injury to people as a result of eggings, I think it is somewhat hyberbolic to claim that egging is “dangerous.” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/68 "2006-12-04T23:39:22Z")
For me, it’s not about the potential for a car accident. It’s the idea that someone with youthful aggression to burn off can take it out on someone who never did anything to him. Forget moving cars: there’s also knocking down mailboxes, throwing eggs at stationary objects/people, harassing people on the subway. And this is somehow okay. Why should Joe Baggadonuts have to submit to being a target for Timmy Ballshaventdropped’s aggression? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/69 "2006-12-05T00:12:20Z")
It has never been OK. These are acts that can and sometimes are prosecuted. If damages are done, restitution is made. But murdering them. No way. It is not that big a crime. That is why the police are not all that excited by it. He made my car dirty now he must die. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/70 "2006-12-05T00:22:14Z")
Had the egg thrower been apprehended by the police and forced to do community service and pay restitution, I would have no sympathy with him. That’s not the case here. I have sympathy for him and for his survivors for the simple fact that while what he did was wrong it wasn’t wrong enough to rise to the level of the death penalty. What sympathy I would’ve had for the SUV driver evaporated when he killed someone. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/71 "2006-12-05T00:25:53Z")
[QUOTE=Ravenman] I think it is somewhat hyberbolic to claim that egging is “dangerous.” [/QUOTE] What, and “about as plausible as me becoming the next queen of England” isnt hyperbolic? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/72 "2006-12-05T00:26:37Z")
If, if, if. If you can catch him. If you can identify him. If you can get the police to give a hoot. If you can prove that he did it and caused damage. If he’s obligated to pay any kind of penalty. If you think it’s worth **your** time and effort for something that shouldn’t even happen. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/73 "2006-12-05T00:28:06Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] For me, it’s not about the potential for a car accident. It’s the idea that someone with youthful aggression to burn off can take it out on someone who never did anything to him. Forget moving cars: there’s also knocking down mailboxes, throwing eggs at stationary objects/people, harassing people on the subway. And this is somehow okay. [/QUOTE] Who has said it is somehow okay? Nobody, as far as I can see. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/74 "2006-12-05T00:29:20Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] If, if, if. If you can catch him. If you can identify him. If you can get the police to give a hoot. If you can prove that he did it and caused damage. If he’s obligated to pay any kind of penalty. If you think it’s worth **your** time and effort for something that shouldn’t even happen. [/QUOTE] The same is true of any crime; you can only prosecute the criminal if you catch him - what’s your point here? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/75 "2006-12-05T00:35:46Z")
The point is that there’s an active manhunt for the shooter, **as there should be, of course.** But chasing down an egg-thrower (assuming you don’t have a gun, and don’t intend to hit him with your car either)? You’re on your own. ---
**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/76 "2006-12-05T00:37:06Z")
[QUOTE=DigitalC] Accidents happen over things as simple as changing radio stations or talking on a cell phone, ANY distraction while you are driving a vehicle is dangerous. [/QUOTE] Indeed. In which case you swear by all that’s holy that you have never ever endangered others on the road by changing a radio station or glancing at scenery or your passenger or taking a bite of food or drinking some of that coffee or glancing at a map or scratching something itchy or telling somebody in the car off or… huh? Because if you have then by your measure we need to go hunt you down and beat you senseless since you’re a Dangerous Driver on the order of the Terrifying Egg-Wielding Rampaging Adolescents. One could, of course, make the point that since random things like bits of gravel can hit the windscreen and since vehicles can be suddenly splashed by other vehicles and since children or animals can run out or since other surprising things happen, a driver ought to be able to cope with sudden and unexpected events. I know that’s one of the things Driver’s Ed taught me. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/77 "2006-12-05T00:43:20Z")
I must say, as a side note, that it is some honor to have both the Emperor of the World and the Queen of England grace our humble thread with their presence! [QUOTE=Rilchiam] Why should Joe Baggadonuts have to submit to being a target for Timmy Ballshaventdropped’s aggression? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Rilchiam] If, if, if. If you can catch him. If you can identify him. If you can get the police to give a hoot. If you can prove that he did it and caused damage. If he’s obligated to pay any kind of penalty. If you think it’s worth **your** time and effort for something that shouldn’t even happen. [/QUOTE] I hear what you’re saying, really I do. The prospect that I, John Q. Sixpack, might have to endure the senseless mischief of Billy Peachfuzz and his friend Dennis D. Menace is not a pleasant one. Why don’t you tell us what _you_ suggest, since we all seem to be in agreement (more or less) that a shotgun blast is a bit too strong of a response, and letting them off entirely is too hard to stomach? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/78 "2006-12-05T01:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Although I agree that a thrown egg _might_ cause a serious accident, I’m still a little shocked by the above quoted comment, and I don’t agree that bodily harm enacted upon the perpetrator is preferable to their unprosecuted escape. How is it _anything but_ “two wrongs make a right”, when you’re advocating grievous violence as appropriate response to petty violence? [/QUOTE] I just don’t see a beating as “grievous” violence or potentially dangerous behavior as all that petty. Grievous violence is what happened in this case, a broken nose seems on the other hand like appropiate penalty for completely unprovoked assholish behavior. You fuck with a man for no reason and you get a pounding, i see that as preferable over no punishment at all. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/79 "2006-12-05T01:13:12Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Who has said it is somehow okay? Nobody, as far as I can see. [/QUOTE] I see people all throughout this thread saying it’s ok. “just kids being kids.” “I used to do it.” “Glad no one shot me when I used to do it.” Yeah, people think it’s okay. No one in this thread is saying it’s okay to shoot egg throwers. Lots of people are saying it’s okay to throw eggs at cars. [Thrown eggs can cause serious eye injury.](http://www.ucsfhealth.org/childrens/health_library/reuters/2006/09/20060925elin031.html) [Egg Throwing – Not a Laughing Matter anymore.](http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=14469&t=19) [Egg to Face Not Safe.](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2605713&page=1) [Egg throw victim ‘may lose sight’](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4243119.stm) “Children heard laughing.” If anyone’s interested I found this on an Ohio government website: [BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:](http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=124_SB_163_RH) > [@](#): > > Section 1. That sections 2909.09, 2909.10, and 2909.101 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows: > Sec. 2909.09. (A) As used in this section: > (1) “Highway” means any highway as defined in section 4511.01 of the Revised Code or any lane, road, street, alley, bridge, or overpass. > (2) “Alley,” “street,” “streetcar,” “trackless trolley,” and “vehicle” have the same meanings as in section 4511.01 of the Revised Code. > (3) “Vessel” and “waters in this state” have the same meanings as in section 1547.01 of the Revised Code. > (B) No person shall knowingly, and by any means, drop or throw any object at, onto, or in the path of any of the following: > (1) Any vehicle, streetcar, or trackless trolley on a highway; > (2) Any boat or vessel on any of the waters in this state. > (C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of vehicular vandalism. Except as otherwise provided in this division, vehicular vandalism is a misdemeanor of the first degree. Except as otherwise provided in this division, if the violation of this section creates a substantial risk of physical harm to any person or the violation of this section causes serious physical harm to property, vehicular vandalism is a felony of the fourth degree. Except as otherwise provided in this division, if the violation of this section causes physical harm to any person, vehicular vandalism is a felony of the third degree. If the violation of this section causes serious physical harm to any person, vehicular vandalism is a felony of the second degree. Kids just bein’ kids. Yeah, felony kids. **Gonzomax** , why should I have to pay to have my car washed at least, and possibly have to pay a $400 deductible to have my insurance company repaint an entire section of my car just so your kid can “make my car dirty.” You keep arguing as if someone is actually saying “your kid must die.” But no one is saying that. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682/80 "2006-12-05T01:45:41Z")
This is a very depressing thread. Let’s see. Quite a few posters have expressed their beliefs that inflicting great bodily harm on a vandal is justifiable or appropriate, or that they do not feel sympathy for someone killed in retribution for an egg-throwing incident. I don’t for a minute believe that any of you, should your child die for tossing eggs at a car, would call for the perpetrator to go free. [QUOTE=levdrakon] I see people all throughout this thread saying it’s ok. “just kids being kids.” “I used to do it.” “Glad no one shot me when I used to do it.” [/quote] You see nothing of the kind. I looked back through the posts to see what I might have missed the first time, and one is saying egging/vandalism is OK, or that kids are just being kids. A couple of us owned up to doing silly things as kids (that potentially could have had damaging consequences, but didn’t). As another poster pointed out, all those going off in a rage about the egg-throwers must have been little angels all during their upbringing. > [@Argent Towers](#): > > I have (had) my car hit by eggs, and had other stuff thrown at it (both pa(r)ked and while driving) and while I’d like to say that I turned the other cheek, chalked it up to youthful indiscretion, and stoically washed the egg off the windows, in reality I wanted to dismember the fuckers. > > I didn’t actually do it, of course, but it’s easy for me to see how someone with less self-control and fear of the law could. But that person then needs to deal with the fact that he is a murderer, and face the full punishment of the law. I’ve had my mailbox bashed off its post by bored suburban teens, and I was pissed off that I had to take the time to fasten the thing on again. I would have been happy to see the offenders spend the night in a lockup or sentenced to a few weeks of community service. But I guess that’s not enough for some of you. If I had spotted the felons, would I have been within my rights to give chase and gun one of them down? Those who want to break bones or take murderous vengeance over stuff like this had better pray real hard for an understanding jury. The greater likelihood is that you’ll do time. And most of us are not going to shed a tear over it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egg-a-car-get-shot/382682.md?page=5)