So a couple of month’s ago my brother-in-law was killed in a motorcycle accident. Obviously he was the motorcyclist. A pick up truck pulled out in front of him. I won’t rehash all the details here, since I have on another website (thread on other board here) Driver of the truck was charged with “failure to yield the right-of-way”.
Anyways, just found out today that the other driver paid his fine by mail. $30. yep. take a life through negligence, pay a 30 fucking dollars fine. No other charges.
I know this is weak pitting. Not enough foaming at the mouth, spicy language, vivid imagery. Don’t have it in me. I’m just dumbstruck
Fuck you, Virginia Traffic Code. Fuck you, Virginia Criminal Code. You failed.
I never blame a family member for feeling frustration that someone isn’t punished more. I am sorry for your loss and I know you feel the other party should pay. But looking at it from the point of view of a former fatal accident investigator, sometimes an accident is just an accident. (I will not attempt to interpret another state’s laws so this is from my experience here) In order for it to be more than just a traffic offense the death of one of the parties is not the main factor. Vehicular Homicide requires proof that there was gross (criminal) negligence. On the surface this appears to be simple negligence. It sucks I know. And there is recourse in civil court. But without other contributing factors I don’t see this rising to the level of a criminal offense.
However in this state, even with a simple traffic offense, an accident with injuries or death would require a court appearance. And because of the severity of the accident the penalties would be increased to include license suspension.
This is not meant to be glib, but I’m surprised by how low the fine amount is, even for a moving violation with no accident (let alone death or serious injury). Where I live it would be close to $200 for that offense, or more than $300 if an accident was involved.
He’s right, without details I’m not sure there is a compelling reason to rage at the outcome. I feel terrible for the OP, but sometimes, accidents just happen. People make mistakes, and as a motorcycle driver his brother in law presumably knew that he was a lot more susceptible to being seriously injured or killed by the mistakes of others (and those he might commit) on the road.
You always gotta drive like every one around you is a moron. Odds are, that’s mostly the case anyway.
Around here the state has found out that it is a very effective way to institute a tax without calling it a tax. Then add insurance surcharges (tax) on top of the fines. There are no more cheap tickets in this state.
But to echo what Loach says: sometimes an accident is simply an accident. A moment’s inattention has terrible, tragic consequences, but that doesn’t transform it into a criminal act.
I’m sure that when a death strikes your family this way, it seems almost incomprehensible that the idiot who caused it faces so little legal consequence. And I wish I knew the right words to make it make sense.
There are a lot of details that we can’t know from what you’ve said, and some of them might seem inconsequential. For example, if the pick-up truck stopped first and then pulled out, that supports a different charge than if he simply pulled into traffic. The presence of a “Yield the Right of Way” sign is important, too, in knowing what the driver might be charged with.
So you don’t rage at the outcome. I’m not sure I understand why you’d have to make a point of not raging. Is it that difficult to just say “That sucks, I’m sorry for your loss” and leave it at that?
Ugh. This will be my last post on the subject, because belaboring it is also not helping.
There is absolutely NOTHING in Shodan’s post that merits the interpretation you gave it. But thanks for putting that idea in the OP’s head. I’m sure he really appreciates it!
Ok. Maybe I’m being enough of a dick to warrant that shot. And apparently my asshole meter is miscalibrated this morning. I’ll go have some more coffee now.
Andros, the point of the person’s post was to pit the Virginia traffic and criminal codes; it wasn’t here just to share the story of the accident and loss of a relative. So, no, Shodan was free to speak to the point (and wasn’t obligated to express condolences, btw), to say that (s)he couldn’t take a side unless there more info was provided.
Unless someone could establish that the truck driver pulled out in front of the rider on purpose (almost impossible) or with reckless disregard, or that the driver had some special knowledge there was no way in hell the rider could avoid hitting the truck or whatever else and had nowhere to go, the state is out of luck.[1]
The powers that be here evidently established that the person didn’t yield right of way and made a mistake in believing (s)he wasn’t going to cause someone else an issue. Maybe, as so often happens, the truck misjudged the speed of the biker or the biker misjudged his or the truck’s speed and distance. (I’d posit that a significant percentage of folks really have a screwed up sense of speed and distance, particularly those who get into another lane without ever bothering to first assess whether that’s a good idea, since they wind up in a worse-off position than before they began. Happens multiple times a day.) It may be that the poster’s relative was one of the significant percentage of motorcycle riders who is not so skilled as to be able to avoid an accident, or even how to “lay down” the bike without catastrophic consequences. We simply can’t know based on what the poster has relayed.
Is that fair? (Treat as rhetorical if you like.)
[1] Well, a less than ethical prosecutor could and would charge as (s)he pleases; sometimes the only thing standing between a person and criminal charges is the prosecutor’s concern over win-loss record. Quite often, nothing prevents him/her from doing something that violates the bare minimum bright line code of conduct rule: don’t pursue a case to trial where no probable cause exists. Some – but unfortunately not a majority of – prosecutors follow the ABA Model Rules for Prosecutorial Function, where the rule is that one will not proceed with a criminal prosecution unless (s)he believes (s)he can establish evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. Otherwise, the unfortunate truth is that the prosecutorial threshold is no better than the police’s: probable cause … and they often aren’t terribly concerned with whether the actual elements of the crime are present let alone provable.