I am usually vehemently opposed to pressing charges when no injury has been incurred. However, in this case I believe you should continue the case. It’s only a matter of time before this lady causes something serious. My grandmother did something similar a few years ago, and eventually got banned from driving. I was relieved for her sake, and for the sake of everyone on the roads.
I’ve run my fair amount of red lights/stops. Had quite a few dodgy lane changes, speeding incidents etc… whenever i deemed it safe (note: safe and legal don’t always match, and just cos it’s safe, doesn’t neccessarily make it right) I don’t know about your side of the world, but here, we take the rules of the road as a guide more than anything else (unless The Man is around :D)
But every one that breaks the law, does so knowing there is a chance a) you’ll get caught, or more seriously b)someone else will be hurt. I drive my car to the extent of my abilities, my Corsa 1400i can do 200km/h on open road, i did it once, just to see. My driving skills aren’t good enough to maintain that speed, so i drive slower… if Mrs X’s skills aren’t good enough to drive at all, she shouldn’t drive.
Apologies for not being able to remember which post (search on cyclists, i think in the pit) but that thread makes clear, driving a car is a privelege, not a right… if you can prove you deserve the privelage, you get it… on the condition that you don’t do anything to lose the privelage.
Age, gender, mitigating circumstance don’t matter, either you can drive or not… and if a person is not mature/responsible/whateva enough to decide when they can’t drive properly (due to age, alcohol, drugs) then some one else will have to make the decision.
Pressing charges doesn’t mean your the one taking her license away, it just means you are telling the authorities, “Hey, there might be a problem here, check it out” (thats what ppl pay taxes to the goverment for aint it?). The duley appointed authorites investigate, and make a decision.
Last comment, i promise:
You’re not being an ogre, the only way you come out tainted, is if, one day, you are in Mrs X’s position, and react the same way she did, instead of letting due process take its course.
The issue of hit-and-run charges has been adequately discussed. However, this:
might qualify as false reporting, insurance fraud, who knows what. IANAL, YMMV, OIMACTTA, etc., but it’s certainly worth looking into.
She needs to be held responsible for her actions. Stay with it, irae, you’re doing what’s necessary.
Next time someone may well die. If she is incompetent to drive a car she needs to be given a heads up and gotten off the road.
She hit your car, she didn’t apologize or care about your welfare, she lied to the insurance company and probably would have lied to the police officer if she thought she could get away with it. On top of the SERIOUS lack of control issue here.
Why would you seriously consider dropping charges? This woman is obviously a public menace. If she was so shaken up she couldn’t drive properly following the accident, the responsible thing to do would be to pull over. But she couldn’t even manage that, apparantly. So she drove away - with her driving obviously impaired.
Throw the book at her. Please.
irae, of course people are shook up after an accident. But we all know that no matter how awful we feel, we have to go through certain procedures after being in a traffic accident. We wait for the authorities, we provide statements, we give insurance information. It’s part of being a driver and operating a car. Being shook up is no excuse.
Furthermore, it is not ultimately up to you (or your decision) to determine what is going to happen to her. She may or may not lose her license if you press the charges. That will be up to someone (or some regulation) which has specific and expert knowledge of what is best for both the individual and society in such cases. Don’t let that be your burden. Let the law go forward and do its work.
I agree that you should not drop the charges.
However, if you really really don’t want to go to court, you might instead tell her that you will drop the charges if she gives up her license voluntarily. The problem, of course, is that she might go reapply the next day. But if she really has family that’s trying to get her off the road, such an offer might be as good as pressing charges for their ability to gain some control over her driving.
irae, from what you have said about all of this, you seem to be a remarkably forgiving and understanding person, so rather than talking about “preventing something from happening in the future,” I will try to address myself to those qualities in you so as to convince you of what all of the rest of us see so clearly.
This lady is a menace, and you should do whatever you can to get her off the streets. This is not a vindictive position. Forgive her and feel sorry for her all you want, but be clear what you forgive and feel sorry for. From what you have described, she has committed at least one serious crime. Whether she is punished for it is not up to you, it is up to the judge. If you feel you must, tell the court as part of your testimony that you feel sorry for her, but be clear what you feel sorry for: that she proved herself incompetent to tell the gas from the brake, that she was so completely disoriented that she didn’t even know she had driven over a sidewalk, and more than anything that she chose to get behind the wheel and endanger the lives of hundreds of other people that day. Feel sorry for that; forgive her for that. But if her incompetence and her disorientation and her choices caused her to commit a crime that the judge decides she must be punished for, that’s out of your very admirable hands.
Jesus said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” But He also said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” This judgement isn’t yours to make, it’s Caesar’s.
Hope this helps.
Then don’t.
Let the legal process run its course.
She may then think about her actions, and how they affect others.
Don’t let her weasel out of this.
It was a hit and run for crying out loud, not some new law that came into effect recently.
Y’know, I appreciate that you don’t wanna pass judgment on a fellow human, and that you can appreciate that she might have been a little rattled afterwards. Perfectly natural.
…but lying to her insurance company? Nope. I think that it’s been sufficiently beat to death that this woman felt NO remorse for her actions, wasn’t particularly up front about taking responsibility for it, and didn’t give a fart in a high wind about the potential damage she did or could have done.
That in and of itself is worthy of concern, don’cha think?
I’d press the damn charges. Either she will plead guilty and pay a fine, do some restitution, probably no jail time… or she will plead NOT guilty, and a full investigation will ensue.
Either way, I kind of think it’s for the public good.
I mean, I can see getting all jangled and driving off after an accident. You admit you were pretty rattled yourself.
I notice you seem to have pulled it together SINCE then, though. Did she? Well, apparently enough to lie to her insurance company and to give YOU a hard time about spoiling her evening by existing in the wrong place and time like that…
irae, while I find the compassion that you are displaying to be heartwarming, in an abstract sort of way, I think that in this case it is rather misplaced. Think about the amount of internal conflict that you are experiencing right now, and then imagine opening the paper one morning and discovering that the woman that you had let off the hook whipped out several school kids at a crosswalk.
The bottom line here is that, in a very real way, you have a responsibility to help keep the rest of your community safe. Not to get grandiose here, but that is what our whole social contract is about. By not pressing charges, you are indirectly assuming responsibility for all of the damage that this woman may do in the future. From your story, it sounds as if it is just sheer luck that you and your sprout/family were not hurt (to say nothing of the kids on the sidewalk!). I think that you need to look beyond the way that this may make you feel, and consider that your responsibility in this matter is quite a bit larger
Realize that you are not assuring any specific outcome should you permit legal procedures to continue. She gave every indication of driving incompetently that day. Moreover, I’d suggest the entirety of her behavior suggests that she acted irresponsibly - if not antisocially. Do you believe this was an isolated incident, and in all other driving - and all other aspects of her life - she is an angel?
All you are doing is attesting to the facts that you experienced. A court can determine her degree of culpability - if any, and the appropriate punishment. She has every right to obtain representation and present her version of events, to prove why she was not the incompetent, antisocial driver her actions make her appear.
However, you WOULD direct a particular outcome should you prevent legal proceedings from taking place. You would assure that the legal system does not have the opportunity to judge the totality of her behavior.
It may help if you distinguish between your civil claim against her, and any criminal liability she may face. Realize also that you are not the injured party in the criminal action. The community is. She violated any number of laws written - not by you, but by the community. Your declining to participate in the prescribed process for such matters would interefere with the orderly and consistent enforcement of the laws, and by extension, the orderly conduct of society.
Moreover - IMO, there are transgressions, and Transgressions. IMO, leaving the scene after striking an occupied vehicle fits pretty well into the “capital T” category.
I suggest this is a case in which “official channels” - i.e. the court system - may have a better chance of identifying culpability, sizing up all relevant aspects of this particular system, and determining the appropriate solution/response, than you consulting your inexpert personal judgment (despite an able assist from the teeming millions.)