[martin14]

^^

He cared so much, he didn't even show up for court. No doubt the next decision
will be small fine.

*sigh*

[BeaverFever]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Prof_Chomsky Prof_Chomsky:

All preventable. But still the literal dictionary definition of "accidental" - cause, well all the English dictionaries used it to define the word accidental. Literally. The literal dictionary definition.

Maybe in the "Dr.Caleb Condensed Pseudo-English Dictionary According to People Losing Arguments or that are Otherwise Wrong" the definition is different. But in the rest of the world, you're provably wrong.

Your argument isn't with me. Your argument is with the English language, linguistics scholars, and sanity itself. May God have mercy on your soul.

You are arguing 'English' in a 'legal' setting. Words in Legalese are not always the same as defined in English. Take 'Person' for example.

And . . . why so serious?

llama66 llama66:

Saying accident over and over is not going to make it an accident. Its not. It never was, it'll never be one. Sorry.

Exactly. You can't reasonably foresee an accident happening, nor can you prevent it. If it could be predicted, or prvented, it was not an accident.

No that’s not true. Human beings are not machines that operate at 100% capacity and 100% of awareness 100% of the time nor they predict the exact consequences of every minute action in their lives. Maybe if he had eaten an extra large bowl of wheaties for breakfast he would have had that extra bit of energy and alertness to avoid an accident on that fateful night, but it would be foolish to say by opting for toast and a yogurt that he knew that would cause a crash. Nobody makes a conscious decision ro be drowsy or distracted at a critical moment.

[DrCaleb]

Then they make a concious decision to drive while tired. Not an accident, because you know that driving tired increases your risk of crashes.

[llama66]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

Prof_Chomsky Prof_Chomsky:

All preventable. But still the literal dictionary definition of "accidental" - cause, well all the English dictionaries used it to define the word accidental. Literally. The literal dictionary definition.

Maybe in the "Dr.Caleb Condensed Pseudo-English Dictionary According to People Losing Arguments or that are Otherwise Wrong" the definition is different. But in the rest of the world, you're provably wrong.

Your argument isn't with me. Your argument is with the English language, linguistics scholars, and sanity itself. May God have mercy on your soul.

You are arguing 'English' in a 'legal' setting. Words in Legalese are not always the same as defined in English. Take 'Person' for example.

And . . . why so serious?

llama66 llama66:

Saying accident over and over is not going to make it an accident. Its not. It never was, it'll never be one. Sorry.

Exactly. You can't reasonably foresee an accident happening, nor can you prevent it. If it could be predicted, or prvented, it was not an accident.

No that’s not true. Human beings are not machines that operate at 100% capacity and 100% of awareness 100% of the time nor they predict the exact consequences of every minute action in their lives. Maybe if he had eaten an extra large bowl of wheaties for breakfast he would have had that extra bit of energy and alertness to avoid an accident on that fateful night, but it would be foolish to say by opting for toast and a yogurt that he knew that would cause a crash. Nobody makes a conscious decision ro be drowsy or distracted at a critical moment.

Would you be cool with flying on a plane (say a 737 MAX) where the pilot was tired? People make dumb choices when tired, this is why truck driver are not supposed to be driving when tired. The repercussions tend to be a touch more severe than when you nod off for a second while driving your 2009 Yaris.

[Prof_Chomsky]

llama66 llama66:

Would you be cool with flying on a plane (say a 737 MAX) where the pilot was tired? People make dumb choices when tired, this is why truck driver are not supposed to be driving when tired. The repercussions tend to be a touch more severe than when you nod off for a second while driving your 2009 Yaris.

Honestly, to me it comes down to criminal activity. No one is perfect and everyone makes honest mistakes. It sucks when that mistake causes a horrific tragedy though.

I look at it like this:
He didn't do it on purpose. He may have been criminally negligent. But that definition of "criminal" is where I trust the courts to interpret. Becoming distracted for an instant while driving is the sort of thing that happens and will continue to happen, to every single driver on the road and I don't think you can criminalize human flaws. I don't see that as criminal. However, I didn't see the actual trial or evidence, and like usual, I trust the people who spent hundreds of hours reviewing the evidence to make a determination. Clearly they thought this guy did something "out of the ordinary" when it comes to being negligent.

All I was ever trying to make clear was you can't criminalize honest human error or we'd all be in jail.

[llama66]

Well not me, I'm perfect and I have diplomatic immunity.