JackL wrote:
trihard4me wrote:
Let see..... how many people in the 40 some years I've been driving have I killed someone on the road..... NONE. How people have l hit with my car..... NONE. How many people does an average person hit on the road... for 99.9% of people it's NONE.
I had a guy drive out of a side road straight into me about 10 days ago. Hit the bonnet (I think) then landed on other side of the road. Ambulance etc.. called. I had a really lucky escape, impact to left elbow/hip/knee/foot, lots of soreness and could barely move next day but nothing broken. I'm about 95% fine now.
Guess what, it really was "an accident". The guy was genuinely sorry, actually horrified and had never hit anyone before. Having spoken to him since he comes across as a decent person. He (we think) had been looking beyond me as he approached the junction as you can see through the fence.. Yes he made a mistake, could it be said that he was driving without due care? People make mistakes while driving, most of these thankfully have no repercussions. I hope you (and all of us) are always able to state "None" to your questions.
Part of the solution really is education. We need to make people realize how vulnerable other road users are, that the "weapon" we drive doesn't protect us all that well from other such "weapons", and that roads are for sharing by multiple modes of transport.
I agree that education is part.
In your story, however, it sounds like it wasn't an "accident" -- that he actually was at fault and negligent.
I understand that the guy was genuinely sorry. Just because someone is negligent while driving doesn't make them a bad person. As you said, we all (or at least most of us) have been negligent while driving from time to time, and we're just fortunate that our negligence didn't cause any harm, at I suspect this lulls us into a false sense that our driving habits are acceptable. But that doesn't mean people should not be held accountable beyond civil liability when they do cause harm or are negligent. I like Francois's suggestion of a license suspension (or at least a restricted license) when at fault, even for a minor collision.