Posted on 05/26/2005 9:09:09 AM PDT by m1-lightning
"idiocy... sometimes and accident is just an accident.
cite him for allowing her to drive, but geez...they didnt mean to kill anyone"
Would you say the same if the driver had a .08 BAC?
um.. well no
The charge is "involuntary manslaughter," which, by definition, means it was not intentional.
No, of course the permit might not have changed anything. But it did open the Dad up to charges.
I think the salient point here is that Dad didn't have control of the car at all times. Better to drop the transmission by throwing it into neutral than to hit someone.
yes, next time I think I'm having a bad day. I should just remember this article.
They have strange laws in Pa! Here in Oklahoma, 14-year-olds
can get a license, not a permit, but a license to drive on public roads as long as they're running errands for the family farm. Most get around the law buy going into town and buying a bag of feed or seed, keeping the receipt handy, and then going wherever it is they might care to go.
Kids of any age can operate any vehicle on private property as long as they are big enough to operate them safely.
but they broke the law... if they had followed the law, this would not have happened...
yeah--what was he teaching her that she actually went through a fence?
How so? Lectures, rules, and videos are not the same as the actual experience. Most of the training in driver's education is rules of the road and this incident was in a parking lot. Very little is actually about handling the car. That's why they have learner's permits, so they can get the experience of driving before they take the test and go out on the road by themselves. Had the father let her drive by herself, then I could see your contrast.
I venture that OK is less dense than PA. And I mean that by population, not mentality! This case illustrates the population density of NE Philadelphia. Car didn't have to go far off the school parking lot to be in a front yard. Add to that our traffic.
Maybe your laws stem from when a child was a necessary hand on the farm, too.
what do you mean? don't parking lots have speed limits? i thought they did...
Please. At least try to keep some perspective on this issue. It was a damned accident. Sounds like a dumb one.
Everybody had to frikkin sue somebody.
Some years back, my 84 year old grandfather was trying to park the car while my dad walked grandad's wife to the door. My grandfather, who had diabetes and probably neuropathy in his feet, hit the gas instead of the brake.
The car shot forward, and when he tried to brake harder, he just pushed harder on the accelerator.
The car shot up the lawn and crushed my grandfathers wife against the house. She ended up losing her leg, and spending almost 6 months in a hospital and rehab. He was crushed. He didn't mean to do it. HER FRIKKIN LAWYER SUGGESTED SHE SUE HER HUSBAND!!!!!!!!
I know my grandfather carried that with him to the end of his days, as will this young girl.
Please. Make a point, but don't call it murder. It is difficult to take your point seriously.
Why not?
You should check state law on that. While few if any states have restrictions on driving without a license on truly private property (i.e. kids driving on their family's farm), most DO apply licensing and various other traffic/vehicle requirements to driving on public property (such as the public high school parking lot that these two started out in), and to quasi-public property, such as parking lots owned by malls and multi-store shopping centers, where the general public is invited to drive.
And it's not irrelevant that this accident occurred when the driver crossed a PUBLIC road intersection, before crashing into adjacent private residential property.
It doesn't say she aimed. Aiming would be murder. Murder requires a motive. The only motive here was leanring how to drive. Inexperienced drivers are likely to panic at the slightest mistake often making the mistake worse and causing an sccident. She may have even closed her eyes out of fear. That makes it an accident.
Just those posted by the property owners. They can, however, call in the police if they feel you are driving dangerously, and you can be charged with any of a number of "menace" type offences.
So didn't Newsweak create a situation where many were killed? Why aren't they being charged??
True. And that is where the parent becomes culpable.
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