If prosecution of negligence was more aggressive, my bet is our society will become a true police state. When will speeding become 'attempted manslaughter'? Roughly 60% of drivers break the speed limit on a regular basis. All you need is a person to ride their bike out in front of one of them and 60% of America will be behind bars for negligent driving.
It happened to a resident here 3 years ago and she got 1 year in prison. The byciclist had no reflectors, was wearing dark colored clothing and was riding his bike on the highway at night. The lady that hit him, did not see him, but was cited for driving too fast for conditions and recieved 1 year for manslaughter. So are you ready to start procecuting every speeder out there?
Always trying to find negligence is the liberal way of thinking. It's already to the point that when someone trips over a branch and breaks their arm, they want to sue the one who planted the tree, sue the one responsible for cleaning the area, and sue the one that owns the property the tree is on.
If you want vehicle insurance rates to go down, try having a more extensive training program for driver's licenses rather than putting all of America in prison for mistakes.
"If prosecution of negligence was more aggressive, my bet is our society will become a true police state. "
Let me clarify. I think all acts of negligence resulting in actual damage to a person or property needs to be prosecuted equally and all of those negligent drivers need to be held accountable for their actions. As it stands right now we only prosecute aggresively those cases involving alcohol, even when there is no damage to a person or property. How legitimate is a DUI law that results in the loss of driving privilege for the potential damage, when actual negligent acts go unpunished even after damage is caused to another person or property?
"Always trying to find negligence is the liberal way of thinking. It's already to the point that when someone trips over a branch and breaks their arm, they want to sue the one who planted the tree, sue the one responsible for cleaning the area, and sue the one that owns the property the tree is on."
I'm not always trying to find negligence, I am trying to hold negligent persons responsible for their actions. Per my clarification above, if someone is negligent and causes damage to another person, they should be held responsible for that negligent act. If that were the case, people would take driving a lot more seriously, the law would be used appropriately (instead of being a revenue generating mechanism) and we would see those responsible for damage being punished.