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According to this[0] MIT study, the excess emissions will cause 60 premature deaths. If you commit 60 violent offenses you can expect well over 7 years in jail.

by kharms 9y ago

According to this[0] MIT study, the excess emissions will cause 60 premature deaths. If you commit 60 violent offenses you can expect well over 7 years in jail. Edit: 60 in the US, many more globally. [0] http://news.mit.edu/2015/volkswagen-emissions-cheat-cause-60-premature-deaths-1029 http://news.mit.edu/2015/volkswagen-emissions-cheat-cause-60...

gscott 9y ago
American car companies cover up deaths all the time. I assume he has jail time because he is from Germany and doesn't have US politicians to protect him. This will lead to foreign car companies making donations to us politicians pet causes in exchange for protection.
mistermann 9y ago
It would be a far better deterrent to spread this 7 years over a few more people. Imagine what humanity could be capable of achieving with just a small increase in morality in the executive class. The problem in the world is not capitalism, as so many think, but corruption. Saying you are doing one thing, but actually doing something else.
dghughes 9y ago
>the excess emissions will cause 60 premature deaths. That's probably true but that point seems to be used as a jab to sell newspapers, at the very least it's inflammatory. Meanwhile, two-stroke engines, older diesel engines, airplanes using leaded avgas may be as bad as the ten million slightly off tune VWs. And I say this as a person with a parent very ill with lung disease COPD and IPF. I'm not saying the exec deserves to go free but seven years is excessive. Even manslaughter (in my country) gets you two years which means you go to prison, in the US I think that's called a felony.
- jackvalentine 9y ago
  > Meanwhile, two-stroke engines, older diesel engines, airplanes using leaded avgas may be as bad as the ten million slightly off tune VWs. But these aren't illegal. The point about the deaths is "it was specifically illegal and they did it anyway, with these quantifiable consequences".
  - donatj 9y ago
    As if illegal and right are connected in any way.
    - CydeWeys 9y ago
      In this case they are. These air quality laws exist to prevent people of dying from preventable air pollution. These aren't ethically murky waters like victimless crime drug laws we're talking about here.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- tajen 9y ago
  It’s amazing that murder gets someone 2 years only, don’t you think? I bet the worldwide average must be around 15 years discounted to 7. (Note that if he’s innoculated with AIDS in prison, 2 years is already gruesome).
donatj 9y ago
Genuine question, how many lives were saved by the fuel efficiency? Does it cancel out? That is to say how does this compare to the number of lives worth of man hours saved in fuel costs? It’s the same logical trade off of speed limits and cars in general, raising the speed limit costs lives but if it saves more man hours worth of lives than lives it costs it’s worth it.
randyrand 9y ago
I hate these comparisons. You can't just sum up all the lost seconds and equate it to murdering 60 people. It may be the same amount of time, but that's not how humans think. Dying early is ~exponentially worse the younger you are.

by kharms 9y ago

gscott 9y ago

American car companies cover up deaths all the time. I assume he has jail time because he is from Germany and doesn't have US politicians to protect him. This will lead to foreign car companies making donations to us politicians pet causes in exchange for protection.

mistermann 9y ago

It would be a far better deterrent to spread this 7 years over a few more people. Imagine what humanity could be capable of achieving with just a small increase in morality in the executive class. The problem in the world is not capitalism, as so many think, but corruption. Saying you are doing one thing, but actually doing something else.

dghughes 9y ago

>the excess emissions will cause 60 premature deaths. That's probably true but that point seems to be used as a jab to sell newspapers, at the very least it's inflammatory. Meanwhile, two-stroke engines, older diesel engines, airplanes using leaded avgas may be as bad as the ten million slightly off tune VWs. And I say this as a person with a parent very ill with lung disease COPD and IPF. I'm not saying the exec deserves to go free but seven years is excessive. Even manslaughter (in my country) gets you two years which means you go to prison, in the US I think that's called a felony.

jackvalentine 9y ago
> Meanwhile, two-stroke engines, older diesel engines, airplanes using leaded avgas may be as bad as the ten million slightly off tune VWs. But these aren't illegal. The point about the deaths is "it was specifically illegal and they did it anyway, with these quantifiable consequences".
- donatj 9y ago
  As if illegal and right are connected in any way.
  - CydeWeys 9y ago
    In this case they are. These air quality laws exist to prevent people of dying from preventable air pollution. These aren't ethically murky waters like victimless crime drug laws we're talking about here.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
tajen 9y ago
It’s amazing that murder gets someone 2 years only, don’t you think? I bet the worldwide average must be around 15 years discounted to 7. (Note that if he’s innoculated with AIDS in prison, 2 years is already gruesome).

donatj 9y ago

Genuine question, how many lives were saved by the fuel efficiency? Does it cancel out? That is to say how does this compare to the number of lives worth of man hours saved in fuel costs? It’s the same logical trade off of speed limits and cars in general, raising the speed limit costs lives but if it saves more man hours worth of lives than lives it costs it’s worth it.

randyrand 9y ago

I hate these comparisons. You can't just sum up all the lost seconds and equate it to murdering 60 people. It may be the same amount of time, but that's not how humans think. Dying early is ~exponentially worse the younger you are.