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The lesson of this article is that unfortunate things, that come with a lifetime of grief, happen to good people. And perhaps more importantly, that empathy and

The lesson of this article is that unfortunate things, that come with a lifetime of grief, happen to good people. And perhaps more importantly, that empathy and understanding are incredibly powerful. It is true that we should take "the responsibility of driving a lot more seriously, and treating driving as something risky" but treating this as a story about driving less broadly misses the point.

drewm1980 9y ago
I agree with you about how the article is written, but "bad things happen to good people" isn't an idea that will save lives. "Find a way to stop driving, because it IS your fault if you kill someone with your automobile" is. She chose to drive, killed someone as a direct result of her decision, and then chose to continue driving. She was surround by car culture enablers (her dad immediately fixing the car instead of selling it, the cops asking her to drive more carefully instead of revoking her driver's license permanently, etc...), and is now propagating the "wrong place at the wrong time" myth herself. If she accidentally kills another child will she write up a follow up article to this? Maybe she'll give up something else related to driving the second time?
- thomastjeffery 9y ago
  This obsession with finding fault is a significant part of the stress this woman has dealt with. It is terrible that a child did not get to live his life, and there is nothing we can do in hindsight to bring that opportunity back to him. It is also terrible to torture this woman over a flaw in the system. She was paying attention, and driving the speed limit. She was not at fault. Her actions could not be changed to lower the likelihood of her accidentally killing another child. Only the surrounding circumstances can be changed.
- m4x 9y ago
  This is very insensitive. Driving a car is a practical necessity for most people, and genuine accidents do happen. I don't know how you can possibly think it's appropriate to tell somebody who is suffering through the grief of accidentally killing a child that "it IS your fault". Striving to drive less is a great thing to do for many reasons, but the vast majority of people will still be required to drive regularly. Some of those people will have genuine accidents. We don't currently live in a world where it is possible to completely prevent traffic accidents (which, for the record, are also occasionally caused by cyclists and frequently caused by pedestrians) It is inevitable that some people will be involved in tragic accidents, and your comment does nothing to prevent that. It just makes life worse for the people in that situation
- LocalH 9y ago
  I dispute your notion that the driver of a vehicle is automatically to blame if there is a collision between the vehicle and a pedestrian. https://www.google.com/search?q=insurance+fraud+dash+cam https://www.google.com/search?q=insurance+fraud+dash+cam
- BrandoElFollito 9y ago
  We live in a world where almost all of our actions have, somewhere, a negayive impact. Wd usebplastic, wrong for ecology. We wear t-shirts, manufactured by poor people in China. We watch TV, whuch uses electricity bad for the environment. We drive i syead of walking, we eat non-sustainable stuff. I could go on, and show how much of our "choices" are wrong and how, everyday, we "decide to make them". So this boils down to either mental sanity or some kind of Amish life.
- icc97 9y ago
  I fully agree. We amateur drivers choose to drive 1000kg metal boxes at speeds that kill for convenience. We do not accept how dangerous this is. This is severe carelessness. We should all recognise that driving more than 30 mph when there's houses around has the real possibility of killing someone. We shouldn't need the Government to tell us, we should be aware every time we step in our car that it can kill. Plus the woman makes no indication of how close she was to the other cars. I will never believe that she is completely blameless. The people killed by cars are the most cruel, because in every other way they were healthy.

drewm1980 9y ago

I agree with you about how the article is written, but "bad things happen to good people" isn't an idea that will save lives. "Find a way to stop driving, because it IS your fault if you kill someone with your automobile" is. She chose to drive, killed someone as a direct result of her decision, and then chose to continue driving. She was surround by car culture enablers (her dad immediately fixing the car instead of selling it, the cops asking her to drive more carefully instead of revoking her driver's license permanently, etc...), and is now propagating the "wrong place at the wrong time" myth herself. If she accidentally kills another child will she write up a follow up article to this? Maybe she'll give up something else related to driving the second time?

thomastjeffery 9y ago
This obsession with finding fault is a significant part of the stress this woman has dealt with. It is terrible that a child did not get to live his life, and there is nothing we can do in hindsight to bring that opportunity back to him. It is also terrible to torture this woman over a flaw in the system. She was paying attention, and driving the speed limit. She was not at fault. Her actions could not be changed to lower the likelihood of her accidentally killing another child. Only the surrounding circumstances can be changed.
m4x 9y ago
This is very insensitive. Driving a car is a practical necessity for most people, and genuine accidents do happen. I don't know how you can possibly think it's appropriate to tell somebody who is suffering through the grief of accidentally killing a child that "it IS your fault". Striving to drive less is a great thing to do for many reasons, but the vast majority of people will still be required to drive regularly. Some of those people will have genuine accidents. We don't currently live in a world where it is possible to completely prevent traffic accidents (which, for the record, are also occasionally caused by cyclists and frequently caused by pedestrians) It is inevitable that some people will be involved in tragic accidents, and your comment does nothing to prevent that. It just makes life worse for the people in that situation
LocalH 9y ago
I dispute your notion that the driver of a vehicle is automatically to blame if there is a collision between the vehicle and a pedestrian. https://www.google.com/search?q=insurance+fraud+dash+cam https://www.google.com/search?q=insurance+fraud+dash+cam
BrandoElFollito 9y ago
We live in a world where almost all of our actions have, somewhere, a negayive impact. Wd usebplastic, wrong for ecology. We wear t-shirts, manufactured by poor people in China. We watch TV, whuch uses electricity bad for the environment. We drive i syead of walking, we eat non-sustainable stuff. I could go on, and show how much of our "choices" are wrong and how, everyday, we "decide to make them". So this boils down to either mental sanity or some kind of Amish life.
icc97 9y ago
I fully agree. We amateur drivers choose to drive 1000kg metal boxes at speeds that kill for convenience. We do not accept how dangerous this is. This is severe carelessness. We should all recognise that driving more than 30 mph when there's houses around has the real possibility of killing someone. We shouldn't need the Government to tell us, we should be aware every time we step in our car that it can kill. Plus the woman makes no indication of how close she was to the other cars. I will never believe that she is completely blameless. The people killed by cars are the most cruel, because in every other way they were healthy.