3 ms·

Look at it this way, officers see car accidents every day. The majority are cases where someone ran directly into the car in front of them due to inattention.

by _ea1k 3y ago

Look at it this way, officers see car accidents every day. The majority are cases where someone ran directly into the car in front of them due to inattention. Humans make a lot of mistakes and unless there were extenuating factors (DUI, for example), they are very unlikely to become criminal. In many cases, they wouldn't even be ticketed. Given that there was a yield sign involved, it also may be a known problematic intersection. Sadly, we have a lot of those in the US too. Yield signs in places with low traffic and poor visibility are way more common than they should be.

benjaminwootton 3y ago
That's very surprising to me. Here in the UK, a serious accident where someone broke their spine would be investigated without a shadow of a doubt. They would want to rule out any criminal culpability.
- pharrington 3y ago
  Yeah, the US in general is extremely cavalier with our car culture. Usually the only police involvement when an accident occurs is when they're called to the scene to take a report of the incident. Afterwards, the parties usually just deal with the aftermath themselves and through insurance companies. Even if you have to show up to court, people almost always walk away after pleading "not guilty," because again, the officer who reported the incident can rarely be bothered to show up on the court date.
  - benjaminwootton 3y ago
    It's probably outsourced to the civil system knowing the US. It's a huge contrast between the US and European approach though.
    - mrguyorama 3y ago
      It's really just another example of cops in the US choosing to not do their job. We have plenty of laws on the books that could punish inattentive or reckless driving especially when it results in a severe outcome, but that would require a cop to open an investigation and all that noise so they just write up a report for your insurance and try to get you to believe there's nothing else they can do. The complete inefficacy and refusal to do any work of most american police departments is absurd. It's like they still believe their primary mission to be slave retrieval and violently suppressing strikes, as if it's still 1890.
- _ea1k 3y ago
  In some states in the US, if one party was even 1% at fault (like, for example, being distracted like in the story), they may not even be able to collect damages from the other party. Our system is really weird.

by _ea1k 3y ago

benjaminwootton 3y ago

That's very surprising to me. Here in the UK, a serious accident where someone broke their spine would be investigated without a shadow of a doubt. They would want to rule out any criminal culpability.

pharrington 3y ago
Yeah, the US in general is extremely cavalier with our car culture. Usually the only police involvement when an accident occurs is when they're called to the scene to take a report of the incident. Afterwards, the parties usually just deal with the aftermath themselves and through insurance companies. Even if you have to show up to court, people almost always walk away after pleading "not guilty," because again, the officer who reported the incident can rarely be bothered to show up on the court date.
- benjaminwootton 3y ago
  It's probably outsourced to the civil system knowing the US. It's a huge contrast between the US and European approach though.
  - mrguyorama 3y ago
    It's really just another example of cops in the US choosing to not do their job. We have plenty of laws on the books that could punish inattentive or reckless driving especially when it results in a severe outcome, but that would require a cop to open an investigation and all that noise so they just write up a report for your insurance and try to get you to believe there's nothing else they can do. The complete inefficacy and refusal to do any work of most american police departments is absurd. It's like they still believe their primary mission to be slave retrieval and violently suppressing strikes, as if it's still 1890.
_ea1k 3y ago
In some states in the US, if one party was even 1% at fault (like, for example, being distracted like in the story), they may not even be able to collect damages from the other party. Our system is really weird.