Just look at the speed that the RV was going! The driver was given a $500 ticket for almost killing 30 cyclists. Insane that they’re even allowed to drive after that.

  • maggio@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    At this point I’ve almost given up. 500$ fine is absolutely insane. Here in Germany a taxi driver was given a fine for killing a cyclist with his door (not deliberately of course!).

    Why people even use guns anymore, when you can just kill them with a vehicle. If you fail, you just try again later. Insane

    • Strangle@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This was obviously an accident. The report says the driver stopped and cooperated with police.

      Just an unfortunate accident. Car accidents should never happen, obviously, but being on the road is inherently fucking dangerous.

      My father was killed in a car crash that he didn’t cause, my friends older brother was killed on his bike on the side of the road when he got hit by a passing car, I’ve been in about 6 small car accidents myself.

      I have two friends who have died on motorcycles, and 3 more who have had bad accidents and are lucky to still be alive.

      You take your life in your hands when you use a roadway in any vehicle, but especially in a vehicle that leaves you so unprotected.

      Very unfortunate and I’m glad everyone is okay.

      • snota@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        An accident assumes no one was at fault. The driver broke at least one law by driving too close to a cyclist, it was not an accident.

        The reason you take your life in to your hands when you go out of your house is because people flippantly break the law while driving. True accidents are uncommon.

        • Strangle@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That’s not what an accident is. Someone is almost always at fault. But that doesn’t mean it’s intentional.

          That’s what an accident is, unintentional

          • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            It doesn’t matter if they didn’t try to hit the cyclists, what matters is that they broke a law while doing so. If you cannot control your vehicle well enough to stay within the law, you should have your driver’s license suspended until the state is confident that you are able to. Driving is a privilege, and privileges should be revoked if you violate the rules associated with that privilege.

            So no, I’m not willing to just accept a $500 fine, the driver at least needs to go to driving school to learn the law, because apparently they don’t respect the law enough to follow it.

          • Showroom7561@lemmy.caOP
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            1 year ago

            That’s what an accident is, unintentional

            Even if you frame it like that, there’s a massive difference between gross negligence and “oops, that happened”.

            This driver was negligent at the very least, and I only say that because there’s no way of knowing if they intended to just “nudge” the cyclist or not.

            Edit: spelling

          • Illecors@lemmy.cafe
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            1 year ago

            I don’t know, man. I sort of see where you’re going, but killing someone unintentionally while drunk driving would fall under the accident umbrella using your definition. I think there’s more than just intent at play.

          • theluckyone@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It’d be an accident if the RV suffered a mechanical breakdown, causing the collision. Unintentionally colliding with the bicycle would be negligent/reckless operation.

          • trident_burger@mander.xyz
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            1 year ago

            I agree that hitting the cyclist looks unintentional. And very sorry to hear that so many folks in your life have been taken by vehicle accidents.

            When you say that this is, “just an unfortunate accident”, it sounds like a defense of the RV drivers poor decision-making that led to very serious injuries of others, hence the downvote.

            • limelight79@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              He was saying it wasn’t an intentional attack.

              He wasn’t saying the RV driver wasn’t responsible.

            • MondayToFriday@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              A lot of cycling activists seem to think that “accident” implies no-fault, inaction, and helplessness, and that forcing journalists to reword their articles will somehow make things better. That’s a flawed approach.

              Journalists aren’t in the business of assigning blame in their coverage. Unless one a court or an official investigator has made a ruling, doing so would open them up to libel lawsuits. Advocating for more vivid wording is pointless. That’s not how journalism works, nor is it how linguistics works.

              Commercial aviation is now the safest form of transportation by far, having made tremendous improvements over the years thanks to implementing recommendations from accident investigations like the one I cited. The same can be done for cycling. Believing that language change is a prerequisite to improvements in safety is a harmful mindset. It would be better to redirect that energy where it belongs: getting the lawmakers and infrastructure planners to take action to reduce the accident rate.