… and he calls some random people after he mows down the cyclists, but not 911? How is he only facing misdemeanor charges?!?
Because people in cars do not see cyclists as people. And the powers that be are people in cars.
90% of these I see involve a pickup.
Maybe the driver should be forced to drive compact vehicles for several years.
That said it does seem like it could be a texting and driving situation which would warrant more punishment.
I’m usually against technology lock outs but I do long for cars to be able to limit phone functionality while driving.
How car knows it driver phone or passenger?
Honestly, there are now lots of eye tracking software that can be used to check if someone is looking where they’re supposed to. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be common in the near term as we’re forced to look at ads…
Aside from that, fuck cars.
My car turns off cruise control if you look away from the road for any length of time.
@dankm @veganpizza69 such tech is becoming mandatory, this is a good thing.
Oh yeah, completely agree as long as it’s done by the car with no telemetry or anything. When it comes to features like this my big worry is always privacy. The safety is a good thing.
Regarding the charges,
“[The evidence] just wasn’t there. It’s heartbreaking and it’s unsatisfactory but it is where we are at right now,” she said to ABC15 in November after she told victims she wouldn’t file felony charges. “It’s a collision where we cannot show with the evidence that there was a conscious disregard of a risk that this individual made.”
Why is it that someone can run into over a dozen cyclists, killing some, but also not have made a “conscious disregard of risk”? If it’s true that the driver was not consciously disregarding risk, but we still got this outcome, it’s absolutely true that the process for obtaining a permit for his vehicle and/or speeds is way too lenient.
One of the problems of car centric society is that the process for licensing almost has to be too lenient, because it causes major issues with people not being able to get around unless almost everybody can get a license, which means that regardless of safety, the bar has to be set low.
