ok now that we know infact that she was speeding i call it reckless driving and talking on a cell phone which is distrcting nontheless she should be charged with manslaughter. i say manslaughter (canadain. not too sure about the american term for it sorry) because she didn't have the mental mindset to do it, but did do it. She should be charged and sent to jail for a term.

people need to learn that when driving they do not own the road. they share it with everyone else and if you drive recklossly you are not only indangering your own life but the life of others

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 24-Sep-02 AT 01:09 PM (EST)]Based on the idiots that cut in front of me hundreds of times a month, I can't agree that this woman necessarily deserves harsh punishment. The Honda driver may have swerved in front of her very quickly not giving her ample (or normal) reaction time. I am not siding with her, but you can't be judge, jury, and executioner without the facts. I talk on my cell phone a great deal while driving and I believe it very possible to be attentive and safe at the same time, particularly on the expressway where everyone is going the same direction and there aren't any intersections. If I was doing 73 in a 60, and lots of you do also, and someone jerked in front of me doing 5, I don't know that I would be able to stop either. We all have to rely on a little bit of common sense from our fellow drivers. Many drivers do what they please and expect others to get out of their way. She may have thought he saw her and was going to wait until she passed him to pull over. We don't know. If there are no witnesses, that would mean the traffic was light and the Honda could have waited. I can't imagine someone driving down the road with no other traffic at all and running into a stalled car without other circumstances playing a vital role. I may be wrong, but....?

 

>If I was doing 73 in a 60, and lots of you do also, and
>someone jerked in front of me doing 5, I don't know that I
>would be able to stop either.

I would have noticed a car nearly stopped and would be able to react BEFORE getting near them,Especially if there was no other traffic to block my view.The fact that she didn't react at all no swerving or anything tells me She caused those people to lose their lives and should be punished.












78 F150 4x4
429 CID
Dana 44 spooled Front,
9"Locked rear,
5:13 Gears
17/40/15 Gumbo monster mudders
18/39.5/15 Swamper Boggers
BIG,BAD,and UGLY.

 

In my opinion, she should be charged to the fullest extent of the law. I don't care how good of a driver you are, or how coordinated you are, talking on the phone IS A DISTRACTION. It doesn't matter if it's the freeway or at a stop light. It takes some concentration. Concentration that should be applied to your driving.

Yes, I have a cell phone, and yes I speed. My phone is mounted and completely hands free, yet it's still takes some of my attention away from driving. Enough to scare me at times. And I consider myself very well coordinated.

A 25 yr old driving a Navagator at 73 in a 60 shows a complete lack of responsibility and a huge amount of stupidity. If she had any clue what the weight of the vehicle was, and the breaking capabilities, she definately wouldn't be on the phone, and probably not going 73.

Again, this is my own opinion, but I think alot of people buy big SUVs so they don't have to worry about how crappy they drive. They figure "I'm in a 4wd tank and I'm invincible!".

I also don't believe that the tremendous guilt that she should be feeling is enough of a punishment. Someone needs to make an example of her.

Kevin K.

 

I find the biggest reason people are such lousy driver's is because they DON'T have the Vehicle DRIVER mentality.

They use the vehicle as *Just a conveyance rom one place to another* without considering I MUST have the Operation of a vehicle Mentality.I must be the best at operating this vehicle as safely & efficiently as Possible.

The DRIVER or OPERATOR mentality is usually found in Professional Driver.
That's a person who drives for a living or
a person who always has the vehicle on the road with other's,
thought in their mind.

One who scouts the road (2-4 blocks ahead,1 block behind & 1 block left and right of them) on a constant basis looking for problem spots or a situation that could arise and any time,and knowing what to do when it happens.

Most people are just getting from one place to another without anyone else in mind.


[font color=red]Dennis

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Reading your story made me sick to my stomach. That was a terrible thing to have happen. I've driven a tow truck for years, and I've always told people to get the hell out of the car if it breaks down, get way off and past the shoulder,immediately, becuase some clown is going to run into your car Even with all my lights flashing, I've come close to being clipped by phone-talkers and other morons, and I swear they are aiming at me sometimes. Why they don't teach this stuff in high school is beyond me.

 

On the New York State Thruway the other day, someone driving an Excursion lost control of it in the heavy rain and flipped it on its side (probably going atleast 70 mph). A good samaritan stopped to help him and ended up getting struck by a car that came up behind them.

I like to drive fast, BUT safety is most escential. I always drive slower in rain and especially snow. You also always have to be on the lookout for any changes in the traffic pattern. I agree with the comment about people driving big SUVs because they think they're invinsible. They definetly have their advantages, but they can be wrecked just as easily as anything else and still require the driver to be "all there".

Talking on cell phones in NY is now illegal w/o a hands free device. I wonder hiw she would be treated in our courts considering the circumstances? I feel that if she was truly "out to lunch" gabbing on the phone, than she should be punished.

That's my $.02

 

I can't help but notice that our society is in a downward spiral of non-responsiblity...this is what i mean:

In our local liberal paper I read the following healine:

"SUV kills newly wed couple", not once in this paper was a driver mentioned at all, aparantly the the SUV was like a version of Nightrider's "Kit" (the name of the car on Nightrider).

I really wonder what this world is comming too...

 

not to raise any tempers or emotions here, but all of you saying "make an example out of this 25 year old woman" "give her hard time" would probably be singing a different tune if it were your daughter or your sister. my opinion, would be to take away her drivers license and give her a fine/community service would be enough.
now, lets say... everyone survived... then what? give her a ticket? or should she still deserve "hard time" ? accidents happen, we are all careless to an extent as to what we do, if you think you dont make mistakes you need to re-examine yourselves.

BuiltToughF250

 

My sister does talk on the cell phone constantly while driving. Being a delivery driver I used to see her probably once a week on the roads before she went off to college, and I never saw her without a cell phone. I have warned here about it, and told here that if she runs into someone while on the phone it's her own damn fault and she must suffer the consequences. She knows that I'm big on punishment and that if it were up to me she'd see jail time after a wreck even though she's my sister.

The Law
1989 F-250 HD 4x4
460, C6, BW 13-56
Almost Stock

 

 

One of the first rule of driving that I learned was always leave yourself and out. Most drivers out there don't think about their own out and care less about yours. I had not heard of this accident until I ran across it here. I do not feel there is enough information here to pass judgement on this situation, however, if it were me and I knowingly was driving dangerously and caused the fatalities described here I would expect to be held responsible for those deaths to whatever degree the court chose. Would others? Probrobly not. I may make other drivers mad but I keep MY out even if that means slowing down because someone cut me off. And for the posts about believing that driving is a right not a privilege I agree. Part of me says flood the market with "Blood on the Highway" and get it into peoples heads. Sure people hear about these kinds of accidents, but hey it could never happen to them right. I had a girl run a red light at 50mph, past a whole lane of stopped cars, right in front of me as I was going through the intersection. Yet not all bad things happen because of bad drivers, I lost it once on ice doing about 5 mph and wound up comming to a stop under the rear trailer tires of a big truck. I would not have felt that the truck driver was responsible had I been injured or dead. There was absolutely nothing he could have done. There are very compelling points in this thread, bottom line as many have said, responsibility. If a careless driver causes loss of life the penelty should be greater than loss of property, once responsibility has been determined.

 

> would probably be singing a different tune
>if it were your daughter or your sister. my opinion, would
>be to take away her drivers license and give her a
>fine/community service would be enough.


What if she had killed YOUR family?
would community service be enough? I doubt it.




78 F150 4x4
429 CID
Dana 44 spooled Front,
9"Locked rear,
5:13 Gears
17/40/15 Gumbo monster mudders
18/39.5/15 Swamper Boggers
BIG,BAD,and UGLY.

 

A little over 2 years ago, my little sister was on the way home from our parents house in the country when some A-hole in the other lane decided to turn around in his seat and smack his kid. He crossed teh centerline and teh two cars hit head on, both doing aorund 60 mph. My little sister died on impact, the killer, his wife, and all 3 kids who were in the back seat, lived. My sister was the only person wearing a seat belt. He was charged with failure to mantain control, and not wearing a seatbelt. That's all. He had both legs broken badly, and is now on perm disabiltiy, and we have been told that the Dr's ddint tell him he killed someone for almost 2 weeks so as not to traumatize him more. The law is not fair. The man was busted for DUI 2 times prior, was divorced twice before, and a local social worker said he is on file as a known child and wife beater. (my sister worked for a battered womans group, so she had lots of friends in that dept.)

I say, throw the girl in prison, and dont let her out. But in reality, nothing will happen to her. Victim's in todays society have no rights. I know first hand. (we couldnt sue him because he had "nothing" supposedly (plus 2 counts of child support payments), but now that he is on disability, he is driving a brand new SUV.)


Rob Hetzler
93 F150 Lightning, stock w/160k miles
69 mustang, 351c, 9.97 @ 134 mph
99 Pro ET track champion

 

It happens everywhere. In my home town about year ago, a guy on a motorcycle was stoped behind a delivery van because of road work being performed. Some other guy in a pick-up hit him at 50 MPH. No slowing down, no skid marks. Just WAM! He was adjusting his radio, not looking at where he was going. The guy on the motorcycle was killed instantly. The pick-up's air bag deployed and the driver got out with out a scratch. More recently a young woman in her early 20's driving a Jeep Cherokee, was stoped on a single lane freeway interchange because of traffic. Another driver hit her from behind doing aprox. 65 MPH. No slowing down, no skid marks. (Can't you tell traffic is stoped you moron!) The force knocked the Jeep into the vehicle ahead of her causing the air bag to deploy. But it didn't help. The gas tank ruptured. She died in the fire. The driver that hit her go out with hardly a scratch. This is just a couple of incidents. Both happend in day light hours. We all hear these horror stories but not much of what happens after. At least I don't. I would like to see the local papers report on what happens to these drivers after an accident. A recap of events, what led up to the accident, who was at fault or was it something unavoidable. Where there any charges filed, any convictions, fines, loss of license and jail time to be served. The public needs to be aware of the consequenses of inattention to driving. And if there are none then public outrage will hopefuly change that.

(I feel a letter to the editor of the local paper brewing).