Can tragic things still be an accident?
In December of 2009, an 80-something year-old woman swerved to avoid a car stopped behind a school bus and drove onto the curb, striking and killing a small child who had gotten off the bus. It's horrible. Tragic.Today, the driver was sentenced to 3 years in prison for "vehicular homicide".
Was it preventable? The word "accident" usually means that it was unavoidable, that people did what reasonable people would do and that there was no negligence and no malice.
No one has claimed there was any malice, but was there negligence? Over the last decade or so, there have been many instances of elderly persons killing or seriously injuring others through driving mistakes. Elderly drivers often have to be tested more frequently or more thoroughly, but many continue to drive. This woman had a valid driver's license. The state said she was qualified to drive. What does that mean?
I've driven more than 300,000 miles through 40 states in cars, cargo vans, a box truck and on motorcycle. Based upon the driving I've experienced, the states, including Georgia, have very low standards for "qualified". Perhaps she was both qualified to drive and completely unprepared for that situation. Perhaps she, and thousands or hundreds of thousands like her, drive around and avoid death and injury through luck. Happens chance.
It's horrible when a child is killed. It's tragic. But in the rush to find meaning, to find a reason for why it happened, people assign blame. Someone must be responsible, they say. Maybe it's not someone. Maybe it's everyone.
Maybe there are lots of legally qualified and completely unprepared drivers. And she, and the child she killed, were just unlucky.
Labels: death, driving, elderly, georgia, law, politics, vehicular homicide
posted by Lachlan @ 9:21 PM
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