Quote:
Originally Posted by polak
Negligence and mistake go pretty much hand in hand.
"failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances"
... in other words ...
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You are fully aware that you will make bad decisions when under the influence of alcohol, this is not some unknown fact. It obviously impairs the abilities of the brain to make rational decisions. Being fully aware of that fact, you know that when you drive to a bar/buddy's house/whatever, and that you may drink, you know you may make the decision to drink and drive.
So its only a mistake after you've made all the choices when you were of sound mind. Poor decision making with foreknowledge of possible consequences leads to the mistake, but the decisions made were not mistakes, they were made with full knowledge of possible consequences. Driving to a place where you know you may consume alcohol (which you know will impair decision making) is knowingly putting yourself in that situation. Otherwise, was it a mistake to drive drunk without getting caught? That's how people rationalize it unfortunately: it's only a mistake if you get caught. And sometimes they only get caught after killing a few people first.