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Originally Posted by GioforPM
People think this is the law. But it's not 100% correct. You can get joint liability out of it sometimes. And your merge example is also not exactly correct. In fact, that one is likely 100% merger's liability as long as you did nothing wrong.
But back on the rear-ender example - the reason the driver from behind is usually at fault is that you are supposed to be far enough back that you can stop in time no matter what happens in front of you. So to equate that to hockey, maybe you should be hitting in a manner that accounts for your opponent doing something like turning away.
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If I'm not mistaken is it not 50/50 responsibility in merge situations. Obviously in a crash fault can be assessed fully to one party or the other depending but I would have sworn all those years ago in driving school that you had as much onus to be aware of merging vehicles to let them in as they did to be aware of the lane they were entering.
Either way that's how I view hockey hits. Both players have to take responsibility for themselves and the position they put themselves in. A player clearly comes in and head hunts a guy, suspend them send a message. A player with the puck skating with his head down and gets blown up however? What did you expect? If the principal point of contact wasn't the head them the hitter has done nothing wrong. You're in the big leagues as much as the hitter needs to be aware of his point of contact you need to be aware of your own situation you're putting yourself in.