Quote:
Originally Posted by DionTheDman
I don't even know what this means. Choosing to drive a vehicle and being involved in a collision out of negligence and inattentiveness doesn't mean that you "chose" to have the collision or occur, or in this case, "chose" to blow the stop sign.
I like how you quoted the parts that fit your narrative, but neglected to quote the part that directly contradicts that he "chose" to blow through the sign.
https://canlii.ca/t/hzbj5
Which part of this indicates that he made a "choice", a conscious decision, to blow through the stop sign? |
Probably the point in the concluding analysis where the judge calls it "baffling and incomprehensible" (as close to unbelievable as you're going to see in a court record that relies mostly on the facts as presented by the accused's lawyer) that the driver didn't see the stop signs.
I personally also think that it's incomprehensible and baffling that he could miss the many stop signs and the flashing light over nearly half a km, but I also have only the lawyer's facts. In any event, it was a choice to get behind the wheel. It was a choice to be distracted. And consequently it was a choice to blow through that stop sign.
To go further for emphasis, if you choose to get into a motor vehicle and then choose to look at your phone while driving, and then you blow through a stop sign, are you suggesting that you didn't choose to take that last action because you were a victim of being distracted by your phone? No. You chose to blow the stop sign because you chose to look at your phone. It's the same decision. You may not have wanted to drive through the stop sign, but you sure as heck wanted to read that oh so important text.
We need to accept that the choice to get behind the wheel of a vehicle, and any other choices we make while driving, can have significant consequences--whether directly or indirectly. And we should be holding people accountable for the awful consequences of these decisions even if it is considered an "accident." But we rarely do. And that's why awful tragedies like this will continue to happen.
"Somehow we must stop this carnage on our highways" (from the decision).
Well, you see, judge, the carnage is no ones' fault because no one really chooses to do it. We just have accidents, so we'll just have to accept it.