Are Lives So Cheap These Days?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3450945/Speeding-motorist-killed-pregnant-woman-unborn-child-serve-just-SIX-MONTHS-jail-admitting-careless-driving.html

/// 'I have read letters from yourself, your father and others.

'The combination of these documents paint a picture of a young man who is decent, law-abiding and sensitive.

'I accept your remorse is not based on the predicament you are in here today, but it's because of a genuine and deep-seated sadness for what happened.

'You appear to be genuinely very sorry for what happened.' ///

Ah yes, tell me another one.

[Svejk]

If it was a 'blameless accident', he wouldn't have been in court at all, would he?

[anotheoldgit]

EDDIE51

You are being pedantic now, you know exactly what I mean.

[EDDIE51]

^^ AOG No, I do not know what you mean. At 10.25 you state ''It was not an accident''
If it was not an accident the alternative is that it was deliberate.
How can you justify that ? The police, the CPS and the court have decided it was an accident but you seem to know better.
I agree the driver was irresponsible but that does not make it deliberate !

[mikey4444]

I am certain that this was an accident and that the driver made a mistake.
I am also certain that he is genuinely sorry for what he did......in his place I would be ruddy mortified !

But an example needs to be set, and that is why I think the jail term was a tad on the lenient side.

[EDDIE51]

^^ Mikey the sentence is 12 months, which as he pleaded guilty and showed 'true remorse' is very near as much as could be expected. Remember the maximum sentence for this offence is 5 years. That would only be sentenced in the very worst cases where the defendant pleaded not guilty but was found guilty after a full trial. The Daily Wail is slanting the story to look as though the sentence was 6 months, when it was a year. There is release at the half way point of any sentence under 4 years which is where the 'Wail' gets the '6 months' from.
In reality the driver could be out of jail in less than 6 months, as time on remand is deducted and there is a strong possibility of release to 'home detention curfew ( tag) for the last 2 months.

[mikey4444]

Eddie ....everything you say is true, but the reality here is that this chap killed 2 people, and yet is likely to spend only 6 months in jail.

As I have said before, I am far from being in the "string-em-up" camp, but this doesn't sit easy with me at all.

[EDDIE51]

mikey, I was in an accident that was not my fault. Another driver came round a bend and was blinded by the low sun. She hit my stationary car head on , on my side of the road and accepted 100% blame. There were no injuries, but if my 3 grandchildren had been getting out of the car , as they were just about to do, they could easily have been killed.That shows how small is the difference between a careless driving accident that causes no injury to one that kills one or more people. By your logic that driver should have been sentenced to several years in jail as her careless driving COULD have caused a fatal accident.

[pixie374]

Mikey, why does an example need to be set for something unintentional? People aren't going to get in their cars and think "maybe I won't hit someone today, then"