You be the judge V2.0

[Luther_Hull]

Welcome to the second part of "You be the judge", but this time with me, Luther_Hull. I'll give a scenario once again, you decide what the punishment is, if there is one at all.

Dave is driving to a meeting at work when he notices the car infront of him as a wobbly wheel. Not wanting to be held up, Dave chooses to ignore it and does not inform the driver infront. The driver infront then spins off the road and dies.

So, should Dave be held liable for the driver's death? Or is it not is responsibility to inform the driver?

 

[HBK-aholic]

From a legal point, I definitely don't think it's his 'duty' to inform him. It's the owners responsibility to make sure his car is in good workin order, not the responsibility of other people on the road. It's like a factory having a problem with a machine but a customer doesn't inform a staff member of a fault. Is it their fault if a staff member then gets electrocuted? No.

From a moral point, I'd have to tell them, otherwise I'd feel guilty knowing I could've saved someones life and didn't. But everyone has different morals, and we have no obligation to save someones life. As much as most people would try to.

 

[Shocky]

No. It's not his duty at all. People have a responsibility to check out their own equipment. They tell you that you need to have proper maintenance done on your car, and obviously in this case, the owner of the car was neglecting routine maintenance.

Plus, whose to say that the driver would have even noticed. I for one am not going to pull over if someone is flashing or honking at me in the rear view, chances are I'm going to brake check them for being assholes and getting on my nerves.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Yeah, without pulling in front of the guy and cutting him off , how is he supposed to alert the guy in front? Flash your lights in morse code and hope the guy a) is paying attention to him and b) know's morse code anyway?

I myself have been driving around London with a burst tyre, and had everyone pointing out their windows mouthing 'you're tyre is burst' Well, we exactly stop in the middle of rush hour and pull over and do anything right there and then, so if the car had exploded i wouldn't have died cursing the names of those people.

I'm sure Dave will punish himself with guilt if he cares that much. But I myself would never convict a man for not alerting a motorist of a dodgy wheel, while they're driving the car. If he pulled up, alongside Dave who's stood at a crossing or something then maybe i'd have felt he should have acted, but still wouldn't have punished him anyway.

 

[Spunky]

Well, The highway code states, That before ANY jorney you must check you car over, this include's tyre pressure's, Brake light's, oil level, etc, So the driver should.'ve been aware of the condition anyway.

So no, He's doesn't have any legal responsibility to check other people's car's, So he shouldn't be charged with anything.

However, Morally, I think he was wrong to ignore it, But his guilt will be punsihment enough.

 

[Tim]

Legally, no he doesn'tneed to. It's the driver of the other car's fault for not making sure his car was OK. And wouldn't you feel a wobbly wheel anyway? Why would somebody that noticed something, but didn't say anything about it, be punished for something that happened because of that thing he saw?

But morally, he should've told the driver of the other car. We should look out for others and he will feel guilty because he knows he could've prevented it. But still, he should've told him about the wobbly wheel; if Dave had, he would've saved a life.

 

[Gelgarin]

What should, would and and could happen.

Unless your living in a country such as France that has a 'Good Samarton' law in place you are under no legal obligation to assist another person in this manner. If you see that someone has fallen into a river you don't have to try and help them out.

As an interesting side note, the law does diclare an obligation to act if doing so is considered your profession. Example: If Dave starts choking in a resterant and someone shouts "Is anyone a doctor?", trained medical practisioners are breaking to law if they don't take actions. Similarly, lifeguards are obligated to take action if they spot a drowning person, even if they are not on duty.

Therefore, if Dave was a traffic officer or in another branch of the police he would be legally obligated to signal the driver and inform him of the danger (although even in this case there would almost certainly be no guilty verdict in court).

However; assuming that that is not the case, everyone above is correct and there is no crime. And should be no punishment.