This driver should be off the road. The laws should be fair. That much is clear. What’s unclear is: What the fuck are cars still doing in NYC? Get your collective transportation shit together, major metropoli of the world.
One reason the pedestrian (and bike) death toll continues to rise is because “the default charge for unlicensed drivers who kill people or commit other serious infractions” is “the charge of third degree aggravated unlicensed operation” which is “the least serious infraction that an unlicensed motorist who kills a pedestrian can be charged with”.
Cause, meet effect.
Also, given this lawless wild west, the selective pressures that do remain on who drives in a city are creating a bizarre monster. It such an infuriating mess that only the insane, narcissistic or just plain stupid spend a significant amount of time driving in a place like NYC. Of course, there are those who have to drive professionally, and a handful of other unavoidable reasons, but judging from the blatant disregard for life shown by professional drivers, even they are driven mad by the concrete maze.
The part that sounds crazy: does that imply that the least-serious charge for licensed drivers is stiffer than the worst one for unlicensed drivers? It wouldn’t surprise me; the law is not always logical.
If you have read the dozens and dozens of stories of pedestrians killed by drivers in Manhattan, you realize just how easy it is to get away with manslaughter or even murder using a car. In almost every circumstance where drivers “accidentally” ended another person’s life, all they had to say was, “I didn’t see them crossing” and the police let you go. That’s it. No investigation, no nothing. If you want to kill someone in Manhattan just run them over and say you didn’t see it.
Uber driver?
Sounds like time for the family of the deceased to follow up with a very expensive civil suit.
I need more info -
- Was the accident determined to be his fault?
- Was the accident caused by breaking any laws (other than driving with out a license)?
ETA:
3) Why didn’t he have a license?
So by your quotes, are you saying that most or many cases of people getting hit by cars is from people intentionally hitting them?
Blind bias is a powerful thing. It is amazing how you don’t see something you don’t expect to see.
There’s a big difference between “intention” and “not giving a rat’s ass.”
if you’re
A) driving fast enough to kill somebody in NYC in an area where there are senior pedestrians
B) not expecting / Accounting for jaywalkers in NYC
you caused the accident
A) It is exceedingly easy to kill somebody with a car even at very low speeds. Particularly senior citizens who tend towards less than perfect health to begin with (though 66 is a fairly young senior citizen)
B) I’m not sure how you can drive at speed limit speeds and still be able to avoid all jaywalkers (particularly those not paying attention/texting/listening to music/etc). Having said that, that has nothing to do with this case as the victim was in a crosswalk, and had the right of way (according to the headline and very first line of the linked article).
I’m being intentionally unreasonable here as I believe that if non-deadly speeds are too slow to drive, too effin’ bad in a city this dense, don’t drive.
Agreed, I was just responding to the hypothetical that was presented that it “might be the pedestrian’s fault”
Apologies. Posting in a hurry, I sometimes miss sarcasm cues 
I don’t know about New York, but in a lot of states, a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk always has the right of way.
Yes, but if a person walks out in a way so that a driver couldn’t possibly stop - I don’t see it as his fault. Legally, though, you’re probably right.
A friend of mine was recently fined $550 for driving 72 in a 55 zone in New York state, caught by a cop sitting at a speed trap. It’s good to know that he could have murdered someone and saved $150.
Sounds like time for the family of the deceased to follow up with a very expensive civil suit
Or a very extensive ass beating
No, else there would have been no citation at all. When you get 4 digits in the billions column the fabric of law warps under the pressure of all those digits.
