i saw something that disgusted me in footage from some recent baseball game(i don't care which really) where a father,holding his 5yr old son in one arm leans out over the railing to catch a foul ball!it was almost as sickening as MJ holding his newborn out over a balcony and then not being arrested or having the child removed from his 'care'.

these are the situations where CPS actually should be doing something, but instead they focus on parents who spank their kids or have poor housekeeping habits

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In this exact spot not more than a year ago a man was decapitated and killed by a reckless motorcyclist crossing this road, in plain sight of his family.

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i gotta ask, was that guy also not in the crosswalk? if so what makes the motorcyclist reckless? this is of particular concern to me because i myself ride, and obviously if someone ran in front of me i would not have a lot of trouble dodging unless i was taken completely unawares, but its a very subjective thing to judge based on scant facts

The remaining facts for the motorcyclist are these, which I should have provided earlier. My apologies. Yes, there is no convienient crosswalk here, and the fellow was not on one, which is his contribution to the incident. The motorcyclist was doing ninety+ miles per hour, and also wheelies as the newspaper report goes (whether this is possible or not, I'm not entierly sure, perhaps you can enlighten me?), and caught the guy in the head with the front tire. Foolish to cross here? Yes. But still tragic.

well if you're going 90 you might as well do a wheelie lol - sounds like he was definitely riding a rice burner 'crotch rocket' because choppers/cruisers/traditional motorcycles do not have the power-to-weight to wheelie at those kind of speeds. motorcyclists who ride these cafe bikes are generally looking for the thrill of very low-leaning turns and the massive acceleration you need to pop wheelies at high speed, eg they can be dangerous and inconsiderate towards other drivers and pedestrians. i am a sedate rider, and not very comfortable with leaning enough to scrape the pegs, and certainly never wheelie (i didn't restore my bike so i could destroy it and myself along with)

as for pedestrians who are hit jaywalking, yes its tragic but its also their fault in the eyes of the law. i guess the moral is, don't jaywalk folks - especially not across busy highways

Edited by - Cold_Void on 4/5/2006 10:17:56 PM

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yes its tragic but its also their fault in the eyes of the law.

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maybe where you are. here the Police seem to follow the maxim that if it's anything to do with a vehicle, it's the motorists fault. Even if a child runs out in front of you from between parked cars with no warning, it's still the motorists who ivariably gets arrested, charged, and has to go to trial, in effect having to prove his innocence, not the prosecution having to prove his guilt. Motorists are soft targets because under the British system, you can't get any legal aid for the majority of motoring offences! So most people just plead guilty because they can't afford to have legal defence, and don't know how to defend themselves.

if it involves a kid or old people, you're doomed, even if you're innocent as a new born lamb. The magistrates will have made their mind up before you even walk into court.

@Taw: So true! A mother who has her back to traffic while walking her child on the path / sidewalk and just truns her childs pram out onto the road's edge without even looking over her shoulder is basically running the risk of popping her kid right into the path of whatever traffic is approaching from behind. If that driver kills the child it is the drivers fault in the eyes of the law.

It is also common enough to see parents running across a street holding an infant in one hand with a toddler running by their side while juggling shopping at the same time, ignoring the fact that there is a pedestrian crossing only a few feet down the street. Personally I reckon they deserve to get run down.

Cobblers!

Thats one for the US then. A mom not watching her child, he/she runs into the street and gets hurt/killed, Mom can be found guilty of child endangerment. A car, at 45mph, takes close to 60 feet to stop, if a child pops out at 10 to 20 feet, there is NO time to stop and prevent the child from being hurt. The courts are messed up in the head then.

Sounds like cleansing the gene pool to me

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The courts are messed up in the head then

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welcome to the wonderful upside-down world of the British legal system, where motorists are pursued like they were murderers, whilst muggers and burglars get walkouts and bent coppers don't even get gaoled

Here, the pedestrian always has the right of way, but alas in some cases, you deserve to be hit if you try and take it.

J Dawg, I always feel the safe option is to assume that 2 tonnes of metal travelling at twenty metres per second has right of way wherever you are.

Seriously, though. I must agree with Taw. As a motorist I live in abject fear of hitting something, knowing full well that there are many stupid people about. My dad has had over four car accidents in the last decade, all of which happened when he was stationary!