Want to kill someone but are worried about Jail? (2104 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.43 on 20 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Belle (View user info) at 2006-02-23 07:18:44 EST
Well then, come to the UK!!
You can kill someone with your car and get off with a 12 week sentence (and most likely get released in 6 for good behaviour!).
A man has just been jailed for 12 weeks for stealing a car, possessing stolen goods and driving without insurance... He hasn't been charged for knocking over and killing a three year old girl and driving off and hiding for a week, because:
"Currently offenders can only be fined for careless driving, even if they kill.
Proposed new laws will allow courts to jail motorists convicted of causing death by careless driving for up to five years. The measures, part of the Road Safety Bill, will also create a new offence of causing death when driving while unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured. It will carry a maximum two-year term." - Taken from The Mirror (because I couldn't be bothered to search for a more upmarket newspaper).
I don't know if I can get my head round all of this.
This man was intentionally driving without having taken a driving test in his life, and ran over a child and her mother - and all he gets is a slap on the wrist for pinching a car.
And even though the media has gone mad, and all sorts of people are demanding that the law is changed - the proposed new laws are even worse!
How can killing by careless driving whilst being uninsured, unlicensed or disqualified be LESS of a crime than killing someone because you've driven carelessly? It sounds like if you're considering driving like a nobb end, or doing anything illegal - like say ram raiding a shop, you're better off not bothering learning to drive!
Not paying attention, or being a dick behind the wheel and killing someone is one thing, but at least there are some come backs - you could, I dunno, maybe loose your license, or the victims family could claim compensation from the insurance company... whatever, at least the driver went to the trouble of learning to drive properly in the first place.
But killing someone when you've not taken the test and proved you're safe, or have been disqualified? Well, that's not being in control with a deadly weapon!
They're talking in the UK about making anyone over 75 retake a written and practical test, but they don't care about the non-drivers who drive anyway...
And there is no comeback in this country for being hit by an uninsured driver. They get a fine and you get to pay for your own repairs, and anything else that happens... you don't even get the fine that the uninsured driver had to pay...
Why doesn't the law provide for this and MAKE these bastards pay? If they've got jobs it should be a deduction straight out of your wages for DOUBLE the cost of the repairs - the rest should go to the state to make a point, and maybe do something about catching these people before they get into an accident, and if they're collecting benefits, then they should have them reduced until its paid off.
We don't need new laws describing "death by careless driving" is - we need to treat drivers with no license or insurance as people who intentionally got in a dangerous weapon, and then killed someone with it - lets call it manslaughter, because they probably didn't intend to kill anyone.
Or better yet let a Jury decide based on the merits of the case.
If a kid gets in a car and tries to drive his mother to a hospital because she's bleeding to death and he hits someone, I can understand it... maybe.
But a guy who has stolen a car, filled it up with stolen goods and then driven so badly that he kills ANYONE, let alone a kid should get at least 10 years.
User Reviews
Submitted by BlazinBull (user info) at 2008-02-07 10:32:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
UK blows.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2008-02-07 10:07:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Who are you?
Submitted by Average_Dan (user info) at 2006-10-13 19:06:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bellebrown (user info) at 2006-10-13 04:52:22 (#)
Ranking: 2
I love this so much more than ubermadness.
Do another one.
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What do you think of this idea?
Lessons I would have taught my son, had I one.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2006-02-27 08:53:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm in two minds about all this, mainly because I can't remember how fast above the speed limit he was going. At the end of the day though he was punished for all the other illegal stuff he did, the death was ruled as a complete 'could have happened to anybody' thing (I think).
After all, if you smoosh a toddler who runs in front of your car and where villanised by the press I think you'd feel a little hard done by.
What the fuck was a toddler doing playing next to a road unsupervised anyway?
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2006-02-27 08:27:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Dang, I came to this post expecting to see phone numbers for hit men.
Submitted by BrownEyedGirrl (user info) at 2006-02-23 16:12:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
hmmmmm.... how do I get him in front of my car???
Submitted by Chroniclysm (user info) at 2006-02-23 12:18:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'll be flying in tonight with an "associate." Last flight he's ever taking, for sure.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2006-02-23 12:12:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd like to drive my car straight up your blimey arse.
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-02-23 12:02:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
We do ....
The Sentancing Advisory Panel have guidlines for 'Causing death by dangerous driving' and it carries a maximum of ten years...
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Driving around with a stolen car without a license isn't dangerous?
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It's kin dangerous.
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-02-23 12:02:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
It's impportant to realise there is a difference in law for CARELESS and DANGEROUS driving.
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So which is the above - did was that guy careless or dangerous?
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I'm guessing he must have been done for Careless else his arse could have been put in jail for ten years. Not that that would likely happen either.
Submitted by firefly (user info) at 2006-02-23 09:44:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2006-02-23 09:44:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
A car is a deadly weapon really it is. I think we in general take the whole driving thing too lightly since familiarity breeds well familiarity.
Hey the next time you go on a road trip, ponder the fact that countless times an hour you are going highway speed whilst another car is also going highway speed coming directly at you. The only barrier is some paint splashed in the middle. That is a hell of a lot of trust to place in complete strangers.
Now if they used those little rubber sticks from grocery stores, we'd be 100% safe.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-02-23 09:23:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
does the law apply to illegal/legal aliens? find someone to rerun his ass over. i'd find a 14 yr old in the family and have them do it cuz well not only are they underage and will probably get lenient sentencing but they couldn't get a license either.
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-02-23 09:04:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-02-23 08:21:30 (#)
Ranking: 1
We do ....
The Sentancing Advisory Panel have guidlines for 'Causing death by dangerous driving' and it carries a maximum of ten years...
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Driving around with a stolen car without a license isn't dangerous?
Submitted by Bellebrown (user info) at 2006-02-23 08:44:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-02-23 08:24:26 (#)
Ranking: 1
It's impportant to realise there is a difference in law for CARELESS and DANGEROUS driving.
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So which is the above - did was that guy careless or dangerous?
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-02-23 08:24:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
It's impportant to realise there is a difference in law for CARELESS and DANGEROUS driving.
Submitted by Beano312003 (user info) at 2006-02-23 08:21:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
We do ....
The Sentancing Advisory Panel have guidlines for 'Causing death by dangerous driving' and it carries a maximum of ten years...
In its proposal the Panel advises that, to mark the gravity of an offence resulting in death, the starting point for sentence should normally be imprisonment. The standard of the offender's driving at the time of the offence should be the primary factor in determining the seriousness of an offence.
The Panel recommends:
a short custodial sentence for an offence arising from a momentary error of judgment or short period of bad driving, where there are no aggravating features;
a custodial sentence of 2-5 years when the standard of the offender's driving is more highly dangerous, e.g. aggressive driving or greatly excessive speed, or when the offender has consumed alcohol or drugs;
a custodial sentence over 5 years, up to the maximum of 10 years, for the most serious offences, where the offender has driven with complete disregard for the safety of other road users and where other aggravating features are present.
Factors that would increase the seriousness of an offence include:
the death of more than one victim or serious injury to one or more victims in addition to the death;
failing to stop or falsely claiming that one of the victims was responsible for the crash; and
previous convictions for motoring offences, especially if they involved bad driving or the consumption of excessive alcohol before driving.
Submitted by ozzy (user info) at 2006-02-23 07:32:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm pretty sure in Australia there is a charge called "dangerous driving causing death", which carries a fairly hefty sentence.
I can't believe you guys don't have that.
Submitted by Hilarity_Ensues (user info) at 2006-02-23 07:28:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
One of the gems of advice that my driver's ed teacher told our class long ago:
"You wanna kill someone and get away with it? Kill'em with your car and it's nearly impossible to prove it was murder."
Submitted by w_t_a_y_s_t_r_m (user info) at 2006-02-23 07:24:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
The whole legal system is fucked up. And they put smoking in pubs over things like that. It pisses me off. And how we're allowed to smoke while driving but not talk on a mobile. How the fuck does that balance out?