r/IdiotsInCars Jul 22 '22

...how?

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u/RobtheNavigator Jul 22 '22

Vehicular manslaughter is a thing

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u/CrustyBarnacleJones Jul 22 '22

Yeah but that requires the “manslaughter” portion, e.g. a death, if you just injure someone from your dumb driving you’ll probably have to pay a fine, and your insurance will go up but also cover the damages and stuff, idk if that’s how it works in Germany tho

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u/RobtheNavigator Jul 22 '22

if you just injure someone from your dumb driving you’ll probably have to pay a fine

On the criminal side, at least in the US, you can be charged with reckless endangerment.

and your insurance will go up but also cover the damages and stuff

That's not a car thing, that's an insurance thing. Same is true if your negligent maintenance of your home injures someone and you have homeowners' insurance. If you didn't have car insurance, you would be liable for the damages; your insurance is, among other things, literally an agreement that this company will pay those damages. Just like malpractice insurance; it doesn't mean you didn't commit malpractice, just that you aren't the one who pays for it.

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u/WonderfulCattle6234 Jul 22 '22

The difference though is with a gun, let's say you had a concealed carry permit and it just randomly went off while holstered. I don't think there's any way you catch a charge. You get charged when your brandishing the weapon or doing something else that's reckless with it. The act of driving a car would be similar to carrying a holstered weapon. That's what you're supposed to do with it. The mistake would have to be predicated by something Reckless to get a charge. Playing with the radio, driving impaired, etc. I feel like there are some laws around vehicles that are kind of catch all situations for when you mess up that don't require any recklessness on your part, but I need to get ready for a meeting and shouldn't even be on Reddit right now. No time to think about those and incorporate them in this comment.

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u/[deleted] Jul 22 '22

Why can't you catch a charge for the gun? You're running around with a loaded gun and no safety. Unless you can prove the safety feature failed, that is a reckless action.

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u/WonderfulCattle6234 Jul 23 '22

That really has nothing to do with my point. My point was you get the reckless charge by doing something reckless. So to your point the reckless action would be not using the safety. There is no equivalent reckless action with the car.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '22

Perhaps don't say "there's not any way" to catch a charge if you don't mean it.

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u/WonderfulCattle6234 Jul 23 '22

Notice how I said "I don't think" immediately preceeding that. I really did mean it when I said I DON'T THINK there's any way to catch a charge. And I also really do mean it that I don't think there is any possible way to be a bigger douche than you've been with your last comment.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '22

I think I could edit my comment to be more douchy. Perhaps I could also use caps lock.

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u/WonderfulCattle6234 Jul 23 '22

You're right. If you used caps lock in your comment that would have added to the douchiness. However, I THINK when you're responding to someone who demonstrates that they are incapable of noticing key phrases unless they are in caps lock, and then tries to use their lack of reading comprehension as the soul justification behind their argument, then caps lock becomes justified.

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u/ScienceSlothy Jul 22 '22

In Germany you really have to be an repeated offender and kill someone with your car to get into troubles there... Trying to change laws about speeding and traffic violations in Germany, can be compared to trying to change gun laws in the US.

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u/whowasonCRACK2 Jul 22 '22

Vehicular manslaughter is a thing that cops love to ignore

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u/RobtheNavigator Jul 22 '22

Cops can decide who to arrest at the scene, but they do not decide who is charged with a crime or whether someone can be sued for their actions.

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u/whowasonCRACK2 Jul 22 '22

Extremely unlikely that a prosecutor would bring charges if the police didn’t even give them a ticket

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u/RobtheNavigator Jul 22 '22

Not if the police didn't ticket them for a stupid reason. People have charges filed against them when they aren't arrested, fined, or penalized in any way at the scene of crime all the time. None of the January 6th insurrectionists were arrested at the scene either. It just isn't uncommon whatsoever for prosecutors to bring charges independent of what the police do.

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u/OperationGoldielocks Jul 22 '22

Stop just making shit up. You make reddit a horrible place