Please don't take this the wrong way, but it is "nice" to see that things like this don't just happen on this side of the pond.
We had a case over on this side of the pond (I forget which state) where a lawyer who was looking at his fourth DUI/DWI had hit and killed a cyclist. He stopped his car, picked up all of the pieces from his car, got back in and drove off. When he was finally caught, tried (and thankfully) convicted, part of his "defense" was that he didn't want his five year old son to see a dead body.
Uh, if he was so worried about his five year old son, why was he driving drunk in the first place?
And as a lawyer he should have known what would happen to him for hit and run, vehicular manslaughter, tampering with evidence/crime scene. Something tells me that when he gets out of jail that even if his states bar doesn't pull his law license that he won't be able to find a job anywhere as a lawyer.
There was another (more recent I think) case down here in Florida where a gal "lost control" of her vehicle, crossed the double yellow lines, hit a woman sending her into the bay. The LEOs didn't know if it was the impact with the car or the water that killed. She was riding with her husband and they were both in the bike lane. The woman who "lost control" of her vehicle missed the husband and struck the wife.
The last I've heard there have been no charges pressed against the woman who had lost control of her vehicle.
I was talking to a friend of mine about this case not too long ago and she was like there were "accidents" that she can see where it wouldn't be the drivers fault if they occurred. I pointed out to her that the owner/driver of a vehicle is responsible for making sure that it is safe to operate on the public roads. And that if it isn't than they're responsible for anything that happens as a result of said vehicle not being in proper working oder.
My new bike has presta valves and is accordingly has "high pressure tubes/tires." And as I'm sure that most ya know with those types of tubes we have to check out tire pressure more frequently than those who have tires/tubes with schreader valves. I also pointed out to her that as the operator of a bicycle that it is my responsibility to make sure that my break cables (for my Hardrock which has mechanical brakes) and the gear cables on both bikes (my Seek 2 has hydraulic brakes) are in working order so that when I need to slow down/stop I can do so.
