Parents are charged after their son, 7, is struck dead in a car accident
www.nbcnews.com
Gastonia, N.C., police charged the parents with involuntary manslaughter charges after allowing the victim and his brother to walk home alone from a nearby grocery store.
  • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
    145·
    13 days ago

    The thing is, once car-centrism is established and normalized, it’s so hard to explain to people what the real problem is. Clearly the kid did a stupid thing and ran into the road when it shouldn’t. Clearly the driver had no bad intentions.

    But somehow the thought never occurs to people that kids (and adults) will always be stupid and we shouldn’t strive to make a world where nobody makes mistakes. We should strive to make a world where making mistakes doesn’t kill you.

    • Broadfern@lemmy.worldEnglish
      592·
      13 days ago

      Clearly the driver had no bad intentions.

      I hate to break it to you, but:

      Jerry Guy, the man who hit the family and never stopped, reportedly admitted drinking “a little” alcohol earlier in the day. He also admitted to being on painkillers and being partially blind in one eye.

      Guy had been convicted of two previous hit and run accidents. He pleaded guilty to the hit and run that took A.J.'s life and served six months in jail.

      In a world without cars this man wouldn’t have killed a child with his decisions. But this is still gross negligence, especially the multiple hit-and-run charges.

      I do agree that if anything this is a great case for pushing public transit and eliminating car centrism. But to not stop/pull over, multiple times, is its own level of selfishness.

    • bitwolf@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6·
      12 days ago

      Agreed. As I read this I pictured the four lane stroad they likely had to cross.

      If the roads were safer for pedestrians they’d be able to walk around without dying.

    • TAG@lemmy.world
      22·
      12 days ago

      I agree that we should strive to make the world as safe as possible, but people need to take some responsibility for not putting themselves in danger and teaching their kids how to do so as well. If it was not a car, it could have been a bus, a trolley, or a heavy bike (this is a small child we are talking about). The kid could have run off a cliff or fell into the stream and drowned.

      As a first generation American, I have noticed that some American parents do not teach their kids enough about how to cross the street (shocking in such a car centric society).