I am not an attorney but I think that when someone stops suddenly for no reason, he is contributing to the accident I think that it would fall under contributory negligence and you would both be at fault him for stopping without reason and you for tailgating. I do not see how failing to render proper aid to a seizure victim results in you being one to blame for his seizure.
Legally there is a difference, but morally I don't see one. I'm not just talking descriptive here, I'm talking normative. People in this country want to punish each other whenever anything goes wrong. A meteor came out of the sky and crushed a car? Lets crucify NASA. Its ridiculous...shit happens sometimes and punishing someone for everything is absurd.
Okay. Perhaps I was a bit too harsh. People who cause injury should own up by paying full restitution to their victims along with payment for pain & suffering and punitive damage.
And thats exactly what usually happens.
The one who caused the injury should then spend be required to spend some time in a therapy program so that he learns what he did wrong and learns how to not do it again.
Err I don't think people need a therapy program to teach them how not to tailgate.
If he commits a similar mistake again, then I would recommend that he spend several years in jail. Some people are just too accident prone to allow out in public.
You mean if the mistake causes an accident again, right?
It comes down to where we draw the line. Statistics have shown that those who drink and drive cause more accidents than do those who dont drink and drive. Therefore we have preventive measure.
Yes...we are punishing someone, not for doing harm, but because they *might* do harm. Doesn't this seem strange to you?
I understand that we cant protect everyone from making bad choices. Should motorcyclists be required to wear seatbelts? Should drivers be required to have insurance? Should people be required to wear seatbelts? Why do we allow smoking of tobacco but not the smoking of marijuana or the injection of cocaine? It all comes down to where we are going to draw the line.
Yes it does.