I’m not saying she is without fault but life in prison would seem a little extreme in any event. Now lets just say it was a deer or moose stopped in the lane of traffic with no brake lights or flashers on and the cycle hit it. Would the moose be the proximate cause or the speeding cycle? I dunno, she was really stupid but others avoided her.
That was the max sentence. She has not received her sentence yet, has she? Is ther a minimum jail term?
Would she have been found guilty if her car was stopped in the road because it broke down due to neglected maintenance, (snapped timing belt, frozen wheel bearing, etc)?
Not important. Why she stopped is everything.
IANAL, but if why she stopped is everything, then where to lay blame becomes a very slippery subjective slope.
I understand what you’re saying, but what happened to being responsible to stop your vehicle in time to prevent a rear end collision?
This is sad for everyone. Two people are dead, one person’s life is effectively ruined. For a couple of ducks.
All the rules, laws, and regulations in the world wouldn’t have helped here. You simply can not legislate common sense into people.
No, the moose probably wouldn’t be found at fault because no one expects a moose to know better.
Root cause is she’s a total buffoon for intentionally stopping her car in the middle of a public roadway and for such a lame reason.
Those ducks she stopped for are more than likely all deceased by now anyway due to disease, getting flattened by another vehicle, or due to not hiding out during duck season…
Reminds me of going to OK City a few years back and as I crested a hill on a narrow 2-lane highway I see a pickup with the flashers going and parked at a diagonal with the truck half on the shoulder and the other half blocking part of the southbound lane. Hitting the brakes and veering around the truck and wondering WTH was going on I see a farmer leaning against the barbed wire fence and counting noses on his herd of cattle.
On the news that evening there was a report of a double-fatality, head-on accident in that spot on that same afternoon and right around the same time. Whether it had anything to do with that farmer I have no idea as details were sparse but there’s a couple of roadside crosses there now.
I’d put that farmer in the same category as the duck lady. Morons.
IT may sound stupid, but we have gone to rescue ducklings that fell through a storm sewer grate. Granted it should be a storm sewer issue, but we saved them anyway. Now we had yellow flashing lights and kids in reflective vests, Lady as described was a road hazard.
There’s no question that what the lady did gave whole new meaning to the word “dumb”, and there’s no question that two people died tragically because of it, but she didn’t do it out of malice or cruelty and it wasn’t premeditated or with bad intentions. Life in prison is a horribly unfair sentence for even the dumbest mistake. I hope the Canadian judge reduces the sentence to something more reasonable. There are robbers and thieves and murderers that get lighter sentences.
I’m not in favor of a life sentence either but I do think she needs to serve some time and receive some punishment about future licensing and so on. There’s also the issue of whether or not she actually feels any remorse at all over this and by that I don’t mean the standard line of tripe written by a lawyer.
The 15 year old nephew of a lifelong friend of mine died in a motorcycle accident when a lady pulled her Cadillac out from a stop sign and he broadsided her. (Wearing a helmet and not speeding.)
Her comment to the cops at the scene was that “motorcycles are dangerous and he shouldn’t have been on one”. She was charged only with a “Failure To Yield” traffic citation… 
That was IMHO a miscarriage of justice in the opposite direction. The Caddy owner clearly should have received much more serious charges. But, unfortunately, the law doesn’t take my opinion into consideration. Much more consideration is given to the driver’s “status in the community”.
I recall an accident long ago where an “esteemed member of the community” drove off a bridge and into a river one night with a woman in the passenger seat, swam home, and left her to drown, not even reporting the accident to the authorities until the next day. To the best of my knowledge he was never charged. That individual should have received life in prison. Instead he served life in the U.S, senate.
At the time of the accident when my friend’s nephew was killed the fine for that violation was 25 bucks and that’s all that happened to her. The kid was actually a passenger on the back of a motorcycle and was throwing newspapers to learn the route that he was going to be taking over from the kid who owned the motorcycle.
The same goes for a guy I know here who spent 2 months in the hospital when a drunken U.S. District Attorney in a black Lincoln was driving the wrong way on a divided 4-lane late at night with no lighting and hit the cyclist head on. There were 3 people in that Lincoln; all of them 3 sheets to the wind and apparently all of them oblivious to lack of lighting late at night after leaving the country club.
The DA refused to submit to a blood or breath test, refused to surrender his drivers license, did not lose his license in spite of the law stating such, was never charged with even a minor traffic citation, and claimed “diplomatic immunity” at the accident scene.
The local PD were told to essentially get lost by this guy who stated they had no authority over him on any matter because he was “on duty” and the Feds trump the locals.
A regular Joe would have been arrested on the spot and forcibly cuffed if resisting.
“Instead he served life in the U.S, senate”
Yeah but it cost him the presidency. I remember that accident well and the lame explanation. No one bought it.
Same-remember “Animal Farm”? We know who you are talking about,its a shame some are “more equal” then others,the system has been trying to cover up the fact for a long time,that all do not recieve ,equal treatment under the law-Kevin
“The same goes for a guy I know here who spent 2 months in the hospital when a drunken U.S. District Attorney in a black Lincoln was driving the wrong way on a divided 4-lane late at night with no lighting and hit the cyclist head on”
Yikes!
That is scarily similar to what another US Attorney did about 10 years ago.
His name was Chris Christie.
It is not known whether CC was drinking or not, because after he hit a motorcyclist head-on as a result of driving his BMW the wrong way on a one-way city street, he managed to convince the Elizabeth, NJ cops to just let him go on his way. You know–the old “look who I am” gambit.
Then, several months later, he was ticketed in Lambertville, NJ as a result of having an expired registration on his BMW. As it turns out, the registration was already expired when he hit that cyclist, but the scared Elizabeth, NJ cops never even got to the stage of checking his credentials because he allegedly threatened them with reprisals if they detained him.
And now, he is running NJ…into the ground.
"Would the moose be the proximate cause or the speeding cycle?"
I will answer your question with two other questions, Bing:
Can a deer or moose be licensed to operate a MV?
Can they be charged with a MV offense?
Unless the answer to both questions is “yes”, then it is immaterial whether or not those animals might have caused an accident.
That being said, I don’t think that anyone believes this dumb woman should serve life behind bars, simply because her act was not done maliciously. Perhaps 2 or 3 years behind bars, with no chance of ever regaining her driving privileges, would be appropriate–but not something as severe as a life sentence.
Personally, I think a lifetime revolkation of her driving privileges is appropriate. There’s nothing I see that suggests that the lady is a criminal, only incapable of using common sense when entrusted with a motor vehicle. Save the jail cells for society’s predators.
well negligence can be criminal, but there was no criminal intent and life in prison does not seem appropiate
I was just questioning the “proximate cause” of the accident. I’m not so sure something like a car or moose in the roadway would be the proximate cause versus a motorcycle speeding at 20 over the limit and not paying attention. I don’t think its relevant whether or not a moose can be licensed or ticketed. I’m just saying there could have been any number of obstacles in the roadway that a responsible adult should be watching for as they operated a motor vehicle. There is the principle of having your vehicle under control at all times.
Deer scare the heck out of me and more than one cycle driver has been killed hitting a deer. If I were in Canada on a cycle, going that fast, I would certainly be concerned about deer in the roadway.
I think I agree with the wife of the man and mother of the girl who were killed:
Roy’s wife, Pauline Volikakis, who was riding her own motorcycle behind her husband and daughter and managed to avoid injury, witnessed the accident in horror. But she said in court Friday she is ready to move on from the crash. “I don’t wish misfortune on anyone,” the widow told the Associated Press. “It’s time that we go on. This will not bring [back] my loved ones.”