Two separate drivers hit a pedestrian while driving?

Question

One was drunk while driving

One was chatting on a cell phone while driving

The pedestrian dies.

Statistics show that talking in a cell phone creates a similar impairment to driving ability as does a drunk driver with .1


The drunk goes to jail for 10 years, the person talking on the cell phone goes home that same evening.

Does this seem right to you?

Answer 1

No it does not. It should be made illegal to drive while yapping on a cell phone, especially those who has to hold the phone to their ears. If they use hands-free device, then maybe it simulates an environment closer to chatting with a passenger. However, the facts change when the person also tries to write down notes, or a phone number etc.

Driving is a privilege and driving while talking on a cell phone without hands-free device should be enough to take away that privilege,

With regard to the drunk driver, he has made a choice to impair the safety of himself and other people sharing the road. Why is it so hard to legally charge someone using a cell phone while driving even if there is a law? It's because it is just hard to prove since police often arrives at the scene after the accident and there is no way to know if the accident is directly related to one driver talk on the cell phone. With drunk driving, there is the Breathalyzer test that at least provide an objective measurement.

Answer 2

Without any other details, how do you expect us to make a good decision one way or the other? Maybe it was the pedestrians fault in both cases and the drunk only went to jail because there was the 'possibility' that had he not been drunk the accident could have been avoided.

Statistics can't prove anything one way or the other. I'd rather be on the road with a bunch of cell-phone babbling 16 yr olds than a bunch of drunks any day.

I think questions like this don't really answer anything, you obviously have your opinion on it already... are you just looking for people to agree with you?

Answer 3

How do you know it wasn't the pedestrian that was drunk and talking on the phone???