Motorist kills pedestrian

We are always being told how dangerous cyclists are on pavements,
except when there are the magic white lines and blue signs. Well
here is an individual data point which illustrates the real dangers
pedestrians face.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cf...20041111095605
from which the following extracts are taken:

'A NINE-year-old girl died after she was struck by a car that
mounted the pavement outside a shop yesterday.

'Tamara McIntosh was standing outside a chip shop less than 50
metres from her front door at about 4pm, when a Suzuki four-wheel
drive car mounted the kerb and knocked down her and a friend.'

'Last night, Tamara’s father said he could not believe what had
happened to his daughter, who attended Inverkeithing Primary
School.'

'"It is just devastating. She was up on the pavement and it just
doesn’t make any sense. I have always worried about something
happening here because of the way some people drive."'

'A man, who asked not to be named, said: "The two wee girls were
just outside the chip shop and the car has come up and hit them. It
smashed into the chip shop window as well. It is just awful."'

'A spokeswoman for Fife Police said: "There has been a serious road
accident and a nine-year-old girl has died.'

I doubt if there is anything accidental about this crash, as is
often the case the police appear to be trying to minimise events.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

I doubt if there is anything accidental about this crash

But that makes me think it was deliberate.

I think accident implies a lack of intent, rather than an act of God.

David Hansen vaguely muttered something like ...

I doubt if there is anything accidental about this crash, as is
often the case the police appear to be trying to minimise events.

You think the driver deliberately mounted the pavement to kill the girl?
How do you come to that conclusion from what's written in the article?

I note you omitted ""A man will be appearing in Dunfermline Sheriff Court in
connection with the incident," the spokeswoman added. " which suggests the
police may not be 'trying to minimise events" but may actually have more
information than you have on which to base a judgement.

--
Paul ...
(8(|) Homer Rules !!!
"A tosser is a tosser, no matter what mode of transport they're using."

Mark Thompson wrote:
I think accident implies a lack of intent, rather than an act of God.

A 'lack of intent' can cover a whole range of sins from momentary
inattention, to sustained reckless or negligent behaviour worthy of a
manslaughter charge.

R.

"Paul - xxx" writes:

David Hansen vaguely muttered something like ...

I doubt if there is anything accidental about this crash, as is
often the case the police appear to be trying to minimise events.

You think the driver deliberately mounted the pavement to kill the girl?

No - but they should know that it's an offence to drive on the
pavement, and that people tend to use the pavement for walking on. If
they do something illegal and kill someone as a result then it's not
"an accident".

"I shot this gun into the room - I wasn't aiming at anyone - so it's
entirely an accident that someone got killed"...

Paul Rudin vaguely muttered something like ...
"Paul - xxx" writes:

David Hansen vaguely muttered something like ...

I doubt if there is anything accidental about this crash, as is
often the case the police appear to be trying to minimise events.

You think the driver deliberately mounted the pavement to kill the girl?

No - but they should know that it's an offence to drive on the
pavement,

So now you (I notice you're not the OP) think he was deliberately driving on
the pavement then?

"I shot this gun into the room - I wasn't aiming at anyone - so it's
entirely an accident that someone got killed"...

Different thing entirely ...

--
Paul ...
(8(|) Homer Rules !!!
"A tosser is a tosser, no matter what mode of transport they're using."

I think accident implies a lack of intent, rather than an act of God.

A 'lack of intent' can cover a whole range of sins from momentary
inattention, to sustained reckless or negligent behaviour worthy of a
manslaughter charge.

Yep, so accident fits the bill nicely, unless we learn the driver did mean
to do it.

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 10:29:10 +0000, David Hansen wrote:

We are always being told how dangerous cyclists are on pavements,
except when there are the magic white lines and blue signs. Well
here is an individual data point which illustrates the real dangers
pedestrians face.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cf...20041111095605
from which the following extracts are taken:

'A NINE-year-old girl died after she was struck by a car that
mounted the pavement outside a shop yesterday.

'Tamara McIntosh was standing outside a chip shop less than 50
metres from her front door at about 4pm, when a Suzuki four-wheel
drive car mounted the kerb and knocked down her and a friend.'

'Last night, Tamara’s father said he could not believe what had
happened to his daughter, who attended Inverkeithing Primary
School.'

'"It is just devastating. She was up on the pavement and it just
doesn’t make any sense. I have always worried about something
happening here because of the way some people drive."'

'A man, who asked not to be named, said: "The two wee girls were
just outside the chip shop and the car has come up and hit them. It
smashed into the chip shop window as well. It is just awful."'

'A spokeswoman for Fife Police said: "There has been a serious road
accident and a nine-year-old girl has died.'

I doubt if there is anything accidental about this crash, as is
often the case the police appear to be trying to minimise events.

One meaning of accident is "a misfortune or mishap, esp. one causing injury
or death" (Collins Concise 1993). This is unfortunate because of the
possible inference that such events are out of the control of the
participants.

"Road incident" would be a better descriptor.

Does anyone have any other ideas?
--
Michael MacClancy

www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

"Paul - xxx" writes:

Paul Rudin vaguely muttered something like ...
"Paul - xxx" writes:

David Hansen vaguely muttered something like ...

I doubt if there is anything accidental about this crash, as is
often the case the police appear to be trying to minimise events.

You think the driver deliberately mounted the pavement to kill the girl?

No - but they should know that it's an offence to drive on the
pavement,

So now you (I notice you're not the OP) think he was deliberately driving on
the pavement then?


I don't think we have enough information from the report to know -
hence we don't know whether it's "accidental" or not.

Mark Thompson wrote:
I think accident implies a lack of intent, rather than an act of God.

A 'lack of intent' can cover a whole range of sins from momentary
inattention, to sustained reckless or negligent behaviour worthy of a
manslaughter charge.


Yep, so accident fits the bill nicely, unless we learn the driver did mean
to do it.

You misunderstand me - I was meaning to say that "accident" and "lack of
intent" are not 100% overlapping. Last weekend's rail crash, for
example: if it is the case that the driver was attempting suicide, then
there was probably a lack of intent on his part to kill anyone else;
however to describe it as an 'accident', when his actions were quite
deliberate and premeditated, seems to me to be wrong. Similarly, if
someone was to walk into a bank and fire a gun with the sole intent of
scaring the staff into coughing up money, but the bullet richoched and
killed someone, they would (quite rightly) be charged with murder or
manslaughter; the death would not be an 'accident'.

R.