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0 pointscowmoo7284y ago0 comments

American drivers are rarely prosecuted for murdering cyclists, even if the driver was running a red light, speeding, or committing some other kind of traffic violation. Even drivers that hit-and-run regularly get off with some kind of "time served" or probation plea. Sometimes they'll be given a moving violation fine of a few hundred dollars.

This is an opinion piece from 2013 but is still accurate because enforcement has not changed since:

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-t...

More recent examples:

https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/biking/cycli...

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-court...

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paulgb4y ago

Another example here in NYC recently. The driver ultimately blamed a vehicular malfunction and the DA basically said there was no way to disprove that so the driver walked free. By all appearances the driver got away with road rage murder.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2022/01/13/driver-who-killed-del...

murphyslab4y ago

In British Columbia this year (after some changes to the insurance system), the provincial insurance corporation, ICBC, billed a cyclist $3700 for damage to a car that hit him after the car driver blew through a stop sign:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/cyclist-bill...

They have just in the past month updated the policy, but there have been several instances of this in the past 12 months.

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