Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Progressives wanted to stop having traffic stops by police which - as I'm sure we've all seen examples of - can sometime escalate out of control bringing a small traffic infraction to a big issue. But also, ATE is always present, where police obviously can't be. And sometimes pursuit of a suspect in a car leads to a chase, which is exceptionally dangerous within our dense city.
The issue is that there is no enforcement of adequate penalties for when someone demonstrates that they shouldn't have a license or vehicle anymore. Hitting a person with a car is a small fine and maybe up to 30 days in jail - IF THE DC-AG even wants to pursue (which they never do). Killing someone with a car, unless the driver was drunk or engaged in some other crime beforehand, the US AO (which has jurisdiction here) doesn't give a shit and won't pursue either.
DC should be publishing the ticket data. They should create a bounty system to repossess vehicles. They should empower citizens to submit pictures or video when they spot dangerous driving and actually devote resources to following up on this. They should take away licenses for those who have an extreme pattern of poor driving. Not a few speeding tickets, but several to many dozens should be an instant NOPE NOPE.
I completely agree with most of this. Matthew Graves was on the Politics Hour today and was asked why he didn't prosecute the driver who hit and killed that woman on Foxhall Rd. He basically said local law requires an insanely high standard to be prosecuted for hitting a pedestrian with your car. Hitting someone while going 10 mph over is simply a tragic accident, he said. This is a commonly held opinion across the country according to legal professionals I constantly discuss pedestrian safety with when I meet them.
What
really pisses me off about this line of thinking is how there's no gray area here and the standard for any sort of consequence is absurdly high.
You can literally hit and kill another human being with your four ton murder machine while the pedestrian is in the crosswalk with the right of way and you will not suffer any single sort of consequence for it. You will not get handcuffed. You will not spend the night in jail. You will not lose your license, even temporarily. You will not face a trial. You will not be put on probation.
NOTHING.
On the other hand, you can get caught with a few MDMA tablets you will not only spend the night in jail but face felony charges for pill possession of a largely inconsequential party drug. What the fck is this country we live in?
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