Hacker News Reader

Comment by taneq | Hacker News Reader

With power should come responsibility, sure, but "power" means "ability to affect the situation", not "joules per second." In the scenario of a pedestrian suddenly running out in front of a car which is driving at the speed limit, the pedestrian has far more power to affect the outcome (by choosing not to run into the path of the car) than the driver (who could not reasonably predict the pedestrian would behave in this manner).

View on HN

Right, but since the driver has seen there's somebody on foot on the pavement, how come they haven't slowed down already? Perhaps the person could trip and fall into the road. Perhaps the person could have a fit and fall into the road. Perhaps the person is just crazy and is contemplating leaping into the road. Perhaps the person is drunk, hasn't seen you, and just fancies crossing the road there and then. It really doesn't matter. These are not capital offences.

What if that person were your son, daughter, wife, husband, parent, or whatever? Would you be so blasé over their losing their life, and all because somebody couldn't even be bothered to just move their foot a bit and press a pedal?

The power I'm talking about here isn't ability, it's literally the might and momentum of the car. And because of that power, drivers need to take more responsibility when they drive. A driver doesn't become responsible the milliseconds before they kill someone, they become responsible the moment they set foot in a car.

The ability that drivers do have is to drive defensively and keep a look out for pedestrians. That is what I'm talking about, not by frustrating Newton's 3rd law. And because of that extra ability to do damage, they must be subject to harsher scrutiny than those who can more easily suffer damage.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com