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Comment by brunoTbear | Hacker News Reader

Turning everyone into deputies to enforce that their friends not borrow their car seems pretty lousy to me. Reminds me of those felony murder laws, or the laws that punish parents where their children host binge drinking parties without their knowledge.

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This isn't much different from lending your car to someone without asking if they have a driver's license, period? I mean it's slightly different (I'm not sure if the car is automatically impounded for driving without a license) but I think they're making a big deal out of a fairly minor detail. If your friend borrows your car knowing full well that if they're pulled over it's going to be evaluated... maybe in general a good sign it's time to reevaluate that friendship?

Addiction is hard. And some people hide it really well. There are many high functioning alcoholics out there, and you can be sure that many of their friends don't know how bad the situation really is.

Letting a visibly drunk person get behind the wheel is obviously a big no no, but there are many shades of grey here. You should not be responsible for other people's failures.

There is a world of a difference between knowing full well that your friend has lost his license and lending him your car after he has shown you a license that is no longer valid.

The obvious solution is to never lend your car out to anybody, but that is not the optimal solution.

I for one am a fan of the felony murder law and the laws that punish parents who negligently create opportunities for kids to hurt themselves.

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