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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   29556 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 26, 2024

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If you cause a fatal crash, have a valid license, aren't drunk or on drugs, and don't leave the scene, the chances of you going down for vehicular homicide are extremely low, regardless of the means of transportation of the victim. Cyclist-activists crying about this when it happens to cyclists is special pleading.

Now, now, even if you are drunk and unlicensed and have 19 moving violations you might get away with probation after not even being arrested before a media circus starts up. If you have a license, your fatal booze cruise will probably just end up with a slap on the wrist.

It's not really special pleading because drivers are much better protected against other drivers than cyclists are. Pedestrians are similarly unprotected, but they usually are not directly on the road at least.

Now, now, even if you are drunk and unlicensed and have 19 moving violations you might get away with probation after not even being arrested before a media circus starts up.

I cannot find any indication alcohol was involved in this incident. But it's not any different with drivers who kill other people in cars.

It's not really special pleading because drivers are much better protected against other drivers than cyclists are.

That's exactly special pleading, due to being more vulnerable. You want drivers to be held to a higher standard when they kill cyclists as opposed to killing people in cars.

SEP

More to the point might be a worry about special pleading. This is different from backsliding, because the special pleader is the person who makes exceptions in their own favour. It would not be right for most people to do what I propose to do, but I am special; so I am left off the moral hook that others are caught by.

IEP

Special pleading is a form of inconsistency in which the reasoner doesn’t apply his or her principles consistently. It is the fallacy of applying a general principle to various situations but not applying it to a special situation that interests the arguer even though the general principle properly applies to that special situation, too.

An argument about special pleading won't get resolved without showing the supposed principles are inconsistently applied.

What is the standard sentencing for car drivers who kill other people in cars? Is it different if they kill pedestrians? If The_Nybbler is right, the driver gets probation for both, and the principle is consistent. (Consistently callous.) One could raise the sentencing waterline for all kinds of vehicle-caused deaths, too.

I cannot find any indication alcohol was involved in this incident.

You're right, I misread it.

You want drivers to be held to a higher standard when they kill cyclists as opposed to killing people in cars.

Wow, that's what I want? I'm sure you won't have trouble quoting the part where I said that, then.

Wow, that's what I want? I'm sure you won't have trouble quoting the part where I said that, then.

Sure:

It's not really special pleading because drivers are much better protected against other drivers than cyclists are.

The non-bulverist reading of my comment is:

A minor fuckup or lapse of attention (which are unlikely to be punished in any real way) on the part of a driver may result in cosmetic damage to a car or a fatality for a cyclist. It is much less likely to result in the death of a motorist. Therefore, cyclists are much more likely to encounter situations where they are killed and drivers face no consequences than a motorist. Therefore, cyclists being concerned about this is not special pleading.

I think it's pretty obvious that I was not, in fact, arguing for stricter punishment for killing a cyclist than for killing a motorist. That's a motivated reading if I ever saw one.

To make it completely obvious - if you kill someone while driving, there should be consequences.

To make it completely obvious - if you kill someone while driving, there should be consequences.

And my response is that if you kill someone while driving and you aren't drunk or high and don't leave the scene, chances of criminal consequences are low regardless of whether the person killed is a cyclist, a pedestrian, or someone in a motor vehicle. It's not different for cyclists.

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