If someone drives a car too fast in a 30 mph zone and kills a child. What should be the punishment?

Question

48 mph The child was crossing the road to go to school.

Answer 1

someone should hit them in with a car, btw WHAT IS A CHILD DOING IN THE  ROAD?? no matter what speed the car is going a kid shouldnt be in the street! ffs

Answer 2

The laws in this country are ridiculously varied, i mean someone who murdered a person get most the time 2-3yrs . The only time they are harsher i think is when the trial is in the news.   But taken into account that you were indeed speeding at 48mph on a 30mph the girl never had much chance, it could be debated why the girl was in the road, but fact is you were still speeding.  So i think manslaughter should be the charge, but with our courts you'll probably get a £1000  fine a and 1-2 yrs suspended sentence.

Answer 3

Depends.  If the kid ran out into the road, and perhaps there were parked cars along the side of the road so the driver couldn't see the child, then the driver shouldn't be at fault.  Unfortunately accidents happen, even if it's nobodies fault.

Answer 4

At the very least, a life sentence.

Answer 5

Death, life for a life.

Answer 6

details,  because a parent is responsible for there kids which means they should not be out in the street.  Now you didn't say how old the child is or how fast the person was going a lot of details go into a decision like this.

Answer 7

Manslaughter charge

Answer 8

child, adult, it should be the same.

on one hand, it's a pretty easy mistake to make, depending on whether it was 48mph down a long, straight country lane.. or round a blind corner next to a school, which is just madness.

on the other hand, looking at the bigger picture, if the sentencing is harsh enough to ruin the offender's life, fewer innocent people will die.  

Answer 9

In my personal opinion, this is death by dangerous driving.  The reason for this is the fact that that you were driving nearly 20 mph faster than the LEGAL LIMIT set for that road.

I should think that this offence would be looking at a custodial sentence of minimum of  4-5 years.

In my opinion, there should also be a lifetime driving ban chucked into the equation too.

Answer 10

That depends. Was the person in a clear state of mind because if they saw the child and didn't swerve then I would say that that's murder. Was it a zebra crossing because a child shouldn't just run across the road. I think a life sentence is too harsh because they are more important things that people need to be locked up for. But I think that the person should be the one to go to the parent's house and explain to them what happened instead of letting some poor police officer do it.

P.s. did this really happen?

Answer 11

Manslaughter - life sentence to discourage the others.

Yes, show them the victim. And let them explain to the relatives why the speed limits don't apply to them.

Answer 12

He should be showed the victim..that would be sobering

Answer 13

Child or adult should be the same. We all get caught out speeding except those who don't drive or have a huge queue behind them. The phrasing of this question is very emotional and I can well understand why because you will have to live with this for the rest of your life no matter what is said in Court as will the child's family. I can not give you any re-assurance on this because much will depend upon the evidence presented. I can not help but notice that the flog 'em hang 'em brigade are out in full strength

Answer 14

Should people be punished for their crimes and misdemeanours or for the consequences of them?  Driving too fast and driving carelessly have the potential for killing people.  If you want to lock people up for a long time because their carelessness led to a child dying, then we should do the same for everyone who exceeds the speed limit.  Since that's a majority of the population, we'd need an awful lot of gaols - and those of us not locked up would need to pay an awful lot of tax to keep them there.

Answer 15

It would depend on the circumstances,did the child run out into the road suddenly in front of the car?was the child unsupervised?There are many facets to any road accident for a court to rule on.

Answer 16

man slaughter but it depend on what was the speed/why was the child there/were they under the influence?

Answer 17

Hello,

(ANS) In my opinion the sentence should be EXTREMELY STIFF in situations like this. Here is my view:-

No.1 The person should have their driving license removed totally from them permanently. That's 100% for ever, NOT allowed to drive ever again.

i.e. Life time Banned from driving.

No.2 Should be named & shamed in the local & national press.

No.3 A long prison sentence with at least 10 year minimum, before any parole is even considered.

**Bear in mind "a life has been lost" & not only that but the parents  have lost a son or daughter. And that's a life time loss and they will have to live with that loss for their remaining years. A life time of grief & pain because of someone Else's stupidity or callous selfishness.

Ivan  

Answer 18

Murder - tried and convicted of murder if found guilty - punishment - life.

BUT - what do you clasify as to fast - 32mph - 35mph. That is the problem -