Tougher punishment needed for bad drivers
To the editor:
It is astonishing and incomprehensible that a driver who hits and kills a pedestrian in a crosswalk faces only a maximum sentence of two and a half years in jail (as reported on the front page of the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Nov. 17-18), “if the case goes to trial.”
In other words, the case may not even go to trial and the driver could get away with killing a pedestrian with few or any significant repercussion.
Even if the case goes to trial it seems that such a law, and the maximum sentence it stipulates, encourages criminal negligence and by implication devalues human life.
Negligently homicidal drivers should be held accountable for their actions in a more consequential and serious way both as a matter of justice and in order to motivate other drivers to drive in a responsible manner and avoid becoming a threat to public safety.
Paul Hollander
Northampton
You must be registered to comment on stories. Click here to register.