Drivers should be held accountable for their actions

Everybody is busy with outdoor activities now. It's summertime in Alaska, so being consumed with gardening, fishing, softball, summer camps and all the other things we do when the weather is nice is normal to those familiar with the Alaskan seasons.

All this activity means more highway driving. That means long lines of traffic and encountering the inevitable non-resident motor homes and their 35-mph speeds. Be patient and considerate of the other drivers, give yourself plenty of time to get where you're going, and drive defensively.

We all complain about the reckless drivers. Speeders, dangerous and illegal passing, running stop signs and red lights and pulling out in front of other drivers are all things we witness daily on our Valley roads. I've often wondered why the drivers here are so much worse than in other areas where I have lived. I think I have at least a partial answer.

I was in a serious automobile accident this past March. A young man pulled out in front of me going the opposite direction and we collided. Both cars were totaled and I'm still recovering from what I have heard termed an "exploded" left ankle. The police officers investigating the scene cited the young man for causing the accident.

For whatever reason, the young man decided to challenge the citation. I attended the hearing. The police officer who issued the citation described for the magistrate what the physical evidence showed - that the young man was clearly responsible for causing the accident. I filled in a few details when asked for my perspective. The young man never spoke. The magistrate dismissed the ticket.

Surprised? I was! It seems the magistrate got hung up on the difference between the verb "colliding" and the noun "collision" as they referred to an accident in two different statutes that could have been used for citing this young driver.

The magistrate "lectured" the officer about the proper interpretation of the statutes. This officer has years of traffic enforcement experience and has attended training in traffic collision investigations, something I would bet the magistrate has never done.

After stating that the young driver was guilty of at least two other citable infractions and displayed poor judgment in his driving decisions, the magistrate dismissed the citation, saying it had been written using the wrong statute.

The young man left the courtroom smiling. To this day, he has not admitted he pulled out in front of me, leaving me no room to move or time to stop. I heard him tell someone on his way into the courthouse that I had hit him.

His father's insurance company has accepted full liability for paying all costs associated with the accident. That includes two totaled vehicles and something like $45,000 in medical bills for my injuries.

If you are familiar with insurance companies, you know they do not accept liability for their customers' actions unless the evidence is overwhelmingly against them.

Here's an example of a reckless driving action causing serious and significant damage. Is the driver held accountable for his actions by the judicial system? No! We have a magistrate more concerned with semantics and the letter of the law than with the reality of who caused the accident and how justice can best be served.

That young man walked out of the courtroom with the realization that he got away with something. The system has given him a free pass for causing major injury, pain and significant property loss. I hope he doesn't kill somebody the next time he causes an accident.

Our justice system apparently is no longer concerned with the idea of punishing the wrongdoers. Court decisions no longer reflect justice but rather, which side played the game better. The judicial system reflects our societal values by acting as if there are no consequences for actions and that an individual is not responsible for the consequences of his own actions.

The courts are more concerned with protecting the rights of the accused than dispensing justice for the victims.

Even when a traffic citation is upheld, the consequences are minimal for the wrongdoer. This case also was about a vehicle collision with resulting damage. The magistrate told the cited person if they would attend traffic school and show proof to the court within 90 days, he would dismiss the citation.

Are you wondering why your automobile insurance rates are going up? The courts are not holding drivers responsible for their actions, are not punishing them when they are clearly at fault, and are passing the burden for the financial coverage of property loss and medical services to the insurance companies rather than forcing the person causing the injury to bear part of the financial cost.

Howard Delo writes a column for the Outdoor page of the Frontiersman.