No charges to be filed in the April 26, 2007 Indiana Toll Road crash
Posted on July 15, 2007
Filed Under IN THE NEWS
SOURCE: Chesterton Tribune
Authorities have decided not to charge the driver of the New England Motor Freight truck which plowed into stopped traffic, killing 8, on April 26, 2007, on I-80 in Indiana.
Apparently, the driver was fiddling around with his cellphone charger, and did not notice traffic had slowed until too late. The local prosecutor decided that negligent conduct does not rise to the level of criminal liability.
I have mixed feelings on this. The truck driver is going to feel guilt for the rest of his life, and putting him in jail isn’t going to bring back the dead. Still, 8 people are dead, and they shouldn’t be.
The prosecutor’s reasoning is that the driver made a mistake; that’s not criminal, play on. Had he been drinking, or over hours, then he would have prosecuted. Nevertheless, I would think that if you screwup badly enough (like in this case), you should be held responsible, regardless if you violated no other rules.
I don’t know if I blame the cellphone either. The thing beeped, the battery was low, and the driver made the mistake of trying to charge it while driving. Motor carriers do their best to discourage cellphone use while their drivers are driving, but there are numerous things that will distract you while driving, if you let them, such as the CB, the radio, smoking a cigarette, or drinking a soda. The bottom line is, drivers have to pay attention, and take responsibility for driving safely.
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