If you read the Houston Chronicle with any regularity, you’ve seen an alarming number of stories in the last year about people getting hit by cars and killed on Houston freeways.
Even more alarming are the number of cars who hit these people but fail to stop — despite the fact that the fault is almost entirely that of the pedestrian (lots of people trying to run across the freeway at night … it’s not your fault if you hit one of them).
The Chronicle reports that there have been been at least seven such incidents since late July.
The Chronicle article asks, “It is a chilling question: Why don’t some Houston drivers stop after hitting pedestrians?:
A woman from Monterrey, Mexico, died this weekend after, police say, she tumbled from a sport utility vehicle during a scuffle with her fiance on the Southwest Freeway.
After hitting the pavement, she was struck by multiple vehicles and nobody stopped.
The same thing happened a month ago when a fifth-grade boy was hit while trying to cross the Gulf Freeway.
Police still don’t know who hit Traveon Le-Blanc during a rainstorm before school.
When investigators manage to track down drivers involved in hit-and-run accidents, they hear a range of explanations for why the motorists never stopped. Drivers often don’t realize the object they struck was a human. Other times, the drivers are afraid to stop because they’ve been drinking. Regardless, failing to stop and render aid to a crash victim is a potential felony.
“It is not a crime necessarily that you’ve hit somebody, for the most part it is the pedestrians’ fault most of the time,” said Lt. Steve Marino of the Houston Police hit-and-run detail. “The crime comes in when you fail to report it and you leave the scene and don’t render aid.”
Why don’t they stop? I have a few theories:
- They are illegal aliens, and their fear of being caught and deported is greater than their moral sense of decency.
- They are drunk or have been drinking, and their fear of going to jail is greater than their moral sense of decency.
- They have outstanding warrants, and their fear of going to jail is greater than their moral sense of decency.
- They are an uninsured motorists, and their fear of getting a ticket is greater than their moral sense of decency.
- They have something illegal in their car — guns, drugs, a body in the trunk (hey, this is Houston, we’re talking about) — and their fear of getting caught is greater than their moral sense of decency.
Bottom line? I don’t know how on Earth a decent human being can hit another person with their car and not stop.
I don’t know how on Earth a decent human being can hit another person with their car and not stop.
That’s a pretty big assumption in this day and age. What makes you think they are “decent” human beings?
I’d say your list is right on the money.
I’d say the fear is of being sued. Whether you are not culpable or not, someone is still going to make your life miserable. They rationalize that since it was not their fault and someone else stopped (The fiance stopped, didn’t he? Or was he not required to under the law? ) they don’t have to.
Also, I read these stories where a kid darts out into traffic, gets severely injured or killed, driver stops, and an angry mob beats the driver to death.
A friend of mine here in Austin is an avid cyclist: he’s been hit five times (the last time resulting in a broken clavicle). Not once did the car stop.
Fear of being sued is a big one too. My very dear friend back in Dallas was recently beaten half to death outside a Taco Cabana and the corporate lawyers are refusing to turn over security tapes. Disgusting.
Your talking about the people that actually hit that person. On a freeway there is certainly more then one car at all hours. What about the people that saw what happened and do nothing?
I always wondered why the stories of good samaritans got news coverage. It turns out they’re a rarity.