Sleepy driver was pulled over before crash

First,, this now dead moron had a perfect opportunity to live through the night, and chose not to. the deputy escorted him to a location where he could safely sleep, and he still felt it crucial to get out on thd road. Most likely, he fell asleep and crossed the centerline, driving his pickup into the oncoming truck.

However, I see no responsibility on his part for the second death. To me that has to be the fault of the driver who wasn't paying attention, not the driver who died an hour earlier.

 

If I may play devil's advocate here...

Had the man who died first listened to the advice given from the officer, he would've never created the crash/back-up that therefore resulted in the second death.

I view it like the DOT would when a CMV is in a not-at-fault accident, but receives the blame due to a driver's logbook not being current.

 

So, based on this theory, if an accident happens on the south side of the road, and I come into the northbound traffic backup due to gapers an hour or two later, and don't stop in time, my ticket for the accident should be given to the guy who died several hours earlier, and the claim should go onto his insurance policy?

If I hit a car parked on the shoulder of the road, does he get all the blame for parking improperly?

At what point am I responsible for an accident involving the traffic backup from an earlier accident?

 

I was playing devil's advocate. Not seriously debating you.

 

I know you were just debating. But the argument would be like blaming the 9-11 attacks on the pilots of the planes who failed to prevent someone from entering their ####pits, instead of the terrorists.

 

And the same could be said for the trucker who loses his job and maybe even does prison time for a 15 minute mistake on his logbook which resulted from some drunken baboon who crossed the center line and entered the path of said trucker's rig.

I suppose the biggest difference is the laws regarding record's of duty.

However, what about drunk driving laws?

It's a vicious circle, I tell ya.