Speeding car hits skateboarder. Skateboarder is fined, driver is let off scott free

[Electrify]

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_8761.aspx

Whole thing caught on video so you can judge for yourself who is to blame. IMO the driver should have at least been charged with reckless driving, as any responsible driver should have been able to avoid this accident.

Hopefully a civil judge will award damages to the kid though.

[camjoe87]

Meh, the only real question I have is; Why the hell would you skateboard down the middle of the street into on-coming traffic in the first place?

Then again, how fast was the car going? Was the driver looking down? A lot of things could've happened. Not sure if the driver should get off completely scott-free.

[Anti Flag]

Meh, the only real question I have is; Why the hell would you skateboard down the middle of the street into on-coming traffic in the first place?

Then again, how fast was the car going? Was the driver looking down? A lot of things could've happened. Not sure if the driver should get off completely scott-free.

according to residents, it's a neighborhood street that almost always has children on it, and agree with the kid, they want speed bumps installed or even a total ban of cars on the road.

[camjoe87]

Well, I'm not sure how they could ban cars on that road. They put a street up there for a reason, might as well use it for what it was made for.

Speed bumps sound like a good idea though.

[MooCowzRock]

Yeah, the skateboarder doesnt deserve any compensations because he was a fucking idiot for skating in the middle of the road, but the driver should get a ticket at LEAST, because IF there are stupid skaters in the middle of the road, you should be more cautious and slow down...it could have been a little kid chasing after a ball, you still need to be cautious...

[BooRadley]

Agree with the consensus. Skaters should watch out for traffic. Traffic should watch out for pedestrians.

One thing I kind of think is funny, is they want to put speed bumps in. They'll start skating the speed bumps, then. I know I would. They're good for getting air off of.

[-MrSaprano-]

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_8761.aspx

Whole thing caught on video so you can judge for yourself who is to blame. IMO the driver should have at least been charged with reckless driving, as any responsible driver should have been able to avoid this accident.

Hopefully a civil judge will award damages to the kid though.

From personal experiance "Skater Boys" have bad attitudes....not all of them.... so meh.... your on the road... you get hit... your own damn fault.

[Cousin Eddie]

I feel no sympathy for someone doing so foolish a thing like skateboarding in the middle of a street.

[-MrSaprano-]

I feel no sympathy for someone doing so foolish a thing like skateboarding in the middle of a street.

exactly... what he said.....

[OPP]

IMO the driver should have at least been charged with reckless driving, as any responsible driver should have been able to avoid this accident.

Hopefully a civil judge will award damages to the kid though.

Reckless driving? From the video I couldn't tell if the car was speeding or not, nor was the driver driving recklessly. I fail to comprehend how you came up with reckless driving.


as any responsible driver should have been able to avoid this accident.

So if you hit a deer on the highway after it bolts out like a bat out of hell, you should be charged with reckless driving? Given the fact that you are a responsible driver, you should have avoided this accident.


The kid should not have been skating on the road period. It's where cars and motorized vehicles are driving. Not skateboards.

[Face Plant]

I just seen this on CityTv news and they said the driver was not speeding so why it would be reckless driving I don't know.

Its near Kensington Market so its not exactly a quiet residential street and he shouldn't have been skateboarding in the middle of the street. The boarder is lucky its wasn't a cab or he'd be dead.

[Master. kirby]

I hate skater kids, I really do, I'm very glad he got a ticket and the car didn't, did he damage the car? i'm pretty sure a car hitting a 100-140lb object at about 15-30mph should have caused some damage to the car, why is this little bastard not paying for that?

[Devastation]

Oh great, now they're gonna start skateboarding on the sidewalk again.

[Tazer]

Okay, I am a cop, and I know 3 things.

1.) People will lie to get out of trouble
2.) When people are wrong, they will try to reduce blame as much as possible.
3.) In a traffic accident, the absence of tread indicated the driver did not try to brake.

Three things that have helped me decide a few things.

1.) The Skateboarder is an idiot, because he is skatboarding in the streets.
2.) The City is fucking retarded because they issued a statement saying the skate parks opened up in the spring (next month.) What do the die hard skaters do without them? Skate in the streets. So the kid had a RIGHT to skate in the street, because the city does not have a viable alternative for him now.
3.) The driver is PARTIALLY at fault, because let's face it, by OPP's logic, even when we hit a deer, there are treadmarks where you slammed on the brakes. You didn't smash into the deer and slam on the gas, it just doesn't work out like that.

So now, with all of this in mind, Reckless Driving is NOT what I would go with, Mind you, I have NOT Seen the Video, BUT My first glimpse of a scene would be Driver at fault. Reading all of this, I would say, Unsafe Driving, due to Inattention.

[Burningnun]

You're a marine AND a cop?

Nice.

On the subject, my driving instructor has often told me that accidents usually happen when two people make mistakes. In this case, the initial idiocy of the kid and the driver for whatever reason being unable to stop. That doesn't mean he's driving recklessly, or even that he should be fined or pay damages. The kid was obviously the primary cause, but in that sort of neigbourhood you don't need to be speeding to be going too fast.

[fudgebucket]

I don't think the car was doing anything reckless. That kid was skating in the middle of what looked like a busy road. Thats a really stupid idea. However i wouldn't fine the kid, as he did get smashed by a car, which is punishment in itself.

[Master. kirby]

Okay, I am a cop, and I know 3 things.


2.) The City is fucking retarded because they issued a statement saying the skate parks opened up in the spring (next month.) What do the die hard skaters do without them? Skate in the streets. So the kid had a RIGHT to skate in the street, because the city does not have a viable alternative for him now.


just because there is no "viable alternative" does not make a violation of the law any less of a violation, with that logic you could say if there isn't a taxie service from a bar to your house you have the RIGHT to drive home drunk because there isn't a "viable alternative", now your gona say "don't drink at all" which will be the same as not skateing at all, "drink at home or somewhere you won't put yourself or others in danger", which is the same as saying just skate in your driveway or backyard.

why didn't the car get a ticket? because the driver did not violate the law, also by your logic we shouldn't give out dwi's or dui's if they person hits a tree because getting in an accident like that is "enough punishment" wouldn't ya think?

the kid got fined because he violated a law which prohibits skateing in streets, therefore he got fined for breaking such law.
It is just, and moreso because we have one less faggot ass skater punk thinking hes the shit and can get away with that sort of stuff.

[whocares]

Yeah, the skateboarder doesnt deserve any compensations because he was a fucking idiot for skating in the middle of the road, but the driver should get a ticket at LEAST, because IF there are stupid skaters in the middle of the road, you should be more cautious and slow down...it could have been a little kid chasing after a ball, you still need to be cautious...

If that's the case then it's the kid's fault... I know, sounds cruel and shit... but hey, if suddenly a kid pops up in front of a car... and gets hit... I wouldn't blame the driver... unless he passed the speed limit...

[Kory The Baker]

Okay, I am a cop, and I know 3 things.

1.) People will lie to get out of trouble
2.) When people are wrong, they will try to reduce blame as much as possible.
3.) In a traffic accident, the absence of tread indicated the driver did not try to brake.

Three things that have helped me decide a few things.

1.) The Skateboarder is an idiot, because he is skatboarding in the streets.
2.) The City is fucking retarded because they issued a statement saying the skate parks opened up in the spring (next month.) What do the die hard skaters do without them? Skate in the streets. So the kid had a RIGHT to skate in the street, because the city does not have a viable alternative for him now.
3.) The driver is PARTIALLY at fault, because let's face it, by OPP's logic, even when we hit a deer, there are treadmarks where you slammed on the brakes. You didn't smash into the deer and slam on the gas, it just doesn't work out like that.

So now, with all of this in mind, Reckless Driving is NOT what I would go with, Mind you, I have NOT Seen the Video, BUT My first glimpse of a scene would be Driver at fault. Reading all of this, I would say, Unsafe Driving, due to Inattention.

So lets say i love shooting..and theres no shooting range..does that mean its ok for me to shoot people and cops becouse theres no alternative for me now?

Bull shit if theres no skate park then tough shit. The skater was looking right at the car. It looked like he tried to get to the side of the road but didnt make it in time. The driver probebly though the skater would move to the side in time also so he dident bother stopping. Roads are for cars not skateboards. It as easy as that. The skater had no buiessness being on the road.

Now i dont know if the driver was speeding he looked like he wasnt to me but i dont know. If he was speeding then its a different story.

[appleb]

If you're going to skateboard down the middle of the street, you should at least be smart enough to make sure the road is clear ahead of you.

The skateboarder is at fault imo, and should pay for any damages to the car.

[kevinsmith]

That car driver was SO at fault. I mean, comeon, no one else drives on the road apparently, what was he thinking, driving on a road like a car belongs there. It's obvious that the road is meant for walking and skating, it's not a place for cars....


Yes, folks, this was sarcasm.
Considering that the cops will cite whomever is at fault, I see no motive not to cite the driver if he did do something wrong, I have to say this kid is bitching just to cover his ass so he's not at fault. I remember last year, my father-in-law and I were riding quads out in the desert. As we were heading off on one trail, some kid, about 16, hauls ass up and cuts me off and I had to slow down to keep from eating the rocks he was spraying. Then after they crest the first hill, he passes my father in law. Two hills later, he came flying back the other direction and smacked right into my father-in-law. The dumbass kid knew we were heading that direction, there was only one way we could go, and he just passed us three minutes before coming that direction. He told his stepfather that my father-in-law was driving too fast. Let's see which is more likely, he was hauling ass, in a big ass Polaris like this (http://www.greenemountain.net/images/Polaris%20Model%203%20Fender%20Cover%20small.jpg) one, or he was hauling ass in a quad like this (http://www.dbdmurals.com/kids/kids_med/quads1.jpg).

[Tazer]

You have to look at both sides of the picture. Some of you have a negative thought on the skateboarder. Okay, some of you have a negative thought of the driver. Okay. NOW! Let's explain a few things.

1.) By the logic I posted before, Kirby explains that a DUI should not be a DUI if a Taxi Service is not provided. Okay, well let's look at this a bit deeper. Skateboarding cannot be done in some backyards. I have seen some of the neighborhoods, and looked at their backyards, and it's like living in a tuna can, your back yard IS the street practically. Same as a driveway, some places don't have a driveway. I am saying Possibly (and I was not a responding officer so I wouldn't know) the kid didn't have anywhere else to skateboard. And if the State doesn't want people skateboarding in the streets, then they need to keep parks open so they have other means. But of course, you'll argue the DUI point. Well, tad bit different in this case. We are talking locations NOT traveling. You say, buy the logic I provided, a DUI should not be charged if there isn't a taxi service. What about a Designated Driver? How about "Man, I'm too drunk, can you come pick me up." Simple things that can be solved with a simple phone call. Can you solve an official, sanctioned location with a phone call? Didn't think so. The skateboarder may have had no where else to go to skate. As far as the drunk driver part, ANYONE, and I mean ANYONE can get someone to drive them home if they are too drunk. Friends, Family, Work Acquaintances, SOMEONE will offer you a ride home. More often than not, I (On duty) will give cooperative drunks a ride home when they tell me that they can't drive.

NEXT is Kory. you love shooting, but there is no shooting range for you to go shoot at. Okay, fine, by my logic, you can go somewhere and shoot. Perhaps HUNTING! Yeah, I know, within a few hundred miles of almost ANYWHERE there are two things, a gun range and a place to hunt. Maybe the season you like isn't in, tough shit. We're talking about skateboarding, not murder.

I am simply pointing out the obvious, and when did I ever take ANY of the blame of of the kid. I would have waited for him to get to the hospital and cited him right there, THEN his parents, and THEN his friends for allowing him to skate in the street, called "RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT." The driver, "INATTENTIVE DRIVING." but once again, was I on scene? No, but just looking at the evidence I have, the driver was at the VERY least inattentive for failing to use due caution when driving in a residential area.

Had the skateboarder been a 3 year old kid chasing a ball, you would have VERY different opinions on the matter, I promise you this one, saying things like "The parents should have been watching him," or "The driver should have been more careful. He was in a residential area, he should have slowed down even more." So why does the fact that he was on a skateboard change blame? Because a bias has been formed against the skateboarder's stupidity. Why change the rules just because it's a fad that you don't like. I'll even raise the stakes a bit for you, imagine that you were related to the skateboarder. Wouldn't you want some kind of justice, you'd blame the driver all day long. Atleast I have enough balls to blame both parties, just like it should be. The Skateboarder should be happy he isn't dead for being an idiot, and the Driver should be happy that I wasn't a responding officer, because he'd be standing in front of a judge with a citation to go with it.

Feel free to blame the skateboarder, but the fact remains the Driver isn't 100% innocent either, and the video verifies it. Listen to see if you can hear the brakes, betcha you don't which is all the evidence ANYONE needs to convict a driver in this case of Inattentive Driving. End of Story.

[jn_powell]

Same as a driveway, some places don't have a driveway. I am saying Possibly (and I was not a responding officer so I wouldn't know) the kid didn't have anywhere else to skateboard. And if the State doesn't want people skateboarding in the streets, then they need to keep parks open so they have other means.
Streets are paid for by tax dollars and maintained with tax dollars for the purpose of motor vehicle transportation. They are not for recreation. My money is not going to provide some kid a place to ride his skateboard.
The skateboarder may have had no where else to go to skate.
Tough shit.

[Lachrymose]

Tough shit.


Exactly. Since when does a person have a right to skateboard?

[jn_powell]

Exactly. Since when does a person have a right to skateboard?
Oh they do have a right to skateboard. And the article has a whole list of places in the Toronto area where they can do just that instead of in the street. If they are closed...tough.

Toronto

Cummer Park
(Leslie & Finch)
Daylight hours only, not supervised.

Greenwood Skatepark
(Greenwood & Dundas)
Daylight hours only. Not supervised.

Stan Wadlow Skatepark
(Woodbine & Cosburn)
Dawn to dusk. Not supervised.

Port Union Skatepark
(5450 Lawrence Ave. E. right behind the Port Union Recreation Centre)

Vanderhoof Skatepark
(Eglinton and Leslie)


Markham Skatepark
(McCowan & Bullock Drive)
Open dawn till dark, no lights.

Oakville
Shell Park
(Lakeshore west of Bronte Road)
Open dawn to dusk including the winter. Not supervised.

Mississauga Skatepark
705 Matheson Blvd. E. on the east side of Iceland Arena.
Open Sunrise to 11pm


Other Mississauga Parks
Clarkson Community Centre -2475 Truscott Drive
Churchill Meadows - 3715 Thomas Street
Huron Park - 830 Paisley Blvd W.
Malton Arena - 3430 Derry Road East
Port Credit Memorial Park - 22 Stavebank Rd. S.

[JordanSauce]

So if you hit a deer on the highway after it bolts out like a bat out of hell, you should be charged with reckless driving? Given the fact that you are a responsible driver, you should have avoided this accident.



Im not giving the skater an excuse, or blaming the driver, but that was a really poor analogy. When you hit a deer its usually crossing the road, the skater was skating down the road, any non blind person should be able to see a person in the middle of the road within ample stopping distance.
EDIT: Also this isnt a highway, it is a residential street crowded with people around it, less speed = less time it takes to stop.

[Kenyan]

yea but wtf? that list of skateparks doesnt help if the snow is covering them. Also in lots of places skateboards aren't technically allowed on the sidewalk, so that leaves the road. But my main thing is the fucking driver almost hit that first kid, who was also skateboarding on the road, but when he narrowly missed getting hit he was walking across the street, and the fucking driver didnt slow down after that near miss. As far as i know, reckless driving doesnt nessacraly mean speeding, that driver should have been going way slow because of all the hazards on the road, not including the skateboarders. What would have happened if it would have been a kid playing soccer or baseball on the street? If they had gotten hit, and suffered the same level of injuries as the skater, that driver would be in sooo much shit. It would be highly doubtful that the cops would right the kids tickets for playing in the street.

[jn_powell]

yea but wtf? that list of skateparks doesnt help if the snow is covering them.
I took the pleasure of googling "skateparks toronto" and found several that are indoors and open year round specifically for that reason. There is no excuse there.
Also in lots of places skateboards aren't technically allowed on the sidewalk, so that leaves the road.
My guess would be they are not allowed on the sidewalks in most places where they are not allowed on the road. That just makes sense. Again, tough. Our tax dollars do not go to provide a place for kids to ride a piece of wood or fiberglass with wheels, they go to provide a safe surface for motor vehicles to travel.
But my main thing is the fucking driver almost hit that first kid, who was also skateboarding on the road, but when he narrowly missed getting hit he was walking across the street, and the fucking driver didnt slow down after that near miss. As far as i know, reckless driving doesnt nessacraly mean speeding, that driver should have been going way slow because of all the hazards on the road, not including the skateboarders. What would have happened if it would have been a kid playing soccer or baseball on the street? If they had gotten hit, and suffered the same level of injuries as the skater, that driver would be in sooo much shit.
That is probably true. There is no doubt, in my mind, that the driver does share some blame for this. If he had not nearly hit the first kid before ultimately hitting the other without even slowing down, I may have thought differently. It looks like he was never even watching the road.
It would be highly doubtful that the cops would right the kids tickets for playing in the street.
Unless playing in the street is illegal in Toronto you are probably right. Skateboarding in the street, however, is illegal and the kid was rightfully written a ticket for it.

[GlutSow]

Why can a person ride a bike around in the road, but not a skateboard? We have the same problem in my town. When I was young, we always wanted a cool spot to skate, but we never and still don't have a skatepark. So we figured we could use the basketball court under a pavilion that doubles as a skate rink in the winter. Nope, can't do that because the basketball players want to play, even though there is another court not even 300 yards away.

So we find a decent spot at the bowling alley with a massive parking lot, but get hassled non-stop. Then we move to a parking lot behind a music store and get bitched at by the neighbors 150 yards on the other side of a 10 foot fence.

So everyone starts skating at the college, and the campus cops hate skaters so getting kicked out is a regular thing. Then we goto the park and skate on the side road that runs along it and get complaints there too.

Eventually everyone just decided fuck it and we will ride some side streets and sidewalks and shit. Thats when skateboarding was banned on about 90% of the roads in our town. We still do not have a skatepark, and the one they promised to build is a small ass slab of broken concrete with home-made jumps.

And for the record, we didn't just hang out and do drugs, we weren't yelling all the time, and we didn't skate at night. Why the fuck are people so biased toward skaters? I don't even skate anymore but I think its bullshit how everyone has this preconceived notion that skaters are going to cause trouble and cause harm to everything.

In reality, its the kids who hang around the skaters and DON'T skate who cause the trouble. We are keeping ourselves busy, and they are bored so they start doing dumb shit.

[Kenyan]

^^^ i see your point. some of the people that kick you out might be genuine assholes. And they think the skateboarders are scaring away customers( even across the parking lot)

One main reason is liabilty, if someone gets injured(sp?) on their property they(business owners) are fucked. Thats why they de-ice the sidewalks in the winter, sure for convience, but more so because this way if someone would fall and try to sue them, the owner could say, hey, not my fault i put de-icer on.

Same kinda thing for skateboarding.

[Tazer]

powell, by your logic, quit using the crosswalk then, because it's on the road where drivers operate their cars. I can play this game too.

And as a Military Police Officer, I learned the California Vehicle Code, and in there, there is a statue for "Failure to use due caution for pedestrians" The way I see it, the person was a pedestrian. Did ANYONE take the blame off the kid for being stupid? I haven't seen it yet, except for the Opening Post, and a few others. We're not arguing that the kid was a retard and should have gotten fined. But you fine the driver too, and as I said, Inattentiove Driving is better than Reckless Driving, and in which case, had I been the responding Officer, I would have cited both! It's funny to see just how many people want to let the driver get away, because the kids shouldn't have been in the street. The driver SHOULD HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION! Something everyone fails to accept. And hell, if you're out there driving, not looking for wierd shit, like "Oh, no dumbass is going to run out in the road." Then you deserve to be cited too, because I don't want your ass on the road next to me when Little Bunny Fufu runs out and you slam into my car and I somehow get cited for your stupidity! But you didn't do anything wrong, you swerved to avoid Mr Bunny, but you caused a Traffic Accident! But what would I know, I am only a Military Police Officer, I don't have a clue since I've done this for 3 years. 2 of those years in TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT! Wow, strange thing huh?

[jn_powell]

powell, by your logic, quit using the crosswalk then, because it's on the road where drivers operate their cars. I can play this game too.
You don't know very much about logic apparently. The crosswalk is specifically designated for pedestrians to cross the road. There are even signals specifically for pedestrians to signal when they can and cannot cross. If they break those rules they can be cited for jaywalking. Once again, crossing the street at a crosswalk when the signal gives the ok IS NOT ILLEGAL! As soon as they have a section of the street dedicated to skateboarders your "example" will make sense.

And as a Military Police Officer, I learned the California Vehicle Code, and in there, there is a statue for "Failure to use due caution for pedestrians" The way I see it, the person was a pedestrian. Did ANYONE take the blame off the kid for being stupid? I haven't seen it yet, except for the Opening Post, and a few others. We're not arguing that the kid was a retard and should have gotten fined. But you fine the driver too, and as I said, Inattentiove Driving is better than Reckless Driving, and in which case, had I been the responding Officer, I would have cited both! It's funny to see just how many people want to let the driver get away, because the kids shouldn't have been in the street. The driver SHOULD HAVE BEEN PAYING ATTENTION! Something everyone fails to accept. And hell, if you're out there driving, not looking for wierd shit, like "Oh, no dumbass is going to run out in the road." Then you deserve to be cited too, because I don't want your ass on the road next to me when Little Bunny Fufu runs out and you slam into my car and I somehow get cited for your stupidity! But you didn't do anything wrong, you swerved to avoid Mr Bunny, but you caused a Traffic Accident! But what would I know, I am only a Military Police Officer, I don't have a clue since I've done this for 3 years. 2 of those years in TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT! Wow, strange thing huh?
First off, why don't you tell us all what you do for a living...I don't think we know yet.:rolleyes: Secondly, try reading my very last post. I specifically said that I think the driver shares the blame.
There is no doubt, in my mind, that the driver does share some blame for this. If he had not nearly hit the first kid before ultimately hitting the other without even slowing down, I may have thought differently. It looks like he was never even watching the road.

[Tazer]

I didn't see what you wrote last, I actually thought that was part of another person's post. Wow, now I feel like an idiot. So if everyone is in agreeance, why are we still arguing the topic? Seems like we can agree, both parties are at fault, and nothing else needs to be said then.

[demoniclizard]

3.) In a traffic accident, the absence of tread indicated the driver did not try to brake.

anti-lock brakes?

[OPP]

Tazer, where are you a MP? Because your views on traffic related accidents differ than mine.

[njx]

Pedestrians always have the right of way do they not ? People are on streets all the time, and you don't see cars just keep driving and hit them. Thats ridiculous. What if it were a kid, guaranteed the car could and would of stopped.

[Lachrymose]

Pedestrians always have the right of way do they not ?

Only when crossing the street at intersections, at least in Maryland. Even then, if the intersection has pedestrian control signals (WALK/DON'T WALK signs), they must obey those signals.

[18C]

Whatta dumbass.

"I was skating in the street and a car hit me." *sob story*