Dave, I respect you for posting your thoughts on this in a coherent manner, you are asking some difficult questions.
I do have a few issues though: One deals with the whole texting/driving thing. I get that this is a new development and we need to really issue a strong educational program for the public. It's pretty strong where I live in Houston already. But here is the thing, it doesn't matter. Do we also need a educational program about the dangers of reading a book, paper, magazine while driving? Cause I see it regularly on I-45 during my work commute. There are a plethora of things that you do NOT do while driving. If you are doing something while driving that is taking your awareness away from the task at hand then you are breaking the law. If because of that you get in a accident and kill someone you need to go to jail, which brings me to the second issue concerning prison.
Prison is about more than a benefit to society, it is also about punishment. Now this isn't something that some people like but it has been an inherent part of the system for eons. Rehabilitation is part of the justice system, but so is retribution.
The issue with retribution in the justice system is that it does a disservice to rehabilitation and nobody benefits from it.
To your point about people doing other dangerous things while driving, yes we do need educational programs about it. The state of driver's education in America is abysmal, yet we still hold people to a very high standard for responsible driving. Where is the sense in that?
I'm a construction manager so I turn to construction safety a lot for analogies. Operators have to be certified and licensed to operate different types of heavy machinery, and their employers are responsible for ensuring that they're properly licensed for what they're doing. If an operator
isn't certified for what they're doing and they do something unsafe resulting in a fatality, who do you think will be held responsible? The operator? The employer? Really it's both, but the bulk of the responsibility lies on the employer for not ensuring a safe working environment and making sure their employees were properly trained.
Now consider licensing for driving in America through that lens and wonder if people are really deserving of the standards we hold them to for liability.
No. Absolutely not.
The dangers of texting while driving has been a national message for almost a decade now (there have been countless billboards, commercials and PSAs, and it is in fact illegal in the state of California).
Nobody can reasonably claim ignorance on the issue. Bruce knew better, and if his negligence is ultimately determined to be what caused the death of that poor woman, then Bruce deserves to be charged.
It's still legal in some states, and in most of the laws (that I'm familiar with), police officers are still allowed to do it--the justification being that they are better trained. What message does that send to people when officers can do it and they can't? That it's wrong? Or just that "if you're good enough it's safe, just don't get caught".
But how do you get people to listen to that? How do you get someone to listen to Bruce Jenner talk about how he killed someone and it was a terrible, avoidable thing?
PSAs. They've been more and more aggressive in doing it but a celebrity face, someone people are familiar with, relating their experiences would be a big benefit.
