We need stiff vehicular homicide law
Dozens of Ugandans have perished on Lake Victoria in what, again, has been erroneously referred to in the media as “an accident.”
What you need to know:
- In the UK, where I lived for a year in 1988/89, I learnt that it is only when you deliberately use a motor vehicle to kill someone (for example by running over someone) that you can be charged with murder under Common Law.
- But in the US, virtually all the states have specific vehicular homicide laws. I lived in the State of Oregon for several years in the 1990s and I came to know that the US’ stiff vehicular homicide law was intended to warn all drivers of motor vehicles that they are handling a potentially dangerous weapon.
Dozens of Ugandans have perished on Lake Victoria in what, again, has been erroneously referred to in the media as “an accident.” When you pack more than 100 individuals in a rickety motor boat with a capacity of just 50, the word “murder” – not “accident” - should apply. That way, you should be charged with the crime of vehicular homicide.
Unfortunately, it appears that no such specific law exists in our statutes, perhaps because our criminal justice system loosely resembles the Common Law of Britain, the former colonial power.
In the UK, where I lived for a year in 1988/89, I learnt that it is only when you deliberately use a motor vehicle to kill someone (for example by running over someone) that you can be charged with murder under Common Law.
But in the US, virtually all the states have specific vehicular homicide laws. I lived in the State of Oregon for several years in the 1990s and I came to know that the US’ stiff vehicular homicide law was intended to warn all drivers of motor vehicles that they are handling a potentially dangerous weapon.
Yes, a weapon. Therefore, the drivers there must at all time keep their vehicles in good mechanical condition, obey traffic rules/regulations/signs/speed limits, and be mindful of other road users (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, etc).
Otherwise, they face up to 15 years or more behind bars. We must also see motor vehicles as no less deadly than AK47 assault rifles. It is time we enacted a specifically stiff vehicular homicide law under which all drivers causing these horribly unacceptable deaths on our roads and waterways can either be charged with criminal negligence or murder.
