Comment by ori_b

Comment by ori_b 3 days ago

24 replies

If you put a brick on the accelerator of a car and hop out, you don't get to say "I wasn't even in the car when it hit the pedestrian".

Shalomboy 3 days ago

This is true for bricks, but it is not true if your dog starts up your car and hits a pedestrian. Collisions caused by non-human drivers are a fascinating edge case for the times we're in.

  • jacquesm 3 days ago

    It is very much true for dogs in that case: (1) it is your dog (2) it is your car (3) it is your responsibility to make sure your car can not be started by your dog (4) the pedestrian has a reasonable expectation that a vehicle that is parked without a person in it has been made safe to the point that it will not suddenly start to move without an operator in it and dogs don't qualify.

    You'd lose that lawsuit in a heartbeat.

    • direwolf20 3 days ago

      what if your car was parked in a normal way that a reasonable person would not expect to be able to be started by a dog, but the dog did several things that no reasonable person would expect and started it anyway?

      • jacquesm 3 days ago

        You can 'what if' this until the cows come home but you are responsible, period.

        I don't know what kind of drivers education you get where you live but where I live and have lived one of the basic bits is that you know how to park and lock your vehicle safely and that includes removing the ignition key (assuming your car has one) and setting the parking brake. You aim the wheels at the kerb (if there is one) when you're on an incline. And if you're in a stick shift you set the gear to neutral (in some countries they will teach you to set the gear to 1st or reverse, for various reasons).

        We also have road worthiness assessments that ensure that all these systems work as advertised. You could let a pack of dogs loose in my car in any external circumstance and they would not be able to move it, though I'd hate to clean up the interior afterwards.

      • thatjoeoverthr 3 days ago

        You're stretching it. It's more like if you train your dog to start the car and accelerate, open the door and turn your back.

        Everything an AI does is downstream of deliberate, albeit imperfect, training.

        You know this, you rig it all up and you let things happen.

  • cess11 3 days ago

    Legally, in a lot of jurisdictions, a dog is just your property. What it does, you did, usually with presumed intent or strict liability.

    • gowld 3 days ago

      What if you planted a bush that attracted a bat that bit a child?

      • Muromec 3 days ago

        What if you have an email in your inbox warning you that 1) this specific bush attracts bats and 2) there were in fact bats seen near you bush and 3) bats were observed almost biting a child before. And you also have "how do I fuck up them kids by planting a bush that attracts bats" in your browser history. It's a spectrum you know.

      • dragonwriter 3 days ago

        Well, if it was a bush known to also attract children, it was on your property, and the child was in fact attracted by it and also on your property, and the presence of the bush created the danger of bat bites, the principal of “attractive nuisance” is in play.

      • cess11 3 days ago

        Would a reasonable person typically consider this an act that risk causing harm to kids?

  • ori_b 3 days ago

    In the USA, at least, it seems pet owners are liable for any harm their pets do.

  • Terr_ 3 days ago

    Being guilty != Being responsible

    They correlate, but we must be careful not to mistake one for the other. The latter is a lower bar.

  • victorbjorklund 3 days ago

    I don’t know where you from but at least in Sweden you have strict liability for anything your dog does

  • [removed] 3 days ago
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