Hit and run?

[robedwards99]

Hypothetical scenario that I've just made up coz I'm bored..

You've been out and had a couple of drinks. You decide to drive home coz leaving your car there would be a huge pain in the arse and you're probably ok to drive anyway.

Driving home on a quiet dark back road there is suddenly a big "WHACK!!" Wondering what the hell it was you screech to a halt and jump out of the car.

Looking around you can't see anything lying in the road anywhere and after looking at the front of your car you see there is a smallish dent but not major damage.

Then... in the radiator grill where the dent is you notice a small piece of torn cloth...

There is no one around anywhere. It is a quiet back road that gets maybe a couple of cars per hour through.

What do you do next?

 

[SilentEyz]

Well If I was really so STUPID as to drive after I have been drinking?

Hmm hard to say, I get out and there is nothing obviously around, I would have to look further, up and down the street, off on the sides of the road, because obviously according to the evidence there has to be something around somewhere, I would find it. Couldnt appropriatly evaluate the situation or the damage without knowing exactly what you hit, and/or how bad the damage is until you did. And you can not know what your going to do next until then.

 

[robedwards99]

I know it's impossible to say how you'd react unless you're directly in a situation.. just say how you think you'd react.

Part of the scenario says you don't find anything anywhere when you look apart from the scrap of material in the radiator grill.

What would you do? Go home and keep quiet? Phone the cops from where you are? ???

 

[SilentEyz]

No, thats what I am saying, I would keep looking, spread the distance of where I look, the information you gave suggests Something has to be somewhere.. Things dont always land from where they were dropped, I would keep looking.

It really would be the only option, Can't call the cops, there (as you put it ) is no evidence, Can't just leave, not knowing that I DID hit something, so I would keep looking until I found it.

 

[robedwards99]

But it might of been a deer or a dog or something that was only slightly injured and has run away.
The piece of torn cloth could have been there for ages caught in there from the wind or from a mechaics clothes when he was working on the engine.

 

[SilentEyz]

How you gonna have a piece of clothing or cloth or whatever, stuck in your grill and not know it, You never look at the front of your ride? And so what if it was an animal, I aint just going to leave it out there to suffer and die, I will find what I hit or spend all night looking for it, That is what I would do. I couldn't live with myself if I was to think of doing anything less.

 

[robedwards99]

So you've spent the whole night searching and found nothing apart from what appears to be a large fox burrow.

Do you go home now?

 

[SilentEyz]

I would have to stay and think about it for a while, try and figure it out.

 

[robedwards99]

So... you've been looking around all night.. you're as tired as 'Friends' (the TV show) and pissed right off coz your car is dented and you decide to sit and contemplate....

mmm.. I can't see that being true to life personally.

Try again.

 

[Veronica]

Well.. like silenteyz said.. i wouldnt of driven drunk anyways-

But.. If I saw a torn piece of cloth, I would of looked everywhere for it and called the cops. I would rather go to jail then leave something that could be still alive there to die on its own. Reguardless of animal or human.

In most states veh homicide (depending on circumstances) is a misdemeanor.

 

[Tim]

I'de call my lawyer so he can advise me to shut up and go home, then he can call the police in the morning when I'm sober and the body is cold. Oh, wait... that already happened in Chapaquitic.

No, I'de look and if I didn't find anything, I'de have to call the police to have them help look.

 

[SilentEyz]

So... you've been looking around all night.. you're as tired as 'Friends' (the TV show) and pissed right off coz your car is dented and you decide to sit and contemplate....

mmm.. I can't see that being true to life personally.

Try again.

YOU can't see it being true.. But then you don't know me, and yes that is exactly the type of person I am, and the type of thing I would do, A dent in my car is not going to piss me off, the thought that I might have hit and possibly killed something, would make me ill for ever, I could not just leave not knowing or having a resonable explanation.

 

[Veronica]

:agree

 

[robedwards99]

So SilentEyz... are you still sat in your car wondering what to do??

 

[White2000GT]

I would honestly have to say that most people don't act reasonably when they are drunk, so 9 times out of 10 the person would panic at the sight of the torn cloth and jump back in their car and drive off.

 

[robedwards99]

But you're not really drunk at all. You've only had a couple of drinks. One thing you're right about though is checking the front of your car first!!

There isn't a right or wrong answer to this thread and I won't take anyones opinions to heart because as has been said, none of us know what we would do.

I'm simply interested to hear what you think you'd do and then questioning your reasoning.

 

[White2000GT]

Ah, ok then. If it was only a few drinks then I would have to investigate further. I wouldn't be able to live with that on my conscious... thinking that I may have killed someone. So, if I did find a person I would try to help them by calling an ambulance for them. Then, I would hope that when the cops show up and give me a breathalyzer that I would blow under the limit.

 

[robedwards99]

You don't find anything though. It is pitch black dark, you can't see your hand in front of your face.

Would you call the cops?

 

[White2000GT]

I would still have to say yes. Maybe I would wait about a half hour or so to ensure that my BAC is well below the limit first. But yes, I would still call the cops. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose.

 

[robedwards99]

I would still have to say yes. Maybe I would wait about a half hour or so to ensure that my BAC is well below the limit first. But yes, I would still call the cops. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose.

Would you then lie about the time of the accident in the poice statement due to the 30minutes you spent waiting around?