• 3 Posts
  • 21 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: July 22nd, 2023
  • mrsemi@lemmy.worldtoComic Strips@lemmy.world•IntrusiveEnglish
    8126·
    2 months ago

    Sure, fuck up some innocent trucker’s day, and possibly take his life too.

    Oh hey, did you know that being involved in an accident while holding a commercial driver’s license is one of the few times that a US Citizen has no presumption of innocence in the criminal justice system?

    The bar that must be cleared is not “are you at fault” but instead “could you have done anything to prevent this”

    So you say another driver crossed the median and plowed into you, head on? Well, if you happen to be driving a car and were in your own lane, you’re completely in the clear.

    If you were driving a truck, WELL!

    Does anybody think you maybe had enough time to see it coming and swerve to avoid it?

    Hm, did you really spend enough time inspecting your truck that morning? If you had taken 20 minutes instead of 15 to kick your tires and check your fluids and lights, you know you wouldn’t have been there when that car lost control…

    In fact, let’s pull up your entire logbook history and see if we can find any indication that you’ve never once in your life made a single mistake. Shows a tendency toward carelessness, that does.

    Yeah, we think you could have done better. Enjoy your civil and criminal penalties for something you had absolutely no control over.

    Think about that when you see those giant “INJURED BY A TRUCK? CALL OUR LAW FIRM!” Billboards all over every metro area.

    Oh you think that’s bullshit?

    I was legally parked along the curb in front of a warehouse, waiting in line to check in. A guy riding a motorcycle at well over twice the speed limit came around the curve, lost control and hit the back of my trailer.

    He sued ME. His lawyer argued that I should have known better than to park on that part of the curb where sight would be limited by the curve for other traffic on the road.

    Rather than fight it in court, my insurance just settled with him.

  • mrsemi@lemmy.worldtoNot The Onion@lemmy.world•Waffle House bans Florida candidate for governor, he saysEnglish
    141·
    2 months ago

    There’s different types of trespass.

    When people say “criminal trespass” as a verb, it is referencing a specific subset of trespass, that being you have been specifically told not to enter or to leave, as you stated.

    This generally applies to businesses or other places where you would expect to be allowed by default.

    Just entering someone’s private property without explicit permission, like cutting across their yard while on a walk, is also trespass, even if you have not been specifically told not to. Generally a second degree misdemeanor.

    Entering a dwelling without explicit permission, even without breaking and entering, is a different kind of trespass that is generally a first degree misdemeanor.

    Using “criminal trespass” as a verb is common for the type where you have been specifically singled out and warned off, most often by a business, and I personally feel it’s a stupid use of language but it is how people talk.