My... My understanding was that you can totally have this be treated as criminal but that most families don't want to press charges? Because, well, all of it sucks.
If you charge the engineers criminally, the result is that they won't cooperate with investigations, and will do their best to cover things up.
With "no fault" investigations, the engineers work with the investigators to identify and fix the problems. The result is a lot better than the adversarial system.
That's right, we're talking about someone dying. Is it better to have the problem fixed, or better to get revenge? In aviation, for example, some mechanics in Chicago were putting jet engines on using the wrong procedure. This resulted in a crack in the engine mount, the engine fell off during takeoff, resulting in a fiery crash where everyone died.
Everyone cooperated with the investigation. The mechanics were not criminally charged. The procedures were changed so it wouldn't happen again.
Under your proposal, the shop would have had every incentive to alter records, deny, obfuscate, and in general impede finding the truth as much as possible. Do you think that would have been better?
I know of no cases where mechanics, engineers, air traffic controllers, regulators or pilots were criminally charged in a fatal accident. The result is we have incredibly safe air travel. I don't know about you, but I'm happy about that result.
This is a great case to read up on. The testimony from experts in this case was top notch.
I believe the criminal charges in the case were related to the degree of deception Toyota engaged in with regards to unintended acceleration in their vehicles.
> The most common problem was drivers hitting the accelerator pedal when they thought they were hitting the brake, which the NHTSA called "pedal misapplication.” Of the 58 cases reported, 18 were dismissed out of hand. Of the remaining 40, 39 of them were found to have no cause; the remainder being an instance of “pedal entrapment.”
So... the NHTSA started an investigation in 2010, and Toyota 'provided to the American public, NHTSA and the United States Congress an inaccurate timeline of events that made it appear as if TOYOTA had learned of the sticky pedal in the United States in “October 2009,”', when "In fact, TOYOTA had begun its investigation of sticky pedal in the United States no later than August 2009, had already reproduced the problem in a U.S. pedal by no later than September 2009, and had taken active steps in the months following that testing to hide the problem from NHTSA and the public."
But the NHTSA's 10-month investigation beginning in 2010 when Toyota had already informed them of the sticky pedals came to the conclusion that zero of the reported cases of unintended acceleration involved sticky pedals.
That's a case for lying to the government, and we see a judgment against Toyota for lying to the government. How is it a case for unintended acceleration?
My... My understanding was that you can totally have this be treated as criminal but that most families don't want to press charges? Because, well, all of it sucks.