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View Full Version : Tennessee "Due Care" law

HenryA
06-21-2011, 06:35 PM
A step in the right direction:

A new state law that will levy penalties for failure to "exercise due care" while driving a motor vehicle goes into effect July 1. According to the bill's sponsor, the law also makes it easier for those injured, or the survivors of those killed, to prevail in civil lawsuits by "making it clear that the law requires people in a car to exercise proper driving restraint around people on a bicycle and pedestrians."

http://www.murfreesboropost.com/sorry-i-didn-t-see-you-is-no-longer-a-legal-excuse-cms-27606

and here:

http://www.bikewalktn.org/Legis1.html
Ahneida Ride
06-21-2011, 07:21 PM
it is a reflection of society when we completed to legislate common sense.
JeffS
06-21-2011, 07:26 PM
I see these hand-slap laws as a negative thing. It allows DA's to let people off with nothing.

Afterall, it's only after a serious accident that someone would be charged - in which case, there is almost always an existing law to handle it.
gone
06-21-2011, 08:08 PM
I see these hand-slap laws as a negative thing. It allows DA's to let people off with nothing.

Afterall, it's only after a serious accident that someone would be charged - in which case, there is almost always an existing law to handle it.
Actually not. There have been a number of cases involving both motorcycles and bicycles where a motorist hits someone and kills them and the most they can legally be charged with is "failure to yield" with the resulting $35 fine. I know the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) has been campaigning for years to get the state laws changed. I've not been an AMA member for a while but this is perhaps a result of their efforts.
HenryA
06-21-2011, 08:24 PM
The harshest result of this change will be the tort action that will almost certainly follow a conviction under the new law.
rustychisel
06-21-2011, 08:49 PM
The harshest result of this change will be the tort action that will almost certainly follow a conviction under the new law.

Might be a good thing. Is this a step on the path to a European model of 'strict liability'? If so, bring it on, wish they'd do so here.