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by sandworm 4107 days ago
That's a bit of an exaggeration. Pedestrians are not automatically to blame in every case. Today we have rules governing the movements of both pedestrians and cars. There is no default winner. Pedestrians win on crosswalks and such, but not in the middle of highways. And even there the car is no clear winner. For instance, if both driver and pedestrian have earbuds in, society today would say the driver is the more reckless. In fact most jurisdictions specifically forbid headphones on drivers. None that I know of forbid them of pedestrians.

And 500$ is certainly not the maximum punishment. Vehicular homicide, negligence causing death, reckless endangerment, DUI ... even basic speeding tickets in many jurisdictions are far higher than 500$.
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gonvaled 4107 days ago
Wherever the blame may be, and whatever the punishments are, the fact is that the quote was more prescient than inaccurate: we should have legislated better in the early days of the automobile. Now it is too late (or will take too long for changes to take effect): the automobiles are ruling the roads, and specially the cities, from streets to parking lots. Urban planning is done (in most cases) with the goal of facilitating car circulation - pedestrians and bicycles are an afterthought, when at all.
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RyanMcGreal 4107 days ago
Speaking for my jurisdication (Ontario), it is theoretically possible to find a driver guilty of careless or reckless driving and a penalty more severe than $500. In practice, it is extremely rare to see a serious charge, let alone a conviction, even when a driver strikes a pedestrian crossing legally in a crosswalk.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2011/05/18/is_a_persons_life...

Here are some quick examples I found:

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2011/05/12/driver_fined_50...

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2011/05/13/toronto_woman_f...

http://metronews.ca/news/halifax/449137/man-34-dies-after-be...

And it's not just Ontario:

http://gothamist.com/2011/07/14/unlicensed_dump_truck_driver...

http://gothamist.com/2014/04/09/drunk_driver_who_killed_broo...

http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/11/11/unlicensed-driver-who-...

Et cetera, ad nauseam.

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