She, who survived, was sentenced to two years of probation. But that's only half of the story.
The other half of the story is that none of the dead wore any seatbelts, and that experts stated that seatbelts would have saved everyone's lives.
Also, the wife of the dead man and mother to his children was left behind, possibly with other children, we don't know that.
What shocks me about this: The carelessness of a man, and probably bad parenthood, lead to this disaster. I can understand if one person in the car forgets the seatbelt. I mean, it can happen to any parent that they don't check on their children wearing the belts. But all of them at the same time, including the father? That's carelessness.
And thus, he made his wife a widow. And took her children away from her. How fitting.
To be honest, this event calls for a Darwin Award. Think about it:
- Reproduction: He erased himself (and his offspring) from the genetic pool. Check.
- Excellence: Astounding misapplication of judgement. He didn't put the seatbelt on and didn't care about his daughters' lives either. Fantastic misjudgement indeed.
- Self-Selection: Cause of one's own demise... well, this one is debatable. But driving on a highway without a seatbelt qualifies in my opinion.
- Maturity: Definitely the case. He was old enough to know that seatbelts are important.
- Veracity: The event must be true. I guess it is.
So, although he did not cause the accident, it was his actions (or lack thereof), that resulted in the deaths. To me, this is a Darwin Award winner.
I believe it is a fitting punishment for all involved. The woman who drove the wrong way, instead of just stopping her car, got what she deserved. It may sound harsh, but you can't tell me that anyone can be so stupid. To clarify things, she was driving for quite some time, other cars were already honking and making visual signs that she was on the wrong side of the track. Now she has to live with the consequences.
And the man and his daughters? Well, death was the only option. I can't get over the fact that they didn't wear seatbelts. On a German highway, it is normal to drive at a speed of between 90 and 180 kilometers per hour. What exactly is the problem with seatbelts then? Too cool to apply one? Too relaxed to be one of the nerds who use one?
This simply can't be an act of "forgetting" something. This is a systematic wrongful behaviour that resulted in death.
People out there, listen to me: Don't make these stupid mistakes.
