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In Memoriam Johnny Gaudreau & Matthew Gaudreau killed by drunk driver while cycling (MOD WARNING. No Flaming, Trolling, or Politics.)

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TheNumber4 said:
Possibly the saddest event in hockey history?

The tragedy of this whole situation, the wedding, the pregnant widow, two brothers… it’s just so unbelievably tragic.

RIP Johnny and Matthews. Condolences to the Gaudreau family. God damn this whole situation sucks.
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Feels like it. Young father dies senselessly in the prime of his life/star career with his brother. A guy nobody ever had any issues with either, just a likable dude.
 
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TheNumber4 said:
Possibly the saddest event in hockey history?

The tragedy of this whole situation, the wedding, the pregnant widow, two brothers… it’s just so unbelievably tragic.

RIP Johnny and Matthews. Condolences to the Gaudreau family. God damn this whole situation sucks.
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maybe in nhl. the humboldt tragedy comes to mind if youre talking about all levels of hockey
 
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SoupNazi said:
September 7 will be three years since I got sideswiped on the road by a driver who didn’t stop, less than a mile from my house. I walked away from it with a badly sprained shoulder, bruises, and a scar of twelve links of chain on the back of my right leg (I still have it) where the bike landed on top of me. But I was lucky. I walked away.
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Glad you walked away from that one. Had someone turn left in front of me last month and ended up in the hospital for a week. Had a lacerated kidney, internal bruising, muscle strains and bruised ribs. Could have been so much had it happened a second earlier and I didn't go into the passenger side of the car.
 
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swiftwin said:
Look up the definition of accident:

1. an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.

2. an event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.



This is the only one that might actually be an accident, assuming the person was not negligent in car maintenance. Like I posted elsewhere, these account for 3-4% of accident in Canada.



Not an accident. The driver did not drive to the conditions. Error in judgement? Sure. But there's nothing unexpected or "without cause" about black ice when it's below freezing outside.

I remember failing my first written driving test when i was 16 because of this multiple choice question. "If you drive at 60kph on a road with a 60kph speed limit, and you hit ice causing you to blow a stop sign, what was the cause?" I said it was because of the ice. But that was the wrong answer. The correct answer was "Did not drive to the conditions". That question has stuck with me 20+ years later.



How does this end up in a crash? If someone enters lane you are trying to merge into, you can go back into the lane you were originally in. If a crash happens, someone did something wrong. Again, nothing about this is an accident. Someone took a wrong action. Error in judgement. The word accident implies there was nothing anyone could do about it.



Unless it's a moose, you're never supposed swerve unless you're 100% sure you won't hit another car. Again. Error in judgement. Not an accident. Also, were you scanning the sides of the road for animals? Why not?



Obviously, driving drunk is nowhere near the same as the examples you cited.

When driving, 100% of your attention should be on doing every little thing right to prevent crashes from happening. Doing so would

Obviously, in the real world, it doesn't work like that. It a big sliding scale. On a good day, driving only occupies 90% of our attention and mistakes or lapses in judgement can happen. Too many people are closer to 40%. By calling crashes "accidents", absolves us from to trying to be as close as possible to that 100%. Almost all accidents are caused by someone making a wrong decision. Often, they are forgivable very minor lapses in judgement, but often, they are also bigger less forgivable lapses. We need to stop normalizing this behaviour and treat driving like the serious activity it is. Cutting out the word "accident" is a first step towards that.
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Black ice is invisible. A car going 20mph on a 55mph road can hit black ice and slide all over the place. Were they still reckless? Have you never driven in winter? Also, there's a scale of "driving to the conditions". It becomes a point that YOU become the danger to everyone else on the road by being "too careful", if that makes sense. If you can't drive comfortably in conditions, then don't drive in them. Like, for example, someone doing 45mph on a 70mph highway. They are the one who is being reckless, despite being "careful" as a driver.

You can say all you want that you're not supposed to swerve, but that has no basis in the human condition of most people in that they don't want to kill or injure an animal. I'm well-aware you're technically not supposed to, but 99.9% of drivers on the road will swerve to avoid killing, injuring, or maiming an animal.

Drunk driving and getting in a wreck is not an accident. Not checking mirrors before changing lanes and getting in a wreck is not an accident. Blowing through a red light and getting in a wreck is not an accident. The examples I gave are commonly. and should be considered accidental and/or out of someone's control.

What about debris in the road? Something accidentally falls off the back of a truck or a piece of something blows into the road, you hit it and wreck. It's unavoidable. Was the accident on account of recklessness on your part? Or was God, or some higher power being reckless in that moment? It's an accident.

For the two cars coming together, say both checked their blind spot, no cars there, so you proceed to change lanes, and you both come together into the middle lane. You did everything right, you checked your blind spot, then put your eyes back on the road, and turned on your signal. You changed lanes. You got in a wreck. You can't stare at your blind spot the entire time you're changing lanes. That's not how it works. Then you're being reckless by not paying attention to the road in front of you.

I understand what you're trying to get at here, it's just not logical or based in reality, or norms. Accidents exist, and happen all the time. Plenty of things happen that are beyond someone's control.
 
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I just don't get why they were out on a bike at that time of night. Gaudreau isn't at fault by any means, but I would have called a cab/uber if I or my relative was trying to get back to/from the hotel they were staying at, and if they were out exercising I would have been worried about some idiot drunk doing exactly what happened.
 
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Diogenes92 said:
Harsher penalties are needed for causing tragedies such as this.

I have zero time or sympathy for somebody who murders innocent people while being willfully negligent. Lock him up and throw away the keys.
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We don't even have tougher penalties for people that shoot and kill a person. Get 10 years for manslaughter, only serve 2/3 of the sentence plus get credit x2 for time spent in jail and ends up being a five year sentence
 
ReddestRum said:


2nd degree vehicular homicide is only a max 10 years? Even if you were inebriated / drunk at the wheel?
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Yes, he will be given consecutive sentences but it's max 10 years each. The other charges (Reckless driving, open container, consuming alcohol in a vehicle) are all misdemeanors and will not add jail time.
 
TheNumber4 said:
Possibly the saddest event in hockey history?

The tragedy of this whole situation, the wedding, the pregnant widow, two brothers… it’s just so unbelievably tragic.

RIP Johnny and Matthews. Condolences to the Gaudreau family. God damn this whole situation sucks.
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Only thing that come to mind is the Lokomtiv Yaroslavl plane crash. Killed the entire team... I believe this was in 2011/2012...

edit: also the Humboldt Broncos
 
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TheNumber4 said:
Possibly the saddest event in hockey history?

The tragedy of this whole situation, the wedding, the pregnant widow, two brothers… it’s just so unbelievably tragic.

RIP Johnny and Matthews. Condolences to the Gaudreau family. God damn this whole situation sucks.
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I don't think the hockey community has had this amount of collective sadness since the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash
 
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JPT said:
I don't think the hockey community has had this amount of collective sadness since the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl plane crash
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The Humboldt Broncos bus crash that killed 16 people was on the same level of collective sadness in the hockey community as the Lokomotiv plane crash. My nephews' teams wore patches on their jerseys for it and we're in Chicago.
 
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