Frustrating Phrases

[karrie]

My frustrating phrase of the day.... "The weather is being blamed for an accident on highway...."

No.

No NO NOOOO.

The weather is not to blame. The weather is never to blame unless it's a freak storm that pops up out of nowhere, grabs your car, and flings it into another car.

Sure, it's the nice way to not say "Hey that ____ should have pulled over instead of risking his life", but it doesn't make it true. If you're flying down the highway and can't see the vehicles ahead of you, the weather's not to blame when you hit them.

 

[Vereya]

Yeah, I agree Karrie. A couple of days ago they showed some news on Russian TV, about a bus-ful of people getting stuck in the snow for about a day in Kamchatka, one of the far North regions of Russia. There were heavy snowfalls there, and that particular road was officially closed for the time. The bus driver, knowing that, still took that road, and the passengers, knowing that, too, still stayed on that bus. When the reporter asked one of the passenger who was to blame for their accident, she answered (you wouldn't believe it, but it's true) - the weather!
It's about the stupidest thing I heard for the last couple of days.

 

[Zzarchov]

Im going to play devils advocate here:

regardless of the weather conditions, you still need to get to work and pay your bills. Weather is a factor beyond your control, no different than any other condition beyond your control.

Would you never attribute anyones accidents to an outside factor? (ie, its the firemans own fault he died, he knew the building was on fire when he went in)

 

[Vereya]

Firemen are one thing, it's their job to enter burning buildings. But getting stuck in a bus on a closed road was not that woman's job, I guess :smile: She had no business to be there at all. Blaming the weather for your own carelessness is another thing altogether. Even is she did have to take that road that urgently, it was no fault of the weather that she did. Besides, no matter how urgent your errand is, taking a closed road, where anything can happen - well, it's just plain careless. There were lucky to have been saved quite quickly. They could have frozen to death. Besides, she and the other passengers like her put other people's lives at risk - the lives of those, who had to go and save them. And all for the lack of a little thinking, and comparing the value of life to the value of getting somewhere 30 minutes faster.

 

[Zzarchov]

Wait, its a firemans job to enter a burning building so its the fires fault.
But its NOT the bus drivers job to drive the bus along the route the driver is paid to go on?

Think of what you are saying, no matter how urgent a fireman's job is, entering a burning building where anything can happen is just as reckless.

If you don't go to work, you don't get paid and you don't eat. 30 minutes is the difference between being fired and not being fired. Life is tough for alot of people, as it has been in day one.

I guarantee you early man didn't say "Its too dangerous for me to eat today, I'll starve instead"

Edit: Yes it may be their own carelessness that caused the accident, but it is technically the firemans carelessness that causes them to be harmed in a fire.

 

[Vereya]

The point is that the road was officially closed. All the buses and vehicles had to take another route. Everyone knew it. It was an official announcement. No matter how hard it is now, people still don't get fired for obeying officially announced restrictions. The driver just wanted to save some time, so he put at risk his life and the life of his passengers. It has got nothing to do with the weather. It's the human factor at work here. And most of the passengers stayed on - that's the thing that amazes me. I would've got off. My life is dearer to me than even my job :smile:

 

[karrie]

Im going to play devils advocate here:

regardless of the weather conditions, you still need to get to work and pay your bills. Weather is a factor beyond your control, no different than any other condition beyond your control.

Would you never attribute anyones accidents to an outside factor? (ie, its the firemans own fault he died, he knew the building was on fire when he went in)

I don't know the way it works anywhere else, but, here, if you're driving in a commercial capacity (tour bus driver doesn't get much more commercial, the trip was completely unnecessary), and you have an accident because you didn't engage in adequate journey management (ie, didn't assess your fatigue levels, weather, etc.), you can have criminal negligence charges pressed against you. On a day when the police have called a 'no tow', and are advising no travel, if you do so it's clearly not a matter of weather sneaking up on you.

 

[DontQuoteMe]

Im just gonna make a comment here:

I'd have to go with the penalty of getting fired being at fault. Even if its illegal to make someone drive in those conditions, as this other front page post hightlights:

http://forums.canadiancontent.net/lounge/70988-does-anyone-inforce-labour-laws.html

The law only matters if its enforced, and it is a choice between being fired (And sometimes evicted when you can't pay rent, even in this weather when it too is illegal), I'd rather risk the bus ride.