Transcript of Video:
Hello. My name is Nelson Abbot. I am an attorney in Utah. I would like to answer a legal question for you.
The question is: Why does the law make somebody pay money if they injure somebody on accident? After all it is an accident, they did not intend to do it, they are not a bad person; it was an accident. We all have probably learned, probably at home, when you were a kid and you maybe hurt your brother or sister, your mom might have said to you, ‘Was it on purpose or was it an accident?’ If you did it on purpose, the punishment was much more severe than if it was an accident. In fact, a lot of times, there may have not been any punishment at all, if it had been on accident.
The law does not track that, the law is different. Let me explain to you why: Think back again to your childhood one more time, think back to when you were a kid playing in your yard, and you kicked, hit, or threw a ball over the fence and it breaks your neighbors window; what did your parents tell you that you were morally required to do? They told you to that you were require to march right over there, knock on your neighbors door, probably the most terrifying thing a child can imagine, and take responsibility for what you had done. Offer to pay for that window. Did it matter whether it was an accident or not? No, it did not. You chose to engage in the activity that put your neighbor at risk. Your neighbor did nothing wrong.
Personally injury and auto accidents are exactly the same. If you choose, for example, to drive a car, and you chose not to not pay adequate attention and you accidentally run a stoplight, red light, speed, pull out in front of somebody, or you are changing the radio and you rear end somebody; that is a choice. You have made that choice, and you have put somebody else at risk. That does not mean you are a bad person, that you are evil and you wanted them to get hurt; it was an accident. Morally and legally, you are required to do something about it. That is where the basis for the law comes in; we as a society are responsible for injuring others by accident.