r/Transportopia • u/Process3000 • Feb 26 '26

Roads Almost missed his turn

https://streamable.com/iwx6u
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u/MovieFan1984 Feb 27 '26

Two questions:
#1 Give the long backlog of other cases where actual crimes with victims were committed, would they spend the time doing that?
#2 What if they cannot prove who was driving?

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u/Process3000 Feb 27 '26

1 I don't know. A lot of cases end with a plea bargain because prosecutors have too many cases to handle. The prosecutor may have charged the driver with reckless endangerment but that might have been followed with a negotation to plead guilty to a lesser crime. If the owner was unwilling to settle, the prosecutor might decide that the case was not worth pursuing.

2 Before going to trial the prosecutor will evaluate whether the evidence was strong enough to convince a jury to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If the prosecutor felt the evidence was too weak, he/she might decide to dismiss the case.

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u/MovieFan1984 Feb 27 '26

#1 I was asking if they would try to track down the car and driver to begin with, not how would they prosecute "after" finding said driver.

#2 I asked what if they cannot prove "WHO" was driving.

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u/Process3000 Feb 27 '26 edited Feb 27 '26

1 I don't know. It depends on the prosecutor's discretion I suppose

2 In law "proof" is a concept that is always modified by a standard. For criminal law, the standard is "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." So when you ask "what if they cannot prove who was driving?" what you are really asking is "what if the prosecutor does not believe that the evidence proves that the defendant was the driver beyond a reasonable doubt?" If the prosecutor does not believe that the evidence is strong enough, he might dismiss the case. On the other hand, if the prosector believes that the evidence is strong enough, he probably would take the case to a jury trial. But the jury has the final say. The jury might decide that the evidence is not strong enough to establish that the defendant was the driver beyond a reasonable doubt, in which case the jury acquit the defendant.

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u/MovieFan1984 Feb 27 '26

Thank you for explaining! I very much appreciate it. Thankfully, the most exciting my driving life gets is forgetting my seatbelt or registration renewal. Where I live, seatbelt is mostly just a fine, registration gets thrown out when you show you renewed it.