Should accidents have consequences?

[MrDawn]

Should accidents be without consequences or should they be punishable with consequences? Why or why not?

 

[DrLeftover]

"Was it really an accident?"

 

[Dee]

"Was it really an accident?"

Pretty much this. It should also depend on the outcome as well. Was the person drunk driving and did they kill someone? Probably should have serious consequences. Did someone accidentally scoot their chair back at a restaurant and run into an unsuspecting waiter, causing them to drop food/drink, but not majorly injuring them? A genuine accident and probably not punishable by consequences of law.

 

[cowcatcher]

If it is as an adult, they usually do. Civil suits and criminal in the case of death (manslaughter), getting fired from your job. Sometimes you understand the consequences of your actions, sometimes you don't, but someone who is hurt or suffers loss because of your accident should get restitution.

If it is a young child, I don't know. Again if someone gets hurt or suffers loss, there should be restitution. But children have much less understanding of consequences of their actions. So many awful situations of young children getting access to guns, for instance.

On a personal level, I've gotten lots of direct consequences from tool accidents. Plenty of consequences from relationship/friendship accidents. I'm currently getting a financial consequence from my bank for a math accident (lol?).

 

[PGen98]

Depends on the accident, honestly. Some should absolutely carry consequences, some are genuinely accidents or mistakes, but causing hurt, causing loss, causing damage, or causing emotional distress as a result of an accident needs to have consequences.

 

[Black Angel]

How are we defining accident?

If it is genuinely an accident then that was one thing.. but I am sure that it wouldnt be long before this concept is abused.. I mean I remember that being the case in the school yard.. and growing up with siblings..

 

[Ammi]

…as others in the thread have said, the nature/circumstances of the accident itself would have a bearing ….many accidents do have consequences, the consequences themselves though may and do vary….and a huge factor as well for me would be if there were any negligence/carelessness etc involved that had, had a direct impact also in leading to the accident…looking at answerability and responsibilities etc…the consequences should fit the accident, with all individual factors considered….

 

[Tuesday]

Accidents already have enough consequences no need to police and regulate accidents or anything else for that matter...

 

[Nebulous]

Depends. If accidents didn't have any consequences, then everyone could just do bad things and say "It was an accident" to get out of it.

 

[Tuesday]

Depends. If accidents didn't have any consequences, then everyone could just do bad things and say "It was an accident" to get out of it.

Well the consequences shouldn't be government imposed consequences...for example usually the person making the mistake already feels bad enough or already has had consequences from their mistake already so why pile on more artificial consequences when the natural consequences are already piling on...

 

[Reddington]

If it was genuinely an accident, then no. Apologize if necessary and move on with your life. If it was intentional and meant to look like an accident, then yes, it should have consequences.

 

[riseabovethis]

If it's an accident, it's an accident unless proven otherwise. Where I work an accident isn't an accident, it's a learning experience which usually results in a safety rule. It's unbelievable that some of our rules are over fifty years old and were created because someone was injured or killed.