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Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

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221–230 of 255 posts

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#221

Forgetting the laws, what sort of people can so casually kill like this? There are basic human instincts not to hurt people. Armies have to train soldiers to ignore these feelings because without training most won't kill even under combat situations. So when I see someone kill so casually I have to believe that they have rehearsed the scenario in their head beforehand. That means a large number of chinese people driv…

I have been living in china for over 10 years and I came to the conclusion that what you assume here as being "basic human instincts" is really the result of the culture and the education that shaped us. Let a human being grow with no rules and awareness of good or bad, where the only law is "what is good for you well is good", then you end up with this kind of behaviour.

Yes. Any who have not visited China should keep in mind the people there do not feel protected by their government. They feel oppressed. They know they can't openly criticize the system or they will be hassled or sent to prison for "stirring up trouble". So, it is every man for himself and you get human behavior like this. They're not naturally evil, they just don't have the benefits we do.

The best illustration I've seen of this for anyone who hasn't visited Asia and seen the effects of censorship is this video. One guy asks random people on the street on June 4 if they know what day it is. It is the anniversary of the Tienanmen square massacre. And nearly everyone refuses to answer. They know it was a tragedy and they also know they aren't allowed to talk about it.

https://vimeo.com/44078865

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes it's sickening, and also broadly understood to be a logical thing to do in China. Let's play the devil's advocate and understand the motive behind it- The average annual wage of a Chinese citizen is $7,500 USD, whereas the average annual wage of an American is $45,000. Which means that $400,000 is worth 400,000 x 45,000 / 7,500 = $2,400,000 . And that's only over 23 years so far. You have to keep paying until the…

This. Frankly I don't understand these people who "don't get it". We're talking about the difference between moving on with your life with a guilty conscience, vs. having your entire life financially ruined due to injuring someone. I make $80k per year. If my country mandated > $100k per year for injuring someone, that's literally the rest of my life destroyed. I could not financially recover for the rest of my life.…

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Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#223
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing baffles me. If parents knew (there is security camera footage) that their child was run over several times because some asshole made a RATIONAL choice; and then said parents hired a bunch of guys to disappear the asshole, suddenly the expected penalty would change, and so would the rational choice. (There probably wouldn't be much of an investigation, either.) So why aren't they doing it? If the government…

If you drive in a Chinese city, you're pretty well off. So I would bet that many cases, the victim's family can't afford stuff like that. The few cases mentioned where something happened to the driver were probably the exceptions where the victim also had money.

Good point, stupid of me not to think of it. So in most cases, the murderer escapes without even paying the "murder fee"? This is even worse...

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#224

Forgetting the laws, what sort of people can so casually kill like this? There are basic human instincts not to hurt people. Armies have to train soldiers to ignore these feelings because without training most won't kill even under combat situations. So when I see someone kill so casually I have to believe that they have rehearsed the scenario in their head beforehand. That means a large number of chinese people driv…

Psychopaths, plain and simple.

In the US, there is no incentive for psychopaths to kill people like this. In China there is.

Also remember that the incidence of this in a country the size of China doesn't allow you to make comparison to the US. Our population is much smaller.

Lastly, the per-capita murder rate in the US is higher (we rank 110, they rank 192) [1]. Even if you account for under-reporting in China, we have a more violent society.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention... sort by rate

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#225
post #115
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's the same in many states in the US... for example, if you are going to shoot someone, make sure that you kill them, if you don't want to go to jail...

Is there really a situation in which the punishment for killing is lighter than for wounding, especially with a weapon/vehicle?? Or are you speaking less formally: that you might never get caught for the kill if there's nobody to turn you in?

one example that come to mind is Trayvon Martin's case [1] ... since he died, he could not say that the shooter was not acting in self defense... no jail time for the shooter.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#226
post #224

Forgetting the laws, what sort of people can so casually kill like this? There are basic human instincts not to hurt people. Armies have to train soldiers to ignore these feelings because without training most won't kill even under combat situations. So when I see someone kill so casually I have to believe that they have rehearsed the scenario in their head beforehand. That means a large number of chinese people driv…

Psychopaths, plain and simple. In the US, there is no incentive for psychopaths to kill people like this. In China there is. Also remember that the incidence of this in a country the size of China doesn't allow you to make comparison to the US. Our population is much smaller. Lastly, the per-capita murder rate in the US is higher (we rank 110, they rank 192) [1]. Even if you account for under-reporting in China, we h…

> Even if you account for under-reporting in China, we have a more violent society.

This article is about the casual murder of toddlers and preschoolers with little serious consequence by strangers. I don't think we're accounting for under-reporting enough here.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#227
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The language "accident" (and the associated story) implies that one cannot control whether they injure someone with their 2000lb death machines. That is not true.

> The language "accident" (and the associated story) implies that one cannot control whether they injure someone with their 2000lb death machines. That is not true. It's an accident because it's not on purpose. If you intentionally kill your ex with your car then people don't call it an accident. Moreover, there are less than 5000 pedestrian fatalities per year in the US, and the reason there are that many is that US…

Many (most?) accidents are predicated on a purposeful choice to drive dangerously: speeding and unable to slow down sufficiently, fiddling with your phone, driving drunk or tired. You may not mean to harm someone but American society has failed to recognize acts that directly contribute to injury and death.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The language "accident" (and the associated story) implies that one cannot control whether they injure someone with their 2000lb death machines. That is not true. It's an accident because it's not on purpose. If you intentionally kill your ex with your car then people don't call it an accident. Moreover, there are less than 5000 pedestrian fatalities per year in the US, and the reason there are that many is that US…

Many (most?) accidents are predicated on a purposeful choice to drive dangerously: speeding and unable to slow down sufficiently, fiddling with your phone, driving drunk or tired. You may not mean to harm someone but American society has failed to recognize acts that directly contribute to injury and death.

I really don't think that's the case. Those are the ones that get paraded around, but there are plenty of collisions that are results of simple mistakes or invisible road hazards.

Re: Why drivers in China intentionally kill the pedestrians they hit

#229

Forgetting the laws, what sort of people can so casually kill like this? There are basic human instincts not to hurt people. Armies have to train soldiers to ignore these feelings because without training most won't kill even under combat situations. So when I see someone kill so casually I have to believe that they have rehearsed the scenario in their head beforehand. That means a large number of chinese people driv…

People outside China Mainland is hard to imagine the truth behind the news. It's so sad that I have to say the drivers were insane but not totally unreasonable ( Apparently, I'm not agree to what they did or thought ). In China Mainland, if you drive and hit someone to death, a compensation no more than 15,000 USD will be paid for victim's family. However, if the victim was badly hit the medical expenses could easily…

15000? Wow, This is like 3 times more expensive than the "let's forget all about your father killed by our drone by stoopid mistake and take this nice goat" happy tax.
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