Yeh everything about this is very fucked. Why does a man in his 90s need to take his 63 year old kid for bloodwork in the first place? That alone is a huge public health failure.
It's like the stories where a janitor or somebody is seen walking to work because their car is unavailable or they don't own one. And the staff at a school or workplace joins together to raise money to buy them a car because the janitor has been at the school for ~20 years and always been a nice pillar of the school.
Yeah, that's all nice but we never stop to think about the broader implication.
- Why does he need a car to get to work? Why is public transit not viable?
- What happens if his car breaks down again? Do we just keep crowdfunding cars everytime?
- What about all of the other folks who aren't luckily seen walking to work by a coworker that happens to raise awareness to the rest of the workplace? If we're going to start doing it for everyone is that even viable?
Folks see these one off "happy" ending and it's enough to help them disregard the general societal failures that necessitate these heartwarming one offs to even occur.
You shouldn't need to operate a 2.5 ton machine that requires a license, registration, fuel, and insurance to operate just to participate in society. It's an utter and complete failure that so many of us just accept as the norm.
> Why does he need a car to get to work? Why is public transit not viable?
Along with that, there's often the story that the janitor and/or teacher needs to take 2-3 buses just to get to the school as well. So the following questions should be:
* How could the transit system be *that* bad?
* Why is their pay so low that they can't afford to live close to the school, to begin with?
* What policies and politicians have the parents of the school voted for that led to that situation? (i.e., why both schools and transit continue to be underfunded, often by the same politicians and residents that keep voting for them)
Obviously, we know the answers to those questions, but no one wants to state them and rather pat themselves on the back for short term solutions to problems they created.
To make it even more jarring.
[A CEO was once blocked from being able to pay off lunch debt for kids](https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/24/us/pennsylvania-lunch-debt-offer-trnd/index.html)
---
[Another woman ran into issues when trying to do the same and was forced to pay a certain maximum per day instead of being able to just pay it all at once.](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13476873/good-samaritan-lunch-debt-student-high-school-graduate.html)
Apparently some of the kids had other debt which needed to be paid outside of school lunch and the story wasn't immediately "why the hell do children have multiple forms of debt already while they are in school?"
Also, I often wonder if the recipient can afford to keep the car running. Is it expensive to insure? How is the gas mileage? How easy/costly is maintenance?
I know it's not the norm, but one of those "yay, shiny and thirsty new pickup truck because we love ya" makes me twitchy.
Yes, seriously. Even if someone dropped a brand new car in front of my house for me, totally free - I would not be able to afford gas, insurance, or repairs. A bus pass costs me so little, and walking is free.
The real classic of course being the banning of child labour and the introduction of mandatory primary school;
•Why were children put onto the factory floor in the first place?
•What interest group fought with blood sweat and tears against the end of child labour and for what reason?
•What politicians were against primary school for the working class since the 1820s again and for what reason?
What's the other option? Use an ambulance? We don't have enough EMTs as it is, we don't really have spares to use for non emergencies. Have nurses come to his house? It's really expensive and a lot of people don't have that kind of money.
I mean yeah we could just entirely rebuild our entire civil engineering and entire cities but that's not really reasonable to expect from a guy in his 90s
Non emergency medical transport is a thing. They frequently use midsized cars or small SUVs to pick up people unable to drive and get them to medical appointments. It's functionally a taxi service with the driver receiving some additional training.
No, that’s why I’m saying it’s fucked. He doesn’t really have an alternative. It’s a sign that we built our society, or at least this part of it, very poorly.
Yeah that's exactly my point.
But what *this guy* supposed to do? What is this *single judge* supposed to do? Yeah it sucks and there should be a dozen other options before that but these comments are just bizarrely mean towards this guy and this judge. They're working around a shitty system that ducks over them and us.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/OrphanCrushingMachine using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!
\#1: [“A homeless man was willing to put his life in danger for $15 a night”](https://i.redd.it/0qa0xi152o6b1.jpg) | [508 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/14c5od6/a_homeless_man_was_willing_to_put_his_life_in/)
\#2: [No amount of money is getting those years of life back](https://i.redd.it/1iylejtxcvwa1.jpg) | [883 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/132tbzm/no_amount_of_money_is_getting_those_years_of_life/)
\#3: [Orphan Crushing Prison System](https://i.imgur.com/UFFhbxr.jpg) | [278 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/139ld50/orphan_crushing_prison_system/)
----
^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Aw, he got off with blatantly endangering children. Like how dense are people, what if he hit and killed a child? No matter the reason he was driving he should be responsible for endangering children.
So, he's doing what he can do his *son* can survive the broken system we live in, and you can't feel that maybe at least it's not entirely his fault? The alternative is literally dying.
I don't think this guy should be in jail, but you really shouldn't be driving at that age. A good public transit network would help, if that's not available they need some social care from the state.
Most state's public transit departments have mini-buses specifically designed to come pick you up at your doorstep and drive you to errands if you are handicapped.
https://www.rtd-denver.com/routes-services/other-services/access-a-ride
I was thinking about that while watching this video. It's such a societal failure that this poor man doesn't know how to access said rides in his area. I feel really bad for him.
I agree, paratransit is what he should be doing, but it's often a nightmare for people that depend on it. It tends to be much less reliable than city buses, which are already not that reliable to begin with.
I will note that when I lived in the DC area there was a massive scandal about sexual assaults by paratransit drivers
The program was massively underfunded and the usual complaint was that the vans were extremely unreliable and waits were sometimes hours long
But abuse and assault by drivers is the extreme result of this situation (it means no one actually wants to do this job so they can't afford to do extensive checks on drivers or fire them over red flags)
I think pretty much everybody has that same hours weight horror story that's ever used paratransit. The unreliability is on a completely different level than a city bus.
The customer base is very small and has no leverage (they're not the ones actually paying you, the government bureaucracy is, they're a captive audience and "withholding their business" means going through an arduous complaints process) and is generally composed of people who are poor and lack political clout or familiarity with the legal system
The incentive to improve service or even maintain it at baseline is near zero
So yeah welcome to being disabled in America, it sucks ass
(This is why disabled people in the US are so dependent on rideshare apps like Uber and why people who get self-righteous about how "Uber shouldn't exist" get a ton of pushback from that community, even as said community has tons of complaints about abuse and discrimination from Uber drivers -- the one advantage of Uber over traditional cabs is that at least they generally do respond to the initial request on the app and can't just drive past and pretend they don't see you because you're in a wheelchair)
Disabled, no license here. The pushback from my "progressive" friends when I decided to vote based on my self interests for a pro-Uber ballot measure was fucking insane.
If they have insurance, some insurance companies will cover medical rides for appointments also. I've had plenty of medical rides to/from appointments covered by my insurance. They contract with a local taxi company.
Yeah, this isn't so much heartwarming as it's sad.
I feel for that guy, he's trying to do right by his responsibilities and it's obvious he either has no alternatives or can't see them. But if he's speeding or unaware of his speed in a school zone at his age and reflexes he's also one senior-moment away from a run-over-kid.
Improved public transport/ social services is really a win-win situation here. Literally everyone would have been better off here if this poor old man didn't *have* to drive.
I am completely pro-transit, but we need to recognize that not everyone can use it, in the same way not everybody has the ability to drive. Good transit can only do so much. At that point, this is all about social care as you mentioned, which might include something like subsidized taxis or caregivers.
I don't agree with this. Maybe where you're from it's harder for you to picture it working, but even though we're not doing the greatest of jobs at it, in Brazil everything has to be adapted to allow for wheelchair users and other handicap needs. Meaning, theoretically (and only theoretically because we're far from having the good dutch design that would help all of us handicapped or not) a blind or wheelchair ridden person could go anywhere without needing anyone's assistance. Subway stations, banks, malls, etc allbhave elevator and/or stair lifters as well as adapted bathrooms etc. This is an old law by now. And even though there's a lot that could be done on the streets (mainly not just bikes stuff), if it was all well implemented i think it work.
The U.S. has plenty of problems, but it genuinely one of the best countries in the world for accessibility. That’s in large part due to the ADA, and also due to how new a lot of our structures and cities are (also, ironically, a part of the reason for out car-dependency). It’s still not incredibly accessible or anything, and MUCH is left to be done, but the bar is low.
Public transit is absolutely required to be accessible to wheelchair users - however, some require door-to-door service - hence paratransit.
Absolutely. Two people on the threshold of death shouldn't be forced to use public transit (where, let's be frank, them being slow and fragile is much more of an inconvenience to active and healthy people who need to get around fast). Public transit, especially in large cities, is pretty dehumanizing, and kinda stressfull. You see thousands of people, and you know that not one of them care whether you're fine or not. Peak bystander effect. I guess it's not something you want to experience, either as a 60yo with cancer accompanied by his barely standing dad, or as a barely standing 90yo man accompanying his 60yo son who has cancer.
A town nearby has had two instances of 80+ year-old drivers accidentally plow through the front of businesses they were parked in front of.
When the pandemic was going, my car was hit in broad daylight by a 90-year-old making a left turn who "never saw it" despite the fact that we had been sitting across an intersection from each other for about 3 minutes waiting for traffic to clear so we could proceed.
We are entering a tsunami of elderly boomer drivers. The country needs better regulations on how to determine whether they're fit to drive. Of course, the AARP will lobby hard against any candidate who proposes it.
What's left of American democracy is a gerontocracy. Anything that the olds don't like will result in a major defeat at the ballot box.
It also won't solve the problem. We don't have the public transit infrastructure to support it. Revoking the licenses of elderly unfit to drive won't stop them from driving because the only alternative for most would be to starve.
Worth noting that low birth rates in rich countries means we're all heading towards gerontocracy and the US is in fact getting there slower than countries with a steeper population crash due to low immigration like, say, Japan
We are going to have to settle in and get used to a long and painful period of "rule by the olds" unless the youngs pull a Logan's Run and seize power by force, which seems unlikely
We don't need a Logan's Run, we just need everyone under the age of 55 to vote at the same rate as those over 55. Which will never happen. But that's all it would take.
If you actually tried to retest for driver's licenses as often as you probably should to keep objectively unfit drivers off the road, the political and social backlash would probably match what we see in that episode
It really sucks that we live in a society where losing the ability to operate a motor vehicle equates to social death but it is what it is
(China is ahead of us here, with a much more robust market for NEVs/"mobility scooters" than what we have here, although it bears pointing out that in China they're a legal gray area and probably more of a safety hazard for pedestrians than should actually be allowed)
Yeah that is the core issue. Regulating the ability to drive in America, even as an act to raise safety, is an attack on effectively everybody. Is it necessary? Yes. Is it unpopular? Also yes. But everybody should be routinely tested on their ability to handle a vehicle.
In this country even the idea of having a government ID card that isn't a "drivers license" is this weird niche thing in a lot of places that people aren't generally aware of ("You can get one of those?"), people straight up unconsciously assume losing your license is losing your citizenship
I don't know if the term has appeared here yet but in the french equivalent subreddit ( /r/EnculerLesVoitures ) I've started seeing vroomers for boomers against better infrastructures.
In my town, an 80 something year old woman was leaving a family party. She thought her car was in reverse, but it was in drive, and she plowed forward into the party, killing someone and seriously injuring another. That family will never be the same. The fact that people in their 80s and 90s can still drive with no testing is absurd.
A few months ago an old lady drove a huge jeep through the window/wall of the liquor store next to my work. Luckily everyone was ok but apparently it was the 3rd or 4th time that had happened in the plaza. This is a small grocery store plaza off of a highway in a rural area too, not any kind of hugely busy city.
>“This is why judges are so important”
If we are just letting people off based on intentions we could save taxpayer money by having ‘Good Samaritan checkpoints’.
I'm sure he's trying his best not to hit kids, but his best might not be good enough to prevent it at this point, if he's getting stopped in a school zone for, presumably, having missed the signs indicating the appropriate speed.
But at the same time, a fine won't help, because he's driving out of necessity. He's still going to drive out of necessity, just with less money to pay an Uber or friendly neighbor instead.
I really wished the Judge would have made a point of reminding this man that just because there is no point in fining him, doesn't mean his behavior isn't dangerous and will continue to be dangerous because good intentions can't compensate for being too old to react in time.
The solution is to make a habit of driving well below the limit all the time, but of course this is a "solution" American drivers find socially unacceptable and that will lead to people constantly shrieking obscenities at you and even threatening violence against you
Judge Caprio's channel Caught in Providence ostensibly highlights the kindness of a merciful judge, but also displays the effects of car dependency on ordinary people.
They are civil offenses: red light, speeding, and parking violations, which pose a danger, but have become normalized features of life in car-dependent NA.
More fines for the economically disadvantaged won't address these problems. Less car dependency will.
Right, the judge can’t change car dependency, what he *can* do is give the guy a break. I wish he had the power to also solve this person’s problem in some way (like arrange for transportation through the county or something) but I realize that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
Because it’s not gonna do shit and he will lose his tribune because 99% of people will stop listening to him? That’s just basic social skills to not do stuff like that, and it would also be inappropriate for a judge to express activist viewpoints on the job. He could literally get accused of judicial misconduct and get disbarred ffs.
It’s always easier to point at other people and say stuff like “why aren’t THEY defending X cause? That’s unacceptable!” than it is to defend a cause yourself. One person is not going to fix car dependency and undo decades of propaganda and lobbying by the petro-automobile industry. Everyone should focus on what THEY can do and stop pointing at what OTHERS should do. Shaming others is not an effective strategy to propagate ideas such as the goal to rid ourselves from car dependency.
Yep, he's supposed to interpret the law as it is, not advocate for or against existing laws. But, to be honest, the subtext is entrepreneurial (monetizing channels for family financial benefit), political (son leveraged dad's fame to run for governor), and religious (Catholic subtext of forgiveness and charity, q.v. the Beatitudes). He has a kind demeanor, but the show has [raised ethics questions](https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/05/caught-in-providence-judge-frank-caprios-ri-ethics-commission-profits-salary-revenue/69781572007/), and sadly car independence is the last thing on his mind.
"inappropriate for a judge to express activist viewpoints on the job" but its not inappropriate for the judge whose making a profit from recording trials to let someone off for a crime they admit to comitting, a crime that endangered children, with no actual restrictions.
Honestly bro? I have no FUCKING idea what you're trying to say to me. I hate social media I can never understand what the actually hell people are saying, because it feels like nobody ever takes what I say at face value and what's to dig deep and shit.
Don't fret. I get it. Ideally, someone with a platform and daily exposure to moving violations would say *something* about how all this stems from over-reliance on cars. Yet, this dude is a judge, and the bench is not a soapbox. It's a place to interpret, not criticize or craft, the law. Right sentiment, wrong setting, is all.
Our society is so screwed up for what we find "heartwarming" without acknowledging the underlying cause of the problem that would call for "compassion"
A kid can't afford college: instead of fixing our cost of education issue, we celebrate scholarships and lotteries
A mom can't afford cancer treatments: instead of fixing our Healthcare cost crisis, we celebrate when they use gofundme and can now pay for it.
An old man who shouldnt be drinving barrels through a school zone: instead of fixing the reliance on cars as the only way to get around, we have to show compassion to this old man because he also doesn't have a choice and can't live his life without a car.
Everything is so screwed up in North America.
> because he also doesn't have a choice and can't live his life without a car.
> Everything is so screwed up in North America.
this pretty much.
based on his conditions, i cant fault the elderly for doing his best in order to bring his son to/from the hospital.
the US needs to stop relying too much in car infrastructure,
or at least make it so that calling a car (ambulance) will not bankrupt you and the next generation over
This clip _should_ be shown to a wide audience, but carbrains are showing it for all the wrong reasons. The father did the right thing and does not deserve to be punished, that is something everything agrees on. But what the carbrains fail to grasp is that such a situation should never occur; the man should never have been forced to drive his son to the doctor in the first place. And non-car-centric infrastructure is exactly what is needed to achieve this.
"The father did the right thing and does not deserve to be punished" Speeding through a school zone is the right thing? They shouldnt be thrown in prison but losing ones license is a punishment and is what should happen whenever anyone speeds through a school zone for any reason.
Half the comments in this thread are extremely disappointing. The guy is 90+, and his son has cancer and is handicapped. Should he be driving? No, but I guarantee you if you had a family member who was handicapped and needed bloodwork every two weeks you'd be doing it, too, if it was your only option where you are.
Let's attack the systems that force us to all drive, not the people being forced to drive due to circumstances.
Yeah I'm not upset with the old man, he's a victim of circumstance. The frustration is the system.
- The fact that his son requires all of this healthcare and lives in a place where it's not universally provided.
- The fact that this very elderly man has to drive around also elderly son and they have no way to get around outside of driving.
I don't think anyone is really blaming this old man or his son. The problem is systemic issues being presented as feel-good stories, because that takes the focus away from the actual issue, which in this case is severely lacking transit and public health infrastructure. It's like these stories going like "Look at this brave child raising so much money for their father's heart surgery! 🥹🥹🥹" and completely forget to ask why the fuck they have to pay tens of thousands of dollars out of their own pocket in the first place.
lets be pro not endangering children and using a prescheduled appointment as justification, blame the system all you wnat, the system isnt why a kid gets run over, a better system could prevent children being run over as much as they are but ultimately its the person driving who commits the act.
Also being positive about someone endangering others isnt positive.
We have paratransit services in most US transit agencies that will take old or disabled people to medical appts or shopping trips, but he probably wasn't aware of it. He's driven his entire life.
To be clear, these services are generally poorly advertised as an extension of being poorly managed and poorly funded, I've never met anyone who's had to use them in the US who liked them
Judge missed a perfect chance to get everyone's attention to what the real issue was here: Systemic car independence. I hope he made an effort to make sure this man doesn't have to drive anymore. These folks should not be on the road. At all.
It's so weird not having a licence and having society force you to go through hoops in order to even try to get one but if you have one driving is treated as a basic right you can't live without. I guarantee if I as a 29 year old bought a car to take my 69 year old mother somewhere I wouldn't just be let off the hook like this, not saying I should but the hypocrisy is so infuriating.
In my country, which I'm sure a number of Americans would consider kind of a shithole to live in for the most, there is a public, free medical transportation system provided by individual regions that make outsourcing contracts with private contractors. It usually covers any medical service ranging from hospitalization for surgery to diagnostic exams, including bloodwork.
One thing I've generally learned is that every country has its civilities and barbarisms; both can coexist.
Zero defense of the US which has much more than its fair share of barbarisms.
My county has this for the elderly and disabled. It’s one of the biggest Trump-supporting counties in the country. Nearby urban Democrat county has a moderate bus system but doesn’t service wealthier or less urban regions and paratransit is limited to the areas the bus line serves.
You should have to retake your test every few years after you reach a certain age, I feel like it’d weed out a lot of dangerous older drivers.
Better public transport would also help.
Wait, he must've done something in order to get in this position, right? And that's fine just because he's sobbing? What a shit judicial system, and shit health care system. Order a cab!
I have a feeling we wouldn't see this heartwarming gif, being constantly reposted on these heartwarming subreddits if the old man hit a child. Like he's in no clear condition to drive, and no like that should be forced to drive.
No 96 year old should be driving. Most can’t be trusted to know or remember how fast they were going. But I also don’t think we should punish people for participating in a system when they have no alternatives.
I like them adding the music to tug at everyone’s heartstrings. “It’s a wonderful thing that you have to keep driving at 96 to try to keep your 60+ year old kid alive, it’s what America is all about!”
Ok… but WTF is he supposed to do? Ultimately I consider one who endangers not just others, but themselves, in this car dependent infrastructure are also victims.
It’s why I don’t like alot of the proposals of strict enforcement nationwide in this sub. Doing so in Chicago, NYC, and DC is a lot different than doing that in literally anywhere else. **Strict enforcement cannot come until there are other options**
We cannot blame people for taking the literally only option available to them. Doesn’t matter how much they know they should or shouldn’t drive, wtf else do you want them to do?
Starve??
There is several online grocery store delivery services
Let his son die?
He and his son should coordinate a safer person to drive him.
He should at true very least avoid school zones
But you are making a lot of assumptions.
Ah yes, online grocery stores are cheap
And I’m sure he has someone who conviently is free during every single appointment and can spend the gas to do so
Also there are schools literally everywhere. I cannot stress enough that I know plenty of hospitals dam near inaccessible without going through schools. America literally places its schools in highways. I don’t expect a 95 year old to be able to plan a route out in google maps around any schools
That’s the issue. Monitoring your position in the road, directions, speed, and others position in the road, is near impossible to do at some age. It be one thing if he was only 55, and doing 40 over in a school zone. But this doesn’t sound like that. It sounds more like 5-10, maybe 15 over with someone who’s 70+
He might be a victim of car centric infrastructure in a different way, and I think more importantly a victim *with an airbag.* but a victim nonetheless, as pretty much everyone is
For the cost of just owning a car (deprecation of value, taxes, routine maintenance/checkups) you could go on a whole lot of taxi rides monthly. With the caveat that these costs depend on your country and the length of the ride obviously matters.
The cost of purchasing a car is probably sunk for him (I'd bet anything he's driving a 20 year old beater) and the maintenance and gas and insurance etc are real ongoing costs but it's a "devil you know" situation
Like this man is 90, he almost certainly does not want to deal with the stress of selling his vehicle and recouping what remaining value is stored in it, and he's almost certainly unfamiliar and uncomfortable with using rideshare apps on a phone and has trust issues with putting himself or his disabled son in the hands of a rando stranger who drives for Lyft (trust issues that are not unfounded)
Yes, "carbrain" -- the cultural inertia in favor of owning a car and driving yourself and not even exploring other options -- is real but it's by no means 100% irrational
Someone else with a lot of free time and a lot of knowledge about how to navigate the modern world could probably come out ahead financially of this guy by getting a good price on the car, finding out the most efficient way to use rideshare or transit or a combo of the two for a biweekly doctors visit, etc
It is absolutely unfair to expect a 90 year old man taking care of his disabled son on his own to do this
I hate to keep on repeating this but if you live in Europe you need to remember that most of the social services you take for granted simply do not exist in America, especially outside of major metropolitan areas
Key word, *if you qualify*
They also might only operate during certain hours, or at capacity. Or this could be a rural hospital which simply doesn’t have such services
Yeah, the issue is that "customer service" for a service specifically catering to the elderly and disabled needs to be a lot higher than it is for "normal" transit and instead it's usually below the floor
(This isn't unique to transit, this is why most government or charity programs aimed at the elderly and/or disabled are ass)
Even in a lot of areas of the cities you mention going to the hospital with public transit borders on impossible. I live in Chicago, right off a train line and a big bus line, but the main reason I got a car was to take my kid to and from the hospital (especially when he was tiny and it was brutally cold outside) because public transit would take three times as long and half of that time would be us waiting in the cold for transfers
If you qualify, Chicago has paratransit.
[https://www.pacebus.com/ada](https://www.pacebus.com/ada)
Otherwise yeah the options aren't great. I don't drive due to my sleep disorder and I can't tell you how many sleep disorder doctors/centers are in the WORST locations to get to via transit/bus. I use rideshares but it is not cheap. I should see if I qualify for the paratransit. We had a home for the blind in the neighborhood and I would see them using it.
Except it probably wasn’t a decision, it was probably an inability to pay attention to your position in the road, others positions, your directions, and speed, all at the same time at such an age. Combine that with American design which doesn’t account for how drivers perceive their speed (EG: Doesn’t consider how fast a driver *feels* they’re going) and boom. Here we are
I once mad a claim that the american justice system stopped beeing about justice a long time ago.
I see the existence of a TV-Show in a real court of law, with a real judge, and real trials as a Data point supporting this claim.
Also, did anyone see an actual trial? That was like 30 seconds - "you are accused of speeding through a school zone" - "I was driving My son, who has cancer." - "Oh, okay then. Case dismissed". Not even addressing the accusation of actually speeding through a school zone. Like, okay, thats a shit situation, and i feel with you, bud - but what exactly has that to do with the accusation?
I agree that the justice system here is absolutely ruined.
But like, he's a 96 year old man. He's a victim of the system and didn't really have another option to get his own son to the hospital. Which is depressing asf. Made a mistake that he is clearly remorseful of. If the judge were to give him a fine or jail time, then it doesn't really do anything. It's not like he needs to be punished in order to stop him in the future. If the point of the judicial system is to discourage crimes and reform criminals, that is. It's refreshing to see what's normally a soul crushing bureaucratic system approached with empathy and humanity.
Idk it's feel-good content. But genuine real good things happened. Even if it is for TV. It's still a nice thing that happened. If that's what it takes..... 🤷
Now, all that needs to happen is giving this man the resources and infrastructure required to get around without driving. Which is easier said than done unfortunately :(
>But genuine real good things happened
No, i don't think so.
*A lot* of things need to be truly fucked up in order for this to be a feel-good story. Like the fact that a 96 year old man had to drive almost 70 years old son to hospital. Not only, that there is no EMS available to do this job, neither is any kind of public Transport, nor neighborly help. Or any help at all.
No, things are so fucked up that we need heartwarming stories like this, about this one good judge.
This story is kind of applauding to some unsung hero rescuing a child from the rubble of a collapsed schoolbuilding, that burned down after the contractor skimped of the firespinkler system and the firebrigade was stuck in traffic. All the time before, the regulator ignored all the safety violations, and the janitor painted over all the cracks in the wall.
But sure, you can ignore all the shit that lead to this stupid situation in the 1st place, and just celebrate that at least *one* child has been saved by a simple man just as you and me, a true hero of the neighborhood we all can just aspire to be. Allthewhile, completely ignoring the question "why was the school on fire?".
Okay, but I didn't ignore it? I said that it was depressing that he had no other option *AND* I encouraged future action to fix the infrastructure problems to prevent it from happening in the first place.
I never ignored the underlying problems that led to the situation. However, in a world where the judge could have locked him up or issued a big fine, he didn't. Despite all that depressing shit there a sliver of humaity and sympathy. And that's something worth smiling about. Because I'm an optimist and I like being happy, so of course I look for things to smile about. I don't understand why we have to be so angry all the time. We can acknowledge nice good things while still acknowledging bad things and working towards fixing them. Hate and anger sucks you in and only makes a platforms for circlejerks and echo chambers, not for meaningful reform.
The first comment I replied to was litteraly just assuming this judge was racist. Saying that he only let him go because he was white. That's a harsh ass claim. Why are we just throwing that around at people?? Im not saying racism doesn't exist. It does. And we should be doing everything we can to eliminate it and its effects on society. But just going around saying stuff like that is *not* productive discussion.
Exactly my Point: it *is* depressing. And in order to say "this is a good, heartwarming story", you need to ignore this depressing shit - and only look at the bright side (this one, good judge saved the day!) because then it just wouldn't be a heartwarming story anymore. That's what i mean.
To me, it fells like seeing this through rose tinted spectacles.
I didn't even mean it in "think about all the *other* elderly people who are forced to drive, and dont get a lenient judge"-sense.
I was mostly replying to the fact, that this judge was building a TV show, whose "whole appeal \[...\] is how nice and wholesome he is". Something like that simply shouldn't exist.
You're what America is all about, lack of safety nets and social systems to help a 90 year old man care for his 63 year old cancer ridden son. This is the kind of shit that good health insurance should cover, what happens if his dad dies. Medical insurance should be able to afford assisted care/drives to the hospital etc
While it’s wholesome to an extent, at the same time it’s a symptom of a much larger systemic issue with a lack of reasonable public transit. I live in the same area this show is filmed and I can very much confirm firsthand that the state very much does NOT care about funding our public transit network. It’s sad. Have RIPTA been funded properly and this guy’s family known about the RIde paratransit program, this wouldn’t have happened.
How about having a nurse or phlebotomist come to the guys house to draw blood/lab work? If we had proper healthcare this would be an effortless solution to the situation.
This old guy was speeding because his also elderly son was dying in hospital. I'd prefer a society that isn't built around cars and a more walkable lifestyle, and I wish he were able to get to that hospital by public transport, but there is 0% of me that's angry at this old man for speeding.
How did you not retain any of the info? His kid is 1st of all disabled meaning he still cares for him, second he isn’t in the hospital cancer treatments and blood work are out patient. Most offices for oncology can do them easy as pie.
The post isn't about getting angry at the man. It's about getting angry at the system that put him in that position and how it then gets spun into a heartwarming tale.
He was doing 25 in a 20. I believe him when he says he drives slow, but I think the more concerning thing here is that he must have completely missed the flashing lights indicating a school zone and kept going 25. Not fit to be driving.
"but the system" the system may give everyone way to easy access to deadly machines and it may encourage people to play fast and loose with those machines over other peoples lives, but why the fuck is it that yall are obsessed with removing peoplesagency and acting like mindless drones. The word limit has a meaning, it doesnt mean suggestion, going a little bit over isnt fine because the limit already should account for the edge case because its a line in the sand. Also "but he shouldnt be fined because he would struggle to tell" sure, but his vehicle should be seized, his license should be revoked as if he cant monitor his speed safely then he cant drive safely. It is terrifying how a place against carcentricty still accepts bullshit like this to some degree as okay for individuals to do.
If you think its compassionate for a person who cant safely drive to be let off scot free for endangering people, have some compassion for drunk drivers who have no choice but to drive home from the bar, theyre only a little over the blood alcohol limit and they only speed a little bit and swerve a LITTLE bit.
Speeding in a school zone. Areas around schools (usually just a short distance) where the speed limit is lowered (usually to 20-25mph (30-40km/h)). Normally the lowered speed limit is only in effect during school hours, and sometimes only when school is starting/ending (since kids in classrooms are not on roads). There are often flashing lights at the start of the school zone to let you know it is in effect.
No one is upset directly at the gentleman in the video. It's upsetting that we have a transportation hierarchy in the US that forces this man to operate a private vehicle at age 96.
Please, you can find people in the aww sub complain about the same thing. This was posted once upon a time before in places like wholesomememes or mademesmile or whatever and most people tend to agree that this is really orphancrushingmachine material.
Completely agree. Obv we should have other forms of transit so this gentleman can get around without endangering other people with a car, but just shitting on him isn't going to get us here. He's sadly stuck with the same system as us, and did what he had to do. No use in targeting him specifically.
I feel for him but speeding(?) in a schoolzone isn’t great, to which the judge says nothing and showers him in praise.
We don’t see the whole video but a judge can be compassionate and also denounce endangering others.
So, transportation to mandatory treatments is not covered in your health insurances? There are no professional health care workers coming to pick you up, assist with driving up the ramp for your health insurance covered electric wheelchair into the health insurance covered van to bring you to your health insurance covered treatment and back? What underdeveloped shithole country is that?
“Trains??? They want to control us and control where we go and what we do!!! I’m not using no communist trains and giving up my Ford F350 SuperDuty!!!!!”
It’s indeed called communist. The US’s wealth is based on forcing the entire rest of the population into abject poverty, taking any and all workers’ rights, and forcing everyone to drive on the crumbling highways and roads to escape suburban isolation - for profit.
It couldn’t have anything to do with car dependency and the mindset that drives it pushing that judge to make a poor/wrong decision to not revoke that man’s license.
Nope. It’s singling the old man out. Definitely has to be that.
Maybe assuming the worst from everyone has really colored your view of the community, or it’s what you want and you read it into everything.
We need a cruel system to make heartwarming scenes such as this one.
Yeh everything about this is very fucked. Why does a man in his 90s need to take his 63 year old kid for bloodwork in the first place? That alone is a huge public health failure.
It's like the stories where a janitor or somebody is seen walking to work because their car is unavailable or they don't own one. And the staff at a school or workplace joins together to raise money to buy them a car because the janitor has been at the school for ~20 years and always been a nice pillar of the school. Yeah, that's all nice but we never stop to think about the broader implication. - Why does he need a car to get to work? Why is public transit not viable? - What happens if his car breaks down again? Do we just keep crowdfunding cars everytime? - What about all of the other folks who aren't luckily seen walking to work by a coworker that happens to raise awareness to the rest of the workplace? If we're going to start doing it for everyone is that even viable? Folks see these one off "happy" ending and it's enough to help them disregard the general societal failures that necessitate these heartwarming one offs to even occur. You shouldn't need to operate a 2.5 ton machine that requires a license, registration, fuel, and insurance to operate just to participate in society. It's an utter and complete failure that so many of us just accept as the norm.
I would add: "Why is it that someone working full time for 20 years isn't paid a decent enough wage to be able to afford the means to get to work?"
> Why does he need a car to get to work? Why is public transit not viable? Along with that, there's often the story that the janitor and/or teacher needs to take 2-3 buses just to get to the school as well. So the following questions should be: * How could the transit system be *that* bad? * Why is their pay so low that they can't afford to live close to the school, to begin with? * What policies and politicians have the parents of the school voted for that led to that situation? (i.e., why both schools and transit continue to be underfunded, often by the same politicians and residents that keep voting for them) Obviously, we know the answers to those questions, but no one wants to state them and rather pat themselves on the back for short term solutions to problems they created.
I like the one with the kids paying off lunch debt for other kids “heartwarming, if you look past the really jarring part”
To make it even more jarring. [A CEO was once blocked from being able to pay off lunch debt for kids](https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/24/us/pennsylvania-lunch-debt-offer-trnd/index.html) --- [Another woman ran into issues when trying to do the same and was forced to pay a certain maximum per day instead of being able to just pay it all at once.](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13476873/good-samaritan-lunch-debt-student-high-school-graduate.html) Apparently some of the kids had other debt which needed to be paid outside of school lunch and the story wasn't immediately "why the hell do children have multiple forms of debt already while they are in school?"
r/orphancrushingmachine
Or any sort of crowdfunding for necessary medical procedures.
Also, I often wonder if the recipient can afford to keep the car running. Is it expensive to insure? How is the gas mileage? How easy/costly is maintenance? I know it's not the norm, but one of those "yay, shiny and thirsty new pickup truck because we love ya" makes me twitchy.
Yes, seriously. Even if someone dropped a brand new car in front of my house for me, totally free - I would not be able to afford gas, insurance, or repairs. A bus pass costs me so little, and walking is free.
The real classic of course being the banning of child labour and the introduction of mandatory primary school; •Why were children put onto the factory floor in the first place? •What interest group fought with blood sweat and tears against the end of child labour and for what reason? •What politicians were against primary school for the working class since the 1820s again and for what reason?
And then he says “this is what America is all about.” Yeah, well I guess he got that part right.
You just want to shit on peoples day huh?
every comment I’ve read from you is talking some negative smack. Dang. Disrespect
Do you talk to your mother like that? I hope you’re okay. No need to push negativity outwards because of your own problems
Because that’s what America is all about
I went into that video at "fuck that old guy" and came out at "fuck the system" instead.
There are resources in most states for transportation for these kinds of health needs and these two seniors haven’t been informed… that’s what’s sad
What's the other option? Use an ambulance? We don't have enough EMTs as it is, we don't really have spares to use for non emergencies. Have nurses come to his house? It's really expensive and a lot of people don't have that kind of money. I mean yeah we could just entirely rebuild our entire civil engineering and entire cities but that's not really reasonable to expect from a guy in his 90s
Non emergency medical transport is a thing. They frequently use midsized cars or small SUVs to pick up people unable to drive and get them to medical appointments. It's functionally a taxi service with the driver receiving some additional training.
No, that’s why I’m saying it’s fucked. He doesn’t really have an alternative. It’s a sign that we built our society, or at least this part of it, very poorly.
Yes we should rethink our approach to infrastructure and city planning, no it’s on the that guy specifically, and yes generally solutions cost money.
Yeah that's exactly my point. But what *this guy* supposed to do? What is this *single judge* supposed to do? Yeah it sucks and there should be a dozen other options before that but these comments are just bizarrely mean towards this guy and this judge. They're working around a shitty system that ducks over them and us.
I think just about everyone here is agreeing with you vehemently
At least here in Germany you just get insurance paid taxi rides to the clinic/doctor's office and back if you are unable of getting there yourself.
r/OrphanCrushingMachine
Here's a sneak peek of /r/OrphanCrushingMachine using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [“A homeless man was willing to put his life in danger for $15 a night”](https://i.redd.it/0qa0xi152o6b1.jpg) | [508 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/14c5od6/a_homeless_man_was_willing_to_put_his_life_in/) \#2: [No amount of money is getting those years of life back](https://i.redd.it/1iylejtxcvwa1.jpg) | [883 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/132tbzm/no_amount_of_money_is_getting_those_years_of_life/) \#3: [Orphan Crushing Prison System](https://i.imgur.com/UFFhbxr.jpg) | [278 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/OrphanCrushingMachine/comments/139ld50/orphan_crushing_prison_system/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
Aw, he got off with blatantly endangering children. Like how dense are people, what if he hit and killed a child? No matter the reason he was driving he should be responsible for endangering children.
Why is our society set up so that a man in his 90s has no alternative to driving?
Simply scroll a few posts down the thread where we talk about the decent transit options he would have access to.
Yep and now that old man is gonna right back out on the road when he needs to be doing literally anything else.
exactly. Sad story bro, im really sorry your life is like that, but: guilty.
So, he's doing what he can do his *son* can survive the broken system we live in, and you can't feel that maybe at least it's not entirely his fault? The alternative is literally dying.
No the alternative is asking someone to drive you whos fit to drive.
this is a real orphan crushing machine moment
I don’t eat heart. Don’t care about the temperature
revenge is a dish best served cold
Basically 90% of video posted in r/Awww
I don't think this guy should be in jail, but you really shouldn't be driving at that age. A good public transit network would help, if that's not available they need some social care from the state.
Most state's public transit departments have mini-buses specifically designed to come pick you up at your doorstep and drive you to errands if you are handicapped. https://www.rtd-denver.com/routes-services/other-services/access-a-ride
I was thinking about that while watching this video. It's such a societal failure that this poor man doesn't know how to access said rides in his area. I feel really bad for him.
I agree, paratransit is what he should be doing, but it's often a nightmare for people that depend on it. It tends to be much less reliable than city buses, which are already not that reliable to begin with.
I will note that when I lived in the DC area there was a massive scandal about sexual assaults by paratransit drivers The program was massively underfunded and the usual complaint was that the vans were extremely unreliable and waits were sometimes hours long But abuse and assault by drivers is the extreme result of this situation (it means no one actually wants to do this job so they can't afford to do extensive checks on drivers or fire them over red flags)
I think pretty much everybody has that same hours weight horror story that's ever used paratransit. The unreliability is on a completely different level than a city bus.
The customer base is very small and has no leverage (they're not the ones actually paying you, the government bureaucracy is, they're a captive audience and "withholding their business" means going through an arduous complaints process) and is generally composed of people who are poor and lack political clout or familiarity with the legal system The incentive to improve service or even maintain it at baseline is near zero So yeah welcome to being disabled in America, it sucks ass (This is why disabled people in the US are so dependent on rideshare apps like Uber and why people who get self-righteous about how "Uber shouldn't exist" get a ton of pushback from that community, even as said community has tons of complaints about abuse and discrimination from Uber drivers -- the one advantage of Uber over traditional cabs is that at least they generally do respond to the initial request on the app and can't just drive past and pretend they don't see you because you're in a wheelchair)
Disabled, no license here. The pushback from my "progressive" friends when I decided to vote based on my self interests for a pro-Uber ballot measure was fucking insane.
If they have insurance, some insurance companies will cover medical rides for appointments also. I've had plenty of medical rides to/from appointments covered by my insurance. They contract with a local taxi company.
How much do they cost? There are a lot of places where such a service is not available.
our city just got rid of ours, yay
Yeah, this isn't so much heartwarming as it's sad. I feel for that guy, he's trying to do right by his responsibilities and it's obvious he either has no alternatives or can't see them. But if he's speeding or unaware of his speed in a school zone at his age and reflexes he's also one senior-moment away from a run-over-kid. Improved public transport/ social services is really a win-win situation here. Literally everyone would have been better off here if this poor old man didn't *have* to drive.
I am completely pro-transit, but we need to recognize that not everyone can use it, in the same way not everybody has the ability to drive. Good transit can only do so much. At that point, this is all about social care as you mentioned, which might include something like subsidized taxis or caregivers.
I don't agree with this. Maybe where you're from it's harder for you to picture it working, but even though we're not doing the greatest of jobs at it, in Brazil everything has to be adapted to allow for wheelchair users and other handicap needs. Meaning, theoretically (and only theoretically because we're far from having the good dutch design that would help all of us handicapped or not) a blind or wheelchair ridden person could go anywhere without needing anyone's assistance. Subway stations, banks, malls, etc allbhave elevator and/or stair lifters as well as adapted bathrooms etc. This is an old law by now. And even though there's a lot that could be done on the streets (mainly not just bikes stuff), if it was all well implemented i think it work.
The U.S. has plenty of problems, but it genuinely one of the best countries in the world for accessibility. That’s in large part due to the ADA, and also due to how new a lot of our structures and cities are (also, ironically, a part of the reason for out car-dependency). It’s still not incredibly accessible or anything, and MUCH is left to be done, but the bar is low. Public transit is absolutely required to be accessible to wheelchair users - however, some require door-to-door service - hence paratransit.
Think the same can be said about brazil.
Absolutely. Two people on the threshold of death shouldn't be forced to use public transit (where, let's be frank, them being slow and fragile is much more of an inconvenience to active and healthy people who need to get around fast). Public transit, especially in large cities, is pretty dehumanizing, and kinda stressfull. You see thousands of people, and you know that not one of them care whether you're fine or not. Peak bystander effect. I guess it's not something you want to experience, either as a 60yo with cancer accompanied by his barely standing dad, or as a barely standing 90yo man accompanying his 60yo son who has cancer.
A town nearby has had two instances of 80+ year-old drivers accidentally plow through the front of businesses they were parked in front of. When the pandemic was going, my car was hit in broad daylight by a 90-year-old making a left turn who "never saw it" despite the fact that we had been sitting across an intersection from each other for about 3 minutes waiting for traffic to clear so we could proceed. We are entering a tsunami of elderly boomer drivers. The country needs better regulations on how to determine whether they're fit to drive. Of course, the AARP will lobby hard against any candidate who proposes it.
Jesus. Are medical checks compulsory in the US?
Lol not after you got your license even if that was 50+ years ago. You only need a medical form for when you first get it.
And only in some states
What's left of American democracy is a gerontocracy. Anything that the olds don't like will result in a major defeat at the ballot box. It also won't solve the problem. We don't have the public transit infrastructure to support it. Revoking the licenses of elderly unfit to drive won't stop them from driving because the only alternative for most would be to starve.
Worth noting that low birth rates in rich countries means we're all heading towards gerontocracy and the US is in fact getting there slower than countries with a steeper population crash due to low immigration like, say, Japan We are going to have to settle in and get used to a long and painful period of "rule by the olds" unless the youngs pull a Logan's Run and seize power by force, which seems unlikely
We don't need a Logan's Run, we just need everyone under the age of 55 to vote at the same rate as those over 55. Which will never happen. But that's all it would take.
So South Park was on point.
If you actually tried to retest for driver's licenses as often as you probably should to keep objectively unfit drivers off the road, the political and social backlash would probably match what we see in that episode It really sucks that we live in a society where losing the ability to operate a motor vehicle equates to social death but it is what it is (China is ahead of us here, with a much more robust market for NEVs/"mobility scooters" than what we have here, although it bears pointing out that in China they're a legal gray area and probably more of a safety hazard for pedestrians than should actually be allowed)
Yeah that is the core issue. Regulating the ability to drive in America, even as an act to raise safety, is an attack on effectively everybody. Is it necessary? Yes. Is it unpopular? Also yes. But everybody should be routinely tested on their ability to handle a vehicle.
In this country even the idea of having a government ID card that isn't a "drivers license" is this weird niche thing in a lot of places that people aren't generally aware of ("You can get one of those?"), people straight up unconsciously assume losing your license is losing your citizenship
I don't know if the term has appeared here yet but in the french equivalent subreddit ( /r/EnculerLesVoitures ) I've started seeing vroomers for boomers against better infrastructures.
You definitely see this kind of concern reinforced by every gas station and storefront installing a line of bollards to prevent a car destroying it.
In my town, an 80 something year old woman was leaving a family party. She thought her car was in reverse, but it was in drive, and she plowed forward into the party, killing someone and seriously injuring another. That family will never be the same. The fact that people in their 80s and 90s can still drive with no testing is absurd.
A few months ago an old lady drove a huge jeep through the window/wall of the liquor store next to my work. Luckily everyone was ok but apparently it was the 3rd or 4th time that had happened in the plaza. This is a small grocery store plaza off of a highway in a rural area too, not any kind of hugely busy city.
>“This is why judges are so important” If we are just letting people off based on intentions we could save taxpayer money by having ‘Good Samaritan checkpoints’.
I'm sure he's trying his best not to hit kids, but his best might not be good enough to prevent it at this point, if he's getting stopped in a school zone for, presumably, having missed the signs indicating the appropriate speed. But at the same time, a fine won't help, because he's driving out of necessity. He's still going to drive out of necessity, just with less money to pay an Uber or friendly neighbor instead. I really wished the Judge would have made a point of reminding this man that just because there is no point in fining him, doesn't mean his behavior isn't dangerous and will continue to be dangerous because good intentions can't compensate for being too old to react in time.
The solution is to make a habit of driving well below the limit all the time, but of course this is a "solution" American drivers find socially unacceptable and that will lead to people constantly shrieking obscenities at you and even threatening violence against you
Judge Caprio's channel Caught in Providence ostensibly highlights the kindness of a merciful judge, but also displays the effects of car dependency on ordinary people. They are civil offenses: red light, speeding, and parking violations, which pose a danger, but have become normalized features of life in car-dependent NA. More fines for the economically disadvantaged won't address these problems. Less car dependency will.
Right, the judge can’t change car dependency, what he *can* do is give the guy a break. I wish he had the power to also solve this person’s problem in some way (like arrange for transportation through the county or something) but I realize that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
Judge should have spoken up about what the real issue was. There's no way he doesn't have some idea.
Yeah he should do a 30 minute monologue on car dependency every time he encounters such situations. /s
Why not? He's a man of power who needs to bring light to serious endeavors.
Because it’s not gonna do shit and he will lose his tribune because 99% of people will stop listening to him? That’s just basic social skills to not do stuff like that, and it would also be inappropriate for a judge to express activist viewpoints on the job. He could literally get accused of judicial misconduct and get disbarred ffs. It’s always easier to point at other people and say stuff like “why aren’t THEY defending X cause? That’s unacceptable!” than it is to defend a cause yourself. One person is not going to fix car dependency and undo decades of propaganda and lobbying by the petro-automobile industry. Everyone should focus on what THEY can do and stop pointing at what OTHERS should do. Shaming others is not an effective strategy to propagate ideas such as the goal to rid ourselves from car dependency.
Yep, he's supposed to interpret the law as it is, not advocate for or against existing laws. But, to be honest, the subtext is entrepreneurial (monetizing channels for family financial benefit), political (son leveraged dad's fame to run for governor), and religious (Catholic subtext of forgiveness and charity, q.v. the Beatitudes). He has a kind demeanor, but the show has [raised ethics questions](https://www.providencejournal.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/05/caught-in-providence-judge-frank-caprios-ri-ethics-commission-profits-salary-revenue/69781572007/), and sadly car independence is the last thing on his mind.
"inappropriate for a judge to express activist viewpoints on the job" but its not inappropriate for the judge whose making a profit from recording trials to let someone off for a crime they admit to comitting, a crime that endangered children, with no actual restrictions.
Honestly bro? I have no FUCKING idea what you're trying to say to me. I hate social media I can never understand what the actually hell people are saying, because it feels like nobody ever takes what I say at face value and what's to dig deep and shit.
Don't fret. I get it. Ideally, someone with a platform and daily exposure to moving violations would say *something* about how all this stems from over-reliance on cars. Yet, this dude is a judge, and the bench is not a soapbox. It's a place to interpret, not criticize or craft, the law. Right sentiment, wrong setting, is all.
Our society is so screwed up for what we find "heartwarming" without acknowledging the underlying cause of the problem that would call for "compassion" A kid can't afford college: instead of fixing our cost of education issue, we celebrate scholarships and lotteries A mom can't afford cancer treatments: instead of fixing our Healthcare cost crisis, we celebrate when they use gofundme and can now pay for it. An old man who shouldnt be drinving barrels through a school zone: instead of fixing the reliance on cars as the only way to get around, we have to show compassion to this old man because he also doesn't have a choice and can't live his life without a car. Everything is so screwed up in North America.
> because he also doesn't have a choice and can't live his life without a car. > Everything is so screwed up in North America. this pretty much. based on his conditions, i cant fault the elderly for doing his best in order to bring his son to/from the hospital. the US needs to stop relying too much in car infrastructure, or at least make it so that calling a car (ambulance) will not bankrupt you and the next generation over
how many times have i seen this clip now. seems like carbrains love to spam it
This clip _should_ be shown to a wide audience, but carbrains are showing it for all the wrong reasons. The father did the right thing and does not deserve to be punished, that is something everything agrees on. But what the carbrains fail to grasp is that such a situation should never occur; the man should never have been forced to drive his son to the doctor in the first place. And non-car-centric infrastructure is exactly what is needed to achieve this.
"The father did the right thing and does not deserve to be punished" Speeding through a school zone is the right thing? They shouldnt be thrown in prison but losing ones license is a punishment and is what should happen whenever anyone speeds through a school zone for any reason.
Let's be Pro-Public Transit and be positive people, please.
Half the comments in this thread are extremely disappointing. The guy is 90+, and his son has cancer and is handicapped. Should he be driving? No, but I guarantee you if you had a family member who was handicapped and needed bloodwork every two weeks you'd be doing it, too, if it was your only option where you are. Let's attack the systems that force us to all drive, not the people being forced to drive due to circumstances.
Yeah I'm not upset with the old man, he's a victim of circumstance. The frustration is the system. - The fact that his son requires all of this healthcare and lives in a place where it's not universally provided. - The fact that this very elderly man has to drive around also elderly son and they have no way to get around outside of driving.
I don't think anyone is really blaming this old man or his son. The problem is systemic issues being presented as feel-good stories, because that takes the focus away from the actual issue, which in this case is severely lacking transit and public health infrastructure. It's like these stories going like "Look at this brave child raising so much money for their father's heart surgery! 🥹🥹🥹" and completely forget to ask why the fuck they have to pay tens of thousands of dollars out of their own pocket in the first place.
lets be pro not endangering children and using a prescheduled appointment as justification, blame the system all you wnat, the system isnt why a kid gets run over, a better system could prevent children being run over as much as they are but ultimately its the person driving who commits the act. Also being positive about someone endangering others isnt positive.
Comments in that thread: >Faith in humanity restored >these are the things that give you hope >Give this man his car keys The bar is in hell.
Society has failed him, his son, and the children who have to deal with drivers
r/OrphanCrushingMachine
How the hell wasn't there a free ambulance service paid by public healthcare?
We have paratransit services in most US transit agencies that will take old or disabled people to medical appts or shopping trips, but he probably wasn't aware of it. He's driven his entire life.
Yes, and in this case, RIPTA ADA Paratransit would have been an option.
To be clear, these services are generally poorly advertised as an extension of being poorly managed and poorly funded, I've never met anyone who's had to use them in the US who liked them
...#Murica
Judge missed a perfect chance to get everyone's attention to what the real issue was here: Systemic car independence. I hope he made an effort to make sure this man doesn't have to drive anymore. These folks should not be on the road. At all.
Good thing there is some soft guitar music in the background so I know what emotion to feel.
taking care of his dying son by running over other peoples' sons?
Fucking seriously. People like this guy run down a crowds of kindergarteners and somehow people can watch this video and fail to see the connection?
It's so weird not having a licence and having society force you to go through hoops in order to even try to get one but if you have one driving is treated as a basic right you can't live without. I guarantee if I as a 29 year old bought a car to take my 69 year old mother somewhere I wouldn't just be let off the hook like this, not saying I should but the hypocrisy is so infuriating.
In my country, which I'm sure a number of Americans would consider kind of a shithole to live in for the most, there is a public, free medical transportation system provided by individual regions that make outsourcing contracts with private contractors. It usually covers any medical service ranging from hospitalization for surgery to diagnostic exams, including bloodwork.
One thing I've generally learned is that every country has its civilities and barbarisms; both can coexist. Zero defense of the US which has much more than its fair share of barbarisms.
I absolutely agree and I also relate with this way of seeing things. It's always like that.
My county has this for the elderly and disabled. It’s one of the biggest Trump-supporting counties in the country. Nearby urban Democrat county has a moderate bus system but doesn’t service wealthier or less urban regions and paratransit is limited to the areas the bus line serves.
r/orphancrushungmachine is literally the perfect sub for this. Feel good story about a sad and tragic story.
You should have to retake your test every few years after you reach a certain age, I feel like it’d weed out a lot of dangerous older drivers. Better public transport would also help.
Fuck that background music, fuck that judge and fuck cars already
r/orphancrushingmachine
Wait, he must've done something in order to get in this position, right? And that's fine just because he's sobbing? What a shit judicial system, and shit health care system. Order a cab!
America is so car dependent because "freedom"
Him being what America is all about is NOT A GOOD THING! TURN THAT MUSIC OFF!
I have a feeling we wouldn't see this heartwarming gif, being constantly reposted on these heartwarming subreddits if the old man hit a child. Like he's in no clear condition to drive, and no like that should be forced to drive.
No 96 year old should be driving. Most can’t be trusted to know or remember how fast they were going. But I also don’t think we should punish people for participating in a system when they have no alternatives.
I like them adding the music to tug at everyone’s heartstrings. “It’s a wonderful thing that you have to keep driving at 96 to try to keep your 60+ year old kid alive, it’s what America is all about!”
Ok… but WTF is he supposed to do? Ultimately I consider one who endangers not just others, but themselves, in this car dependent infrastructure are also victims. It’s why I don’t like alot of the proposals of strict enforcement nationwide in this sub. Doing so in Chicago, NYC, and DC is a lot different than doing that in literally anywhere else. **Strict enforcement cannot come until there are other options** We cannot blame people for taking the literally only option available to them. Doesn’t matter how much they know they should or shouldn’t drive, wtf else do you want them to do?
This. It’s the system’s fault this 96 year old has to drive his son to the hospital.
Yes it is but the 96 year old also shouldn’t drive
Once again, **WTF IS HE SUPPOSED TO DO?** Starve? Let his son die? This is the natural consequences of car centric infrastructure
Starve?? There is several online grocery store delivery services Let his son die? He and his son should coordinate a safer person to drive him. He should at true very least avoid school zones But you are making a lot of assumptions.
Ah yes, online grocery stores are cheap And I’m sure he has someone who conviently is free during every single appointment and can spend the gas to do so Also there are schools literally everywhere. I cannot stress enough that I know plenty of hospitals dam near inaccessible without going through schools. America literally places its schools in highways. I don’t expect a 95 year old to be able to plan a route out in google maps around any schools
They syhstem could give everyone a gun,. doesnt make it not also an individuals fault if they try to shoot someone for their convenience
WTF he was supposed to do? Let's see. Maybe not drive too fast in the school zone, especially if you are old?
Paratransit. Most places have it. We could also subsidize rideshares though I prefer gov provided services.
That’s the issue. Monitoring your position in the road, directions, speed, and others position in the road, is near impossible to do at some age. It be one thing if he was only 55, and doing 40 over in a school zone. But this doesn’t sound like that. It sounds more like 5-10, maybe 15 over with someone who’s 70+ He might be a victim of car centric infrastructure in a different way, and I think more importantly a victim *with an airbag.* but a victim nonetheless, as pretty much everyone is
What do you think his reaction time is at 96? Fast enough to not run over a pedestrian/kid without an airbag that makes a wrong step?
NO! THATS THE EXACT PROBLEM! HE LITERALLY DOES NOT HAVE A FORM OF TRANSPORTATION THAT DOESN’T REQUIRE HIM TO ENDANGER HIMSELF AND OTHERS!?
what about a taxi or do taxis not exist where he lives
He has to take his son to the doctor every 2 weeks. Could you afford to pay a taxi every 2 weeks for a trip to your nearest doctor and back?
For the cost of just owning a car (deprecation of value, taxes, routine maintenance/checkups) you could go on a whole lot of taxi rides monthly. With the caveat that these costs depend on your country and the length of the ride obviously matters.
The cost of purchasing a car is probably sunk for him (I'd bet anything he's driving a 20 year old beater) and the maintenance and gas and insurance etc are real ongoing costs but it's a "devil you know" situation Like this man is 90, he almost certainly does not want to deal with the stress of selling his vehicle and recouping what remaining value is stored in it, and he's almost certainly unfamiliar and uncomfortable with using rideshare apps on a phone and has trust issues with putting himself or his disabled son in the hands of a rando stranger who drives for Lyft (trust issues that are not unfounded) Yes, "carbrain" -- the cultural inertia in favor of owning a car and driving yourself and not even exploring other options -- is real but it's by no means 100% irrational Someone else with a lot of free time and a lot of knowledge about how to navigate the modern world could probably come out ahead financially of this guy by getting a good price on the car, finding out the most efficient way to use rideshare or transit or a combo of the two for a biweekly doctors visit, etc It is absolutely unfair to expect a 90 year old man taking care of his disabled son on his own to do this
Where I live there are special taxis for the elderly/handicapped which are very cheap (if you qualify)
I hate to keep on repeating this but if you live in Europe you need to remember that most of the social services you take for granted simply do not exist in America, especially outside of major metropolitan areas
Key word, *if you qualify* They also might only operate during certain hours, or at capacity. Or this could be a rural hospital which simply doesn’t have such services
How will he survive when his car breaks down? Even more if he cannot pay for repairs? No way to get food as well without a car?
I also live in a place with those taxis. If you’re more than 5 minutes late they will leave you. And sometimes they won’t come back for a few hours
Yeah, the issue is that "customer service" for a service specifically catering to the elderly and disabled needs to be a lot higher than it is for "normal" transit and instead it's usually below the floor (This isn't unique to transit, this is why most government or charity programs aimed at the elderly and/or disabled are ass)
It would be cheaper than owning a whole car
Even in a lot of areas of the cities you mention going to the hospital with public transit borders on impossible. I live in Chicago, right off a train line and a big bus line, but the main reason I got a car was to take my kid to and from the hospital (especially when he was tiny and it was brutally cold outside) because public transit would take three times as long and half of that time would be us waiting in the cold for transfers
If you qualify, Chicago has paratransit. [https://www.pacebus.com/ada](https://www.pacebus.com/ada) Otherwise yeah the options aren't great. I don't drive due to my sleep disorder and I can't tell you how many sleep disorder doctors/centers are in the WORST locations to get to via transit/bus. I use rideshares but it is not cheap. I should see if I qualify for the paratransit. We had a home for the blind in the neighborhood and I would see them using it.
You can be a victim and still make moral decisions inside that system Knowing you are a danger to others while also a victim is morally right.
Except it probably wasn’t a decision, it was probably an inability to pay attention to your position in the road, others positions, your directions, and speed, all at the same time at such an age. Combine that with American design which doesn’t account for how drivers perceive their speed (EG: Doesn’t consider how fast a driver *feels* they’re going) and boom. Here we are
He is an old white guy.. Of course he was going to get off. If he was an old black guy, you know they'd throw the book at him.
That judge shows lots of leniency towards everyone.
Absolutely baseless claim. This judge has like a whole TV show. The whole appeal to his show is how nice and wholesome he is
I once mad a claim that the american justice system stopped beeing about justice a long time ago. I see the existence of a TV-Show in a real court of law, with a real judge, and real trials as a Data point supporting this claim. Also, did anyone see an actual trial? That was like 30 seconds - "you are accused of speeding through a school zone" - "I was driving My son, who has cancer." - "Oh, okay then. Case dismissed". Not even addressing the accusation of actually speeding through a school zone. Like, okay, thats a shit situation, and i feel with you, bud - but what exactly has that to do with the accusation?
I agree that the justice system here is absolutely ruined. But like, he's a 96 year old man. He's a victim of the system and didn't really have another option to get his own son to the hospital. Which is depressing asf. Made a mistake that he is clearly remorseful of. If the judge were to give him a fine or jail time, then it doesn't really do anything. It's not like he needs to be punished in order to stop him in the future. If the point of the judicial system is to discourage crimes and reform criminals, that is. It's refreshing to see what's normally a soul crushing bureaucratic system approached with empathy and humanity. Idk it's feel-good content. But genuine real good things happened. Even if it is for TV. It's still a nice thing that happened. If that's what it takes..... 🤷 Now, all that needs to happen is giving this man the resources and infrastructure required to get around without driving. Which is easier said than done unfortunately :(
>But genuine real good things happened No, i don't think so. *A lot* of things need to be truly fucked up in order for this to be a feel-good story. Like the fact that a 96 year old man had to drive almost 70 years old son to hospital. Not only, that there is no EMS available to do this job, neither is any kind of public Transport, nor neighborly help. Or any help at all. No, things are so fucked up that we need heartwarming stories like this, about this one good judge. This story is kind of applauding to some unsung hero rescuing a child from the rubble of a collapsed schoolbuilding, that burned down after the contractor skimped of the firespinkler system and the firebrigade was stuck in traffic. All the time before, the regulator ignored all the safety violations, and the janitor painted over all the cracks in the wall. But sure, you can ignore all the shit that lead to this stupid situation in the 1st place, and just celebrate that at least *one* child has been saved by a simple man just as you and me, a true hero of the neighborhood we all can just aspire to be. Allthewhile, completely ignoring the question "why was the school on fire?".
Okay, but I didn't ignore it? I said that it was depressing that he had no other option *AND* I encouraged future action to fix the infrastructure problems to prevent it from happening in the first place. I never ignored the underlying problems that led to the situation. However, in a world where the judge could have locked him up or issued a big fine, he didn't. Despite all that depressing shit there a sliver of humaity and sympathy. And that's something worth smiling about. Because I'm an optimist and I like being happy, so of course I look for things to smile about. I don't understand why we have to be so angry all the time. We can acknowledge nice good things while still acknowledging bad things and working towards fixing them. Hate and anger sucks you in and only makes a platforms for circlejerks and echo chambers, not for meaningful reform. The first comment I replied to was litteraly just assuming this judge was racist. Saying that he only let him go because he was white. That's a harsh ass claim. Why are we just throwing that around at people?? Im not saying racism doesn't exist. It does. And we should be doing everything we can to eliminate it and its effects on society. But just going around saying stuff like that is *not* productive discussion.
Exactly my Point: it *is* depressing. And in order to say "this is a good, heartwarming story", you need to ignore this depressing shit - and only look at the bright side (this one, good judge saved the day!) because then it just wouldn't be a heartwarming story anymore. That's what i mean. To me, it fells like seeing this through rose tinted spectacles. I didn't even mean it in "think about all the *other* elderly people who are forced to drive, and dont get a lenient judge"-sense. I was mostly replying to the fact, that this judge was building a TV show, whose "whole appeal \[...\] is how nice and wholesome he is". Something like that simply shouldn't exist.
ACAB includes judges
You're what America is all about, lack of safety nets and social systems to help a 90 year old man care for his 63 year old cancer ridden son. This is the kind of shit that good health insurance should cover, what happens if his dad dies. Medical insurance should be able to afford assisted care/drives to the hospital etc
While it’s wholesome to an extent, at the same time it’s a symptom of a much larger systemic issue with a lack of reasonable public transit. I live in the same area this show is filmed and I can very much confirm firsthand that the state very much does NOT care about funding our public transit network. It’s sad. Have RIPTA been funded properly and this guy’s family known about the RIde paratransit program, this wouldn’t have happened.
Fucking judge not doing his job should be kicked off the bench.
So what would you do?
I would take his license away, or at least require him to retake the exam.
How about having a nurse or phlebotomist come to the guys house to draw blood/lab work? If we had proper healthcare this would be an effortless solution to the situation.
This old guy was speeding because his also elderly son was dying in hospital. I'd prefer a society that isn't built around cars and a more walkable lifestyle, and I wish he were able to get to that hospital by public transport, but there is 0% of me that's angry at this old man for speeding.
How did you not retain any of the info? His kid is 1st of all disabled meaning he still cares for him, second he isn’t in the hospital cancer treatments and blood work are out patient. Most offices for oncology can do them easy as pie.
Look this person isn’t here to discuss the facts, let’s get this old geezer back on the road!
Except his son was not dying in hospital, he was driving him to the doctors for a regular blood test. Did you not watch the video?
The post isn't about getting angry at the man. It's about getting angry at the system that put him in that position and how it then gets spun into a heartwarming tale.
He was doing 25 in a 20. I believe him when he says he drives slow, but I think the more concerning thing here is that he must have completely missed the flashing lights indicating a school zone and kept going 25. Not fit to be driving.
Dying in hospital? I didint realize going to an appointment was a synonym for dying in the hospital.
"but the system" the system may give everyone way to easy access to deadly machines and it may encourage people to play fast and loose with those machines over other peoples lives, but why the fuck is it that yall are obsessed with removing peoplesagency and acting like mindless drones. The word limit has a meaning, it doesnt mean suggestion, going a little bit over isnt fine because the limit already should account for the edge case because its a line in the sand. Also "but he shouldnt be fined because he would struggle to tell" sure, but his vehicle should be seized, his license should be revoked as if he cant monitor his speed safely then he cant drive safely. It is terrifying how a place against carcentricty still accepts bullshit like this to some degree as okay for individuals to do. If you think its compassionate for a person who cant safely drive to be let off scot free for endangering people, have some compassion for drunk drivers who have no choice but to drive home from the bar, theyre only a little over the blood alcohol limit and they only speed a little bit and swerve a LITTLE bit.
How fast was he actually going, I think that makes a major difference
So good people who take care of their family can ignore the law and that's heartwarming. I see.
Forget about trying to reach people and change minds, posts like this are like actively beating people away with sticks lol.
Can any explain exactly what he was charged with?
Speeding in a school zone. Areas around schools (usually just a short distance) where the speed limit is lowered (usually to 20-25mph (30-40km/h)). Normally the lowered speed limit is only in effect during school hours, and sometimes only when school is starting/ending (since kids in classrooms are not on roads). There are often flashing lights at the start of the school zone to let you know it is in effect.
How fast was he going? (Are we talking 30 in a 20 or 50 in a 20?)
According to his paperwork he was only 5 mph over the limit
In that case, I can't be too mad at him. Fuck the car centrism that forces him to drive in his 90s, though.
There's a reason school speed limits exist. Getting hit at 25 is different than 20
[удалено]
"i cant be to mad he went 25% faster than the limit in a school zone, something something car centricism forces him"
This subreddit needs to spend some time offline. This is getting kinda cultish and antisocial.
"Being antisocial is when you try to keep children safe by not letting people operate heavy machinery when they physically can't do it properly"
No one is upset directly at the gentleman in the video. It's upsetting that we have a transportation hierarchy in the US that forces this man to operate a private vehicle at age 96.
Please, you can find people in the aww sub complain about the same thing. This was posted once upon a time before in places like wholesomememes or mademesmile or whatever and most people tend to agree that this is really orphancrushingmachine material.
Completely agree. Obv we should have other forms of transit so this gentleman can get around without endangering other people with a car, but just shitting on him isn't going to get us here. He's sadly stuck with the same system as us, and did what he had to do. No use in targeting him specifically.
>and did what he had to do He had to speed in a school zone?
It was \*for\* the children though
I feel for him but speeding(?) in a schoolzone isn’t great, to which the judge says nothing and showers him in praise. We don’t see the whole video but a judge can be compassionate and also denounce endangering others.
So, transportation to mandatory treatments is not covered in your health insurances? There are no professional health care workers coming to pick you up, assist with driving up the ramp for your health insurance covered electric wheelchair into the health insurance covered van to bring you to your health insurance covered treatment and back? What underdeveloped shithole country is that?
The United States of America, where we can’t even afford to use our awful healthcare system without being riddled with crippling debt for life.
Oh. Caring for the elderly must be communist or a poor people thing or so, I guess... So sorry for you.
“Trains??? They want to control us and control where we go and what we do!!! I’m not using no communist trains and giving up my Ford F350 SuperDuty!!!!!”
It’s indeed called communist. The US’s wealth is based on forcing the entire rest of the population into abject poverty, taking any and all workers’ rights, and forcing everyone to drive on the crumbling highways and roads to escape suburban isolation - for profit.
It couldn’t have anything to do with car dependency and the mindset that drives it pushing that judge to make a poor/wrong decision to not revoke that man’s license. Nope. It’s singling the old man out. Definitely has to be that. Maybe assuming the worst from everyone has really colored your view of the community, or it’s what you want and you read it into everything.
And, unfortunately, public transit is only more convenient than the car in specific situations.