Agreed. Why can people never just make up their own mind in individual issues? Why does everything have to be a "liberal v conservative" debate. If no human being is perfect, logically it follows that neither side of politics can be perfect either.

You can add me to the "exceptions" list -- I neither drink nor drive.

It's the latter tendency that is more relevant here. If this guy had used a gun or a knife, do you think he'd only be getting nine months? Somehow I think under those circumstances, the sentence would have been considerably harsher. The problem is with this whole "accident" culture that seems to have sprung up around automobile deaths.

As a child, I was raised under the impression that an "accident" occurred due to unforseen circumstances where unexpected things go wrong, perhaps where you've done your best in a situation that was unwinnable. "Accident" does not mean attempting to do something where it is patently obvious that there are possible, nay, likely consequences (and serious ones at that).

While ever situations like this continue to be mis interpreted as "accidents" rather than the crimes they really are, we will never get appropriate sentences.

This issue has nothing to do with increased public transport/reduced driving. It is simply an accountability issue.