On Sun, 04 Feb 2007 15:05:08 GMT, "Tom Littleton"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
How would you feel if halfway across the Atlantic, the pilot of the jet
you were on came back and told the passengers to get their swimsuits on
because he was thinking about Voltaire, quantum physics, and barbacoa
recipes and didn't notice there wasn't enough fuel to make it all the
way?

TC,
R

somewhere along this thread, I missed the part where
Becky was a professional driver, in charge of the well
being of her passengers.
Tom

As to what Wolfgang might have relayed Becky specifically,
thankfully I did too...

OTOH, when a person - Becky, you, me, Jeff, or whoever, chooses to
accept the qualified privilege of operating a vehicle on public
roadways, they also accept a duty of responsibility for the well-being
of others, at least insofar as they have such control. And since gas
gauges apparently even come in Braille, there aren't many possible
mitigating factors to move running out of gas out of the "negligence"
(used in the common-usage sense, rather than the legal sense) category.
And I'd agree with Jeff that "negligence" (in either sense) doesn't
equal "stupid," but I'd add that "not stupid" also doesn't equal "not
negligent." And I'd offer that "negligence" very often precedes
"tragedy." I don't claim that it must do so.

Hey, if when it's all said and done, the facts surrounding a specific
incident of whoever running out of gas are nothing more than humorous,
fan-damn-tasic - I'm all for humorous situations. But let's not confuse
an anecdotal "happy ending" with a guarantee of same.

TC,
R