Show CourtE Courts Court s Can Curb Hi Run Hit Run f-Run Driven Driving 9 E have another run hit-run driving case which ought to bring WE home to everyone in Salt Lake City ty the viciousness of this type of traffic offense and the need for taking drastic action to put puta a stop to such violations An year old girl was struck reportedly by a run hit-run driver near her home about 8 o'clock in the evening The callous driver of that car left her lying unconscious in the gutter where had she not been found shortly thereafter by passersby she might easily have frozen to death in the snowstorm which was then at its height Taken to a hospital the girl was found to tobe tobe tobe be suffering from a fractured jaw and leg At last reports she was only semiconscious and in a serious condition Police PoUce department investigators believe the child was lying In the gutter about 10 minutes before she was found They are of course making every effort to track down this heartless mo mo- We hope they spare no pains in their search and that they do track him down although it is admittedly no easy task to find md a run hit-run driver whose despicable act apparently went unnoticed by anyone But even if police should track down this wretched individual individual individual indi indi- m vidual and bring him to justice that is no assurance of adequate punish punishment ent The record of our cou courts in dealing with run hit-run drivers in the e past is very unsatisfactory unsatisfactory and and we think it has contributed directly to the continued prevalence of run hit-run driving driving driving ing in the city We have said before editorially and ana we will say it again and again that the only cure for run hit driving is to make the theof of offers tens so risky and so costly that motorists are afraid to drive off and leave their victims You cant can't educate people who by their nature might be run hit-run drivers into reforming their ways because there is nothing to reform until the vicious deed is done You cant can't appeal to their humanitarian instincts because such h heartless artless people haven't any humanitarian instincts You just have to put the fear of God into them The great mass of motorists motorists motorists motor motor- which will include the relatively small per percentage who would pull such a craven raven trick as to run someone down dow and drive on must be convinced that police investigation of run hit-run cases Is so 80 relentless and e expert pert that few hit run hit run drivers escape capture capture capture cap cap- ture and that judicial punishment is so much more severe that it doesn't pay to be a sneaking heartless coward The investigation phase of the ma matter ter is in hi pretty fair hape We are catch catching ng run hit-run drivers But we arent aren't adequately adequately ade ade- q punishing t them em The courts should assume that every run hit-run driver was at atthe atthe atthe the time of th the accident a a. a drunken or reckless driver Otherwise why should he flee On that premise they should punish the run hit-run driver about twice as hard as they would had he been convicted as a drunken or reckless driver But do they They do not The penalty is commonly less than that for drunken driving despite the probability that very many run hit-run drivers are also drunken drivers As As a result your drunken driver who has an accident nt nat- nat decides he is smart if he drives off so he can sober up up P Pore before ore he is c caught if caught if he is caught caught and and then come before the cou court t with a sob story about sudden panic or ignorance or that he didn't think his victim was hurt etc etc ad nauseam The o only ly way we are going to stop such vicious cases of f run hit-run driving as that involving this year old ld girl is to throw the book at t EVERY run hit-run driver Only when the courts begin to do t their duty will we begin to curb this despicable practice practice practice tice of motorists heartlessly leaving their victims while they try y to save saye their own worthless skins |