People will always get distracted. I get distracted. That's why I think speed limits should be lower and general standards of driving should be better, and why people shouldn't use mobile phones etc. etc. Accidents are going to happen, but it's probably not a great idea to encourage them. Blame aside, there should be an elevated level of responsibility and a duty of care for anyone in charge of a large, fast moving and potentially lethal machine. We allow too much scope for an oops moment. Low sun, trapped nerves, and now interesting lorries. I think I've read every excuse. If you drive a vehicle you should be held to some level of innate responsibility. The onus should be on the you the driver not to make mistakes. Otherwise, it's an environment of excuses rather than responsibility, and it becomes easier to make the former rather than be the latter.
Nine seconds though is a lifetime of inattention in a fast moving vehicle. How can we say that's acceptable or define it as 'careless'? Careless is forgetting to turn the bathroom light off before leaving the house, not killing a man. That it 'could have happened to anyone'? It doesn't happen to anyone. At what point did it become reasonably OK or a bit careless to kill someone provided you weren't speeding or using a mobile phone? I guess it's now OK to run someone over if you do it 'carefully' enough.
