Urban Environment - Bridges

[ebacon]

This morning there was a news story about vandals that tossed a rock off a bridge and struck a motorist, seriously injuring her. The story made me think of a coworker who suffered a similar accident in Detroit. His passenger was killed by a bowling ball that was tossed off a bridge.

Do such things happen in Europe? If not, what might be differences that result in a better-behaved populace?

One of the things that struck me upon arriving in the States was the seeming abundance of things that we are NOT supposed to do. It seemed like every other sign started with NO. No loitering. No skateboarding. No, no, no. It also struck me as odd that the pedestrian bridges had tall chain link fencing on them. They are ugly.

What might be a societal effect of all the nos and fencing? Might youth feel as though they are stifled and distrusted? Might they lash out when they finally get a chance?

It would be interesting to get some professional insight on the topic of architecture and societal effects.

Here is some artistic insight:
Signs - Five Man Electric Band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeT5otk2R1g

[barbara]

I don't know all the answers to your questions.... But think the over all answer has something to do with lawyers, lawsuits, and the American preoccupation to sue if it looks like there is $$ to be had.

Example.... The fencing around pedestrian bridges.... I'm sure that when some gov agency set about planning that bridge, they considered every possible way a person could hurt themselves using it and then built it with safeguards to prevent injury. Not because the gov is worried about the person.... But worried about the person suing for injury.

[ebacon]

Lawyers!

/Colbert angry fist

:D

[bobabode]

Lawyers!

/Colbert angry fist

:D

Well spoke counselor. ;)

[Tom Joad]

The fist time I heard about this sort of thing happening was 15 years ago.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19990329&id=R28fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Bn4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6602,6986207

One of the maggots that did it got life.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/keyword/university-of-alabama/recent/3

May 27, 2000
SARASOTA - A young man convicted of second-degree murder for hurling a hunk of concrete from a highway overpass and killing a University of Alabama professor was sentenced Friday to life in prison. Juan Cardenas, 19, of Wimauma in Hillsborough County northeast of Bradenton, was sentenced for killing Julie Laible when he tossed a 22-pound rock from an Interstate 75 overpass on March 27, 1999. Laible, 32, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., was traveling south near Bradenton, about 35 miles south of Tampa, when the block of concrete exploded through the windshield of her car, hitting her in the head.

http://txstage.ny.atl.publicus.com/article/20010822/NEWS/108220328?Title=Fugitive-in-rock-throwing-death-of-UA-professor-caught-in-Texas

I hope they are all rotting in prison.


A man who has been on the run for his alleged role in the 1999 rock-throwing death of University of Alabama professor Julie Laible was captured in a Texas border town Tuesday.

Eighteen-year-old Jesus Dominquez was last seen Aug. 23, 2000 - the night before he was scheduled to plead guilty to felony charges in the death of Laible, who was killed when another teen-ager tossed a concrete block at her car from an overpass on Interstate 75 in Florida.

Dominquez is accused of driving two teens to the overpass.

Before skipping bail, Dominquez, of Ellenton, Fla., spent 16 months wearing an ankle bracelet that detected his movements in and out of his home but didn’t allow authorities to track his whereabouts.

A judge had reduced his bail from $100,000 to $25,000, allowing his family to bail him out while he awaited trial. Dominquez left his family in debt to a bondsman when he ran off.

Detectives in Bradenton believe Dominquez had been living across the border in Matamoros, Mexico. Early Tuesday they received a tip that he would be visiting a home in Brownsville, Texas, a spokesman said.

After detectives called an FBI field office, agents and local police staked out the home and arrested Dominquez.

Dominquez now faces second-degree murder charges in Manatee County, Fla., for allegedly driving Juan Cardenas, 18, and Noe Ramirez, 16, to the overpass, where Cardenas dropped a 22-pound chunk of concrete onto Laible’s car. The rock smashed through the windshield, instantly killing the 32-year-old Laible.

[Tom Joad]

http://www.myplainview.com/article_19102918-8ff4-5dfd-8fa4-8e2f75159a5c.html

A teen-ager has been sentenced to 21 years in prison for his role in killing a University of Alabama professor by dropping a 22-pound piece of concrete off a highway overpass.

Jesus Dominguez, 19, one of three teen-agers involved in the 1999 incident, had pleaded no contest to a second-degree murder charge.

"I'm sorry for you and for your family," Judge Marc Gilner told Dominguez on Thursday. "I'm also sorry for the victim's family."

Police say Julie Laible, 32, was killed instantly by the bowling ball-sized chunk that crashed through her car window as she drove on Interstate 75 west of Tampa.

Dominguez was arrested in Texas a year later. The other defendants were Juan Cardenas, 21, who is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, and Noe Ramirez, 18, who served house arrest after being convicted as a juvenile.

[Tom Joad]

http://www.unewsonline.com/2001/08/24/floridamanchargedinprofessorsdeath/

Cardenas is serving life in prison for his role in Laible’s murder, while Ramirez served 58 days behind bars, after being convicted as a juvenile of culpable negligence in the professor’s death.

[Tom Joad]

I disagree with all of these sentences.

Cardenas should have been executed.

Dominquez should be serving life without parole.

And Ramirez should have been tried as an adult and sentenced to 20 years of hard time.

[donquixote99]

I wonder if I should add 'desire that evil acts be punished' to my list of human instincts.

I remember an old 'Candid Camera' segment in which some preschoolers were playing. Maybe ages 3 to 5. A boy, older, wrecks something a young girl was doing. Don't remember what now. Anyway, he accepts he did bad, and offers her his arm, so she can bite it, in retribution. Even lets her bite it twice, maybe first time wasn't hard enough? Anyway, he does wrong, he actually seeks punishment, and then all is well.

Funny how that works.

[Tom Joad]

I wonder if I should add 'desire that evil acts be punished' to my list of human instincts.

Especially when those evil acts hit close to home.

I was very familiar with that I-75 overpass.

I drove under it numerous times myself.