28 January 2008

Grant’s Law - punishing the masses to protect the few

Posted by Rotorboy under: the World .

Starting Feb 1/08, you will be required to pre-pay for all fuel purchases at all BC service stations.

The new law is in response to the 2005 death of Grant De Patie, a gas station attendant who tried to stop a motorist who was fleeing after not paying for a petty $12 in gas. You can read more here.

This is a tragic story and a family has lost a son. I understand their pain and I empathize with them. The cowardly driver should be locked away for manslaughter for a very long time… period.

But do we really need a law to protect gas station attendants? Has common sense been throw out the window at the expense of convenience to 99% of the population?

I admit that this new law will hardly affect the manner in which most people fuel their vehicles, including myself. My gripe with this law isn’t that I’ll have to pre-pay my fuel purchase as I usually use my debit card anyway. It’s about common sense and responsibility.

How about mandating some basic training for attendants? How about legislating that gas companies train their employees on what to do in such an incident? How about some responsibility from the gas companies?

Nope, it makes much more sense to implement a new law to punish the consumer instead.

The driver of the “gas-n-go” car had options. He chose to fuel up and drive away. A poor choice, no doubt. But Grant De Patie had options as well. Rather than try and be a hero over $12 in gas, why did he simply not make note of the car and, more importantly, get the license plate, and report it to the police?

No, he exercised an option that got himself killed. Not exactly the smartest choice he’s made, I’m sure.

Let’s face facts:
An innocent young man was killed by a selfish, cowardly thief. They both made choices. Regrettably neither of them made a good choice at the time.

That doesn’t change the fact that people have to take responsibility for their actions and choose the best option for the situation they are in.

I guess I must be wrong. People are stupid and must be protected… even if that means you have to live with a little less freedom than your parent’s generation.

Your thoughts?

3 Comments so far...

dan

Posted on January 29th, 2008 at 17:55

I agree. People are stupid. Wait, that’s what you’re trying to get across right? If not, this is much too deep.

Seriously though. People need to take responsibility for things. Just like the case of the kids that beat the teenager with an axe at a house party and get a conditional sentence, we need to have significantly stricter laws so people learn from example.

san

Posted on February 2nd, 2008 at 6:31

“Has common sense been throw out the window at the expense of convenience to 99% of the population?” yes when 99% of the population doesn’t have common sense anymore and need a mommy and daddy to spank them

“How about mandating some basic training for attendants” um i was taught at 7=11 that if someone drives off without paying for gas to run after them and try to stop them if unsucessful get thier plate number and phone the rcmp. result: police will not attend unless it was over 50$ in theft. bosses result: fired me for having 3 drive offs in the last 2 years.

its not just about gas drive offs now its less chance of some f ‘ed up crack head pulling a bne and unalbe to as the doors are locked. its about no more gas drive offs which happens about 20,000 times a year( the 99% of the population who needs to be spanked)

“Nope, it makes much more sense to implement a new law to punish the consumer instead.” how are you being punished?? your still able to buy gas and they have a neat option choice : fill up to 75$ just in case math isn’t your strong suite. i suppose you also cried the day they started taking away full serve. i remember all the poor people who felt ‘punished’ then too.

as far as making bad choices sometimes life doesn’t open the right doors or windows for us. he was still young maybe didn’t know what to do with his life. he was dedicated to his job i’ll tell you …i knew him and you forget that the fuzzy jobs that make big dough are not easy to find. someone has to work the gas station for you. with boss breathing down your throat that its your fault the gas drove away what do you do? quit become a homeless crack addict?

now lucky me i get to work as a night audit for a hotel and i have no recourse for the crack heads that come in my hotel -breaking into cars -shooting up -banging on customers doors for money. i am not protected as retail workers are. ….it used to be a nice neighbourhood

Rotorboy

Posted on February 2nd, 2008 at 17:01

Quote from san: “um i was taught at 7=11 that if someone drives off without paying for gas to run after them and try to stop them if unsucessful get thier plate number and phone the rcmp.”
Choices, san. Use your head. Either simply do not run after someone to try and stop them OR find a new job without the bullshit ‘company policy’ that does nothing but put the employee at risk.

Quote from san: “as far as making bad choices sometimes life doesn’t open the right doors or windows for us”
“and you forget that the fuzzy jobs that make big dough are not easy to find”:
There’s a classic example of a person crying the blues about their poor, pathetic life. Your life/job could be better but instead of focusing on making your life better, you piss and moan about how bad your life is. People like you think the world owes them something. Give me a fucking break.

And while we’re at passing laws… why don’t we just make EVERYTHING pre-paid? There are alot of instances where employees could be mis-treated, beaten or robbed.

What about taxi drivers? How about pizza delivery? Why don’t we prepay for our 7-11 hotdogs?

Where does it end, san? Shall we just make the whole world prepay for everything?