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I cannot get to the site (blocked for EU) but the rule in France is two way.

The driver must not enforce its priority when there is someone crossing the street at a place they should not. The price is high.

A pedestrian can cross anywhere but has priority only on a zebra crossing. They are however expected to use a zebra crossing if there is one less 50 m away. It may cost you 11€ if you do not.

The reality is of course that people cross everywhere and it takes a lot of self control not to crosson a red light when there is nobody (I did that when I had small kids to give the right example)



Exactly.

And typically, the forensics would try to determine if a driver that hit a pedestrian in a situation where it could have been avoided at least tried to brake.

If not, the driver would typically be charged for negligence and it would launch an investigation for murder.


> and it would launch an investigation for murder

manslaughter, I assume?


Yes, he meant "manslaughter" - see my comment below the other one of yours.


People exaggerate things for internet points. In every jurisdiction where intent matters you would be correct.


You may want to hold on with the pitchfork for a moment.

TL;DR If @satellite2 is, like myself, French, we do not have separate words for "murder" and "manslaughter" in the everyday language.

Longer version: we have the verb "tuer" ("to kill") which can be applied to people, flies, bears, time or boredom. It just mean to go from a state of "live/be" to "not live/be".

We then have the noun "homicide". It is never used in the everyday language (but would be in legal proceedings and sometimes on the TV news when they want to qualify the act). Its etymology is "homme" + "occire" ("man" + "old French word for kill"). It means "to kill a man". There is no connotation beside that and you add the adjective "volontaire" or "involontaire" ("intended" or "unintended") to make the English difference between "murder" and "manslaughter". And then plenty of other legal qualifications (premeditation or not etc.)

Again: this is a word you would not use in everyday conversation. Please note that there is no verb derived from "homicide". It is only a noun.

In many cases people will use "murder" to mean "someone was killed somehow", while technically "murder" ("meurtre" in French) is an intended act. But since our "manslaughter" ("homicide volontaire") is too long we use "murder".


> driver must not enforce its priority... pedestrian can cross anywhere but has priority only on a zebra crossing

If drivers have priority ("right of way" in USA) but cannot enforce it, then they don't really have it, do they?

It's easier to just say pedestrians always have right of way.


If pedestrians have the right of way, but can't enforce it, then they don't really have it either, do they?


Not quite. A driver doesn’t stop for someone crossing the road. That’s the difference. The pedestrian waits and crosses when it’s safe.


See @satellite2 answer above - this is not that simple and is indeed some kind of gray area.




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