Not being in control of your vehicle or availing yourself to the prevailing laws is no defence. It was no accident, it was negligence. You can't side step not paying due care and attention with "I got confused".
And that is the problem,
Of course she was "Negligent" Almost ALL accidents are as a result of "Negligence". Really, should everybody who has an accident, no matter how trivial, while driving automatically face serious criminal charges??
In her case, A type of negligence that I expect
every driver who has ever switched between driving LHS and RHS will have been guilty of. but will, the vast majority of the time, have had no more serious consequences than an "Oh Crap" moment.
Sadly, In this particular case, the consequences were fatal. But that fatality does not and should not make the extent of her criminal culpability more serious.
This really comes under the remit of "Driving without due care and attention" and the fact that somebody died should not really be an additional consideration
criminally speaking
Sure, she would in the US under similar circumstances, face a "Wrongful Death" civil claim, as sure as night follows day. And being the US it would undoubtedly be a very large one! But, in the absence of any other aggravating factors such as intoxication, her criminal liability probabally would not extend beyond a fine and endorsement. (If anybody knows better, feel free to comment)
Sadly, as a result of the "Daily Mail" lobby who equates "Justice" to being a 21st century version of the code of Hamnuranmbi, the UK has absurd offences such as "Causing death by <Inset minor error here>" for which one can receive penalties based not on what you actually did, but on whatever unfortunate consequences might have arisen simply as a result of misfortune and bad timing.
Latest update to this is that she has now been charged with causing death by dangerous driving
And this is just absurd.
She wasn't drunk, She wasn't speeding. She wasn't driving recklessly. She wasn't driving tired, she wasn't fiddling with her phone, In fact, there were no aggravating factors at all. It was an momentary error that happened to have a serious outcome
The "Dangerous Driving" aspect is based solely on the fact that somebody died.
And "Somebody died so somebody has to go to prison" is not justice, at least not in any civilised jurisdiction anyway.
Were I in her position I do not think I would willingly return to the UK to face a vengeful and unjust legal system either
