Posted On: July 21, 2004, 8:18 pm CDT

Posted By: Hank

Not being at first familiar with the case, I read the opinion at http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/2004/sween091.htm and the plaintiff crossed out of the lane she was to be in which led to the collision. The interpretation by the Supreme Court appears valid in that light and it is being sent to a lower court to be heard. The point is, an omission or loophole appears to be the basis of the legal test rather than taking the case on the merit of negligence on the part of the operator, hence my earlier comment on what amounts to reckless operation of a motor vehicle on a gravel road where injury was pursuant to the vehicle leaving the road an sticking a tree. The question before the court was one of statutory interpretation, but we know the ultimate purpose here is not to sort out the intent of the law but rather to make the negligent whole. It is sad when that is result in an otherwise estimable decision.