'I also like to think that if I was driving the SUV that night, I would pay enough attention to my driving to avoid such a collision. Though of course that is just speculation. '
This accident occurred on a single track road with no lights.
Now this is NOT speculation, but anyone who drives on such roads regularly knows damn well how windy and narrow all these roads are. There is often little to no room to manouvre on such roads as the geography around them prevents it. Even at slow rates of speed, other vehicles and animals can be nigh on impossible to detect even during the day due to the bendy nature of many of these roads.
I've had to reverse into passing places quite frequently around here.
Sometimes, too, if the road is downhill, even in a lower gear, it's not so easy to stop quickly without flipping your vehicle, over a cliff or into water in many instances.
You have an astronomically small chance of avoiding such a collision if you cannot see the object properly at night no matter how careful a driver you are.
That is why you don't see people on horses or the like on such roads at night except in rare instances and then they are covered in reflective materials.
I think it's absolutely unconscionable to assume that poor woman was at any fault especially after the investigation has demonstrated as much.
He broke the law.
He also realised this and took teh wee girl home instead of ringing an ambulance then and there or taking the girl straight to hospital.
This is negligent.
He will probably not serve any jail time.
But the law needs to be upheld or become an even bigger ass than it already is.