Woman Offered Compensation After Being Run Over By Her Pet Dog

[PepitoVFR]

I don't know what to make of this :)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-06/victorian-woman-run-over-by-her-pet-dog/5869468

[Stressmagnet]

Wow. No words, just confused.

[RiverStar-Aura]

I'm confused over the fact that the dog "bumped" the handbrake. All cars I've been driving, a requirement to release the handbrake is to push the button and pull up before pushing it down; a bump shouldn't dislodge it.

Further questioning, why wasn't the dog restrained in the back of the car?

Yet another case of a stupid person blaming someone/something else for their own stupidity and being rewarded for it.

[aliwake]

Or, it was just a terrible accident.

Was it law to restrain dogs in cars 10 years ago (when the accident happened)? I thought that was a relatively new thing...

The only thing that makes me sick is that victims of crime have their lives destroyed just as surely, but don't get anywhere close to the payouts. Did anyone read the story yesterday about the poor girl who was gang-raped years ago, and was assessed as eligible for $50k compensation, but then they retroactively reduced her payout to $15k. So unfair.

[jerojath]

aliwake this case can hardly be compared to a victim of gang-rape!

We pay compulsary TAC insurance when we register our cars. This case was deemed a 'motor vehicle accident' regardless of the cause, so she has just (finally) received the compensation she deserves and is owed.

If the victim of the gang-rape had been paying insurance against such an attack, then her 50K payout would seem unfair.

You are right though..... when this accident occurred there was no law regarding dogs being restrained in vehicles.

It was a freak, terrible (although somewhat strange!) accident that has changed her life forever. She has had a hip replacement among other operations because of it and will never be her former self again.

To be honest, I would think she deserved more than what she received....

[aliwake]

aliwake this case can hardly be compared to a victim of gang-rape!

We pay compulsary TAC insurance when we register our cars. This case was deemed a 'motor vehicle accident' regardless of the cause, so she has just (finally) received the compensation she deserves and is owed.

If the victim of the gang-rape had been paying insurance against such an attack, then her 50K payout would seem unfair.

You are right though..... when this accident occurred there was no law regarding dogs being restrained in vehicles.

It was a freak, terrible (although somewhat strange!) accident that has changed her life forever. She has had a hip replacement among other operations because of it and will never be her former self again.

To be honest, I would think she deserved more than what she received....

I agree it was a poor comparison, sorry. I guess it's just something that is still very current in my head. It's great that there is a pool of money for compensation following road accidents courtesy of our insurance payments, it's just unfortunate there isn't a fairer system in place for victims of crime.

Though back to the incident in question, it is shameful that these payouts take so long to process - I certainly hope she received some kind of interim payments so she could afford to live while recovering from her injuries.

[RuralPug]

The whole point of no-fault compensation is that it lets people get on with living their lives as best they can in spite of handicaps acquired in a vehicle accident, no matter what the cause or who was at fault.

We all pay for that when we pay our registration fees.

And a large dog like a goldie could easily push a paw against the button and move the hand brake lever accidentally. They are big strong dogs. I have accidentally released a handbrake by leaning over to attend to a child in the back seat, so I have no doubt that a large dog could do the same.