Hacker News Reader

Comment by robmate | Hacker News Reader

"A man who was found guilty of reckless endangerment after his drone injured two people during Seattle’s 2015 Pride Parade, including a woman knocked unconscious, was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail."

He knocked a woman unconscious!! 30 days in jail seems a little bit off to me but he could've injured someone badly...

View on HN

> a little bit off to me

I can't even work out if you think it's too high or too low.

You say that the woman was knocked unconscious with lots of exclamation marks as if you think that's really serious, but then you say he could have injured her badly, as if you think being knocked unconscious isn't a bad injury.

>but then you say he could have injured her badly, as if you think being knocked unconscious isn't a bad injury.

I blame TV and Movies for this, we see people get knocked unconscious all the time and it's always treated as this minor thing, like we just have an off button that takes a good hard knock. In real life of course, any blow that knocks you unconscious has a very real risk of killing you.

As we're starting to learn from pro sports, concussions are serious injuries that can have lifelong effects on cognitive function. He did injure someone badly.

To get hit in the head hard enough to lose consciousness is not a minor incident.

Regardless of how lasting the effects of the concussions were, at least one person's life has been significant set back here.

I think you mean that two people's lives have seen significant setback here. Brain injuries in general and concussions specifically are not minor injuries: their effects can last from months to lifetimes, impacting work and private lives.

I had a friend who "hit his head" and went unconscious; he died. We were warned that even if he lived, he would likely be a different person. If all the woman suffers is a few months of impaired cognitive functionality, she will be lucky.

Someone still has to die before some people realize how dangerous drones can be?

https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/dangerous-drones-dai...

Boomerangs too!

Anything can be dangerous in the hands of an imbecile.

What do you think you're adding to the conversation by saying "Anything can be dangerous in the hands of an imbecile?"

40,000 people died in automobile accidents last year. We had several million other accidents with cars. You don't need to be an imbecile to have an accident. Objects controlled by humans moving at a high rate of speed turn out to be dangerous, and great care is required.

How much karma do I have to waste explaining such a simple idea to people? I'm done.

You absolutely need to be a) an imbecile or b) deliberately reckless to cause a car accident.

Driving is really quite simple.

What am I adding to the conversation? I thought your question was fucking stupid and typical of people that want to put safety rails on everything, child proof everything, and legislate everything to the point you cant do anything fun. Im not saying you're that person, but I am saying that your question sure makes it sound like you are. I felt my response was a common sense response to your silly, perhaps hyperbolic, question and needed to be said. What exactly did your question add to the conversation? Nothing.

[Edit]

Also, in response to your car analogy, how many of those accidents were caused by people operating a motor vehicle while on a phone, texting, being intoxicated, being on drugs prescribed or illegal, being too exhausted to drive, driving too fast in hazardous conditions such as rain, snow, and ice, driving recklessly or at a high rate of speed through construction zones, etc.? Are you telling me these people were able to get a license without being aware of the dangers? Hell, there are even laws to prevent most of the stuff I listed yet people do them anyhow. People are reckless, only are concerned with themselves, and many can't seem make the connection that actions have consequences, or they just don't care. That makes them what? Say it with me... Imbeciles!

[Edit 2]

> How much karma do I have to waste explaining such a simple idea to people? I'm done.

I especially enjoyed your last line. Thank you for that :-)

There's a general lack of awareness of how dangerous an impact from a falling drone can be, especially with drones so easily obtained (and so easily disabled).

These are 4-5lb objects moving at terminal velocity (or faster) hitting people. That's not just dangerous, and I would hesitate to call your average drone owner an "imbecile".

How is someone not an imbecile if they are old enough to own and operate a device that weighs 4 or 5 lbs, moves at a high rate of speed, and has sharp blades that spin at a high rate of speed as well and doesn't make the connection that they are dangerous? If your "average" drone owner doesn't understand that, your average drone owner is an idiot. Since you asked!

Nobody, and I do mean nobody, spends a lot of time thinking about all of the possible failure modes until they're made aware of them (either by actively watching them fail or being told how they can fail). I say this from the point of view of a programmer, multirotor pilot, general aviation pilot, and uncle.

For example, what failure modes should you prepare for when flying a multirotor? A few I've personally run into:

- Battery exhaustion (slow descent, loss of power, potential for battery fire)

- Gyro failure (chaotic and unpredictable behavior; uncontrollable)

- Battery Fire (unpredictable loss of power, flying incendiary bomb)

- Running outside of receiver range (behavior depends on the multirotor's autopilot, and the range differs based on your environment; also caused by jamming equipment)

- Flying in a different mode than you're expecting (usually an immediate and violent crash after getting a bit of altitude)

- Prop/motor failure (immediate and complete loss of control, unpredictable flight path to inevitable crash)

- Loss of POV stream (probably a crash, depends on the autopilot and pilot's reflexes at hitting the "oh, shit" button or reorientating to external visual mode)

- Bird/drone strike: Any and all of the above

Each of these scenarios requires a different response and preparation; you may realize your drone is dangerous, but did you realize it's also an incendiary device in potentia?

I dont disagree with you. What I am saying is some people can look at a device, in the simplest of ways, and think to themselves... hmmm, perhaps I shouldnt fly this directly over people, or in the path of aircraft, etc. Perhaps I should be careful, take precautions, maybe have some training. And then there are others, that don't. Theyre fucking idiots. They could be told not do shit. They could be trained to properly operate the equipment. There could be laws against certain behavior, and quess what... theyll still act like idiots, b/c that is exactly what they are. And that is point... put anything into the hands of an idiot and it becomes dangerous, a spoon, a rubber band, a piece of toilet paper, a gun, a car, anything.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com