As personal injury lawyers we spend a lot of time in depositions asking questions about why things happen. I call them collisions usually because that's what they are. We've spent time investigating, talking to witnesses, and looking at evidence. Defendants ( Unfortunately, in Minnesota we still have to sue the person, despite the insurance company really calling the shots.) will come in angry, scared, or just ready to talk. All understandable, because they got sued.
What we rarely can get information on is the background reason why things happened. It's odd to sit there and know the defendant just ran into a stopped car, went through a stoplight, or suddenly lost control of their car. They have gone through the same intersection 100's of times, why did they hit someone that day?
Studies have come out which suggest that there may be reasons for these incidents, that there are accident prone people, that stress can cause people to not be paying attention. This is on top of loud radios, talking on cell phones, texting, rowdy kids, speeding, and drinking causes.
Sometimes quick investigation can get some of this information. But, the reality is that it's probably not ever going to be found in most cases, which for society is too bad, because if the background of whys was disclosed more often, it's possible that future drivers would learn from this. That's the greatest benefit of having an affective tort system.
