The Expiation for Killing in Traffic Accidents?

Question : The questioner says: My son died in a car accident along with another person, and the deceased's father forgave him. Is there any expiation required of the driver, who is my son?

Answer : The incidents in which a person is the cause are divided into two categories. One of them is that the incident results from the driver following the best course of action relative to his driving, such as a driver traveling in his lane when a car comes toward him, and he swerves to avoid a collision with it, and during the swerve he overturns. In this case, he owes no blood money and no expiation, because he did this action because he believed it was closer to safety, and following the path closer to safety is obligatory and is excellence. And Allah the Exalted said: So, if the incident mentioned by the questioner is of this nature or similar to it, then his son owes no expiation. However, if the incident resulted from negligence on the part of the driver or recklessness on the part of the driver, and he did not know it, then he must pay the blood money, but the blood money is upon his kin, and he must perform the expiation, which is upon himself. If the guardians of the murdered person forgive the blood money, the expiation does not drop from him, because the expiation is a right for Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, whereas the blood money is a right for the guardians of the murdered person. And if one of the two rights drops, it does not necessitate the dropping of the other right, provided that it does not depend on it, and this right does not depend on that right. For this reason, if it happens that the one who is obligated to perform the expiation cannot fast, whether due to weakness of his body or illness, we do not obligate him with the expiation, because the expiation for killing does not include feeding; it includes either freeing a slave . If he cannot do that, it drops from him, and nothing is obligatory upon him, because Allah says: , and feeding is not in the expiation for killing. For this reason, Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, did not mention it in the verse regarding the expiation for killing.