Advocacy & Safety - Drug driver manages to take out three from the back of a pack of 80

Was out on our normal Thursday morning training ride - nothing formal just a group of 50-120 who do a regular run at 5.45am. About 15 mins into it there is a huge crash and the sound of squealing tyres and bikes plus riders going flying. Pull up and look back to see this car has taken out the outside left rear of the pack and put five people on the ground.

The guy stopped (I guess he had to since one of his front tyres flatted) and the riders removed his car keys whilst police and ambulance were called. Anyway they turned up pretty quickly to take away the injured and the offender off to be charged.

We continued on rather shaken.

It scared the c**p out of me because it was good viz, everyone had lights, there was virtually no traffic and it was a straight highway with 4 lanes each way.

Reading the article linked below a bit later in the day it seems that the driver was on drugs. :eek: We were really lucky nobody was killed and only a few were hit. It could have been much worse.

Unfortunately he is not likely to get a custodial sentence out of it but I think he should.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/cyclists-hurt-after-car-hits-pack/2006/12/14/1165685789105.html

"(He) is expected to be charged with conduct endangering life, careless driving and driving under the influence of a prohibited substance," she said.


Well that is a start.

Hopefully more states will do what Texas is doing -- charging people with negligent homicide who repeatedly are on drugs or drunk and drive. Homicide for any reason gives a looong prison sentence and gets the people off the street.

So what did you do with his keys? Good move to keep him from running away.

He deserves a good long stay in jail, an even longer suspension of his driving PRIVILEGE, and lifetime restitution payments to the victims.

So what did you do with his keys? Good move to keep him from running away.

Handed his keys over to the police when they arrived ;) He was a little out numbered by us and too stoned to be much of an issue. Just stood there waiting around like the moron he is until he was cuffed and taken away by the police.

It seems that he hit one guy full on and that flung him into the back of two riders in front. We heard that the girl was okay but no word on the guy who took the impact. Report was he was unconcious when he was loaded up into the ambulance.

In regard to what sort of sentence the driver will get it depends if he has any priors. If he does then a custodial sentence of 6-12 months might be possible. Had he killed someone then he would have been up on culpable driving (ie negligent homicide) which is worth around 10 years. His licence should get suspended for 6-12 months at a mimimum, more if he has priors.

luckily, no one was really badly hurt or crippled or worse... it's odd that something like that could happen so early in the morning. But it shows you....it can happen any time of day. Probably some doofus coming home from a party in the wee hours. I hope everyone recovers fully!

Members of the group that were there should attend his court date and sentencing date!
Do all you can to help him stay off the road and behind bars!!
Prison bars, that is!
No swimmin' pools, no movie stars,
Y'all stay safe now, ya hear?

i'm sure he will serve about 2 days in jail. that'll teach him

Members of the group that were there should attend his court date and sentencing date!
Do all you can to help him stay off the road and behind bars!! ...

Absoultely! After Michele Young killed CeCe Krone, a group of Bay Area cyclists wearing business attire and holding bicycle helmets stood silently in the courtroom during the trial. I think they did influence the judge.

i'm sure he will serve about 2 days in jail. that'll teach him

they might even suspend his license for up to 90 DAYS!
I've heard the reason for these low prison sentences for violent or extremely dangerous crimes is overcrowding. but i don't understand why we can't build more jails, there's lots and lots of unused land in the U.S., and I don't think I'm the only one that would gladly pay whatever it takes to build more prisons and put violent criminals there. or heck they could do what many of the U.S.'s corporations are doing and just outsource to other countries. i bet it'd be cheaper to build a few prisons in Mexico and ship all the bad guys down there.

they might even suspend his license for up to 90 DAYS!
I've heard the reason for these low prison sentences for violent or extremely dangerous crimes is overcrowding. but i don't understand why we can't build more jails, there's lots and lots of unused land in the U.S., and I don't think I'm the only one that would gladly pay whatever it takes to build more prisons and put violent criminals there. or heck they could do what many of the U.S.'s corporations are doing and just outsource to other countries. i bet it'd be cheaper to build a few prisons in Mexico and ship all the bad guys down there.

Outsourcing might be the way to go...but I bet the ACLU would have a conniption fit over that:D

Prisons are expensive to build and take time. In NC they currently have a prison building spree going on that is over 10 years 260 million dollars to add 7500 new beds to the current system...however latest projections show that the system will still be short about 6400 beds by the time the projects wrap up in 2016:rolleyes: Until we as society as a whole see drunk/drugged driving as a social issue and make it socially unacceptable it is going to continue to happen and no amount of prison time is going to really affect it. Almost everyday you read of some clown that has had multiple DUI's, suspended liscense, prison time, etc that goes out and plows into somebody. I suspect if they would toughen up on the prisoners (chain gangs, force labor, lock downs with minimal amenities) it might make prison sentences mean more



Aaron:)

Did anybody ever think of paying a visit to the prosecutor's office and asking that they try to hammer the *******'s balls to the floor? Every now and then, they'll do that for "minor" offenses if somebody actually shows interest. What the judge does...well...that's a crap shoot...