A little over a year ago my 40 year old neighbor was arrested for 3rd offense drunk driving, hit and run, open container and assault on a police officer. The disappointing thing is that this guy is the general manager of a local distribution warehouse and the father of two young children. This all stems from an incident on a local highway where someone called to report a swerving driver. When the police caught up with him, he had already hit a motorcyclist, left the scene and was pulling into a parking lot 5 miles from the accident scene. As two officers approached him he began to scuffle with them, resulting in hospital visits for the officers.

The result for all of this? He was fined $6000, spent a couple days in county jail and is already back on the road with a drivers license. Is that really the best the judicial system could do? The road where he hit the motorcyclist is a narrow, hilly road that I often cycle on. A cyclist cannot protect themselves from a guy like this. Drunk people don't see reflectors, hi-viz vests and blinky lights only confuse them. At least I ride with a mirror, so maybe I would have a chance.