Originally Posted by TandemGeek

You and Chipcom have probably hit the nail on the head at the most basic level.

Of course that leads me to wonder, what would happen if all of the various groups that purport to represent cyclists and pedestrians could adopt a single agenda item? An agenda item that focused on making sure law enforcement agencies and prosecutors apply the laws already on the books as they pertain to homicides where a vehicle became a weapon, whether intended or not. The latter, treating fatal collisions uniformly as homicides from the outset, is the only way that a proper investigation will be conducted to ensure files are charged against motorists who kill when it was clearly no fault of the cyclists or pedestrians.

Clearly, the laws already exist in various forms -- some specific to vehicular homicide, others under the more general negligent homicide -- but if the responding law enforcement officials simply dismiss fatal collisions where motorists have failed to yield or maintain control of their vehicles as 'accidents' there will never be uniform accountability and application of penalties to motorists who kill. Until that uniformity exists, there just won't be that forcing function that causes motorists to think about their vehicles the way sportsmen, law enforcement and military personnel think about their weapons. Yes, there will still be reckless drivers, but if the expectation is that if you kill a cyclist who was 'just riding along' you'll be heavily fined, have your <right> privilege to drive suspended, and be either serve time if clearly negligent behavior was involved or through community service (perhaps speaking to driver ed students or participating in PSAs) to ensure justice is served for those to whom you did harm. Moreover, and unless I'm mistaken, when justice is served insurance claims and civil suits are given more credence and secure compensation with greater success and that too should serve as a deterrent to reckless behavior.

Bottom Line: Law enforcement needs to enforce laws, not take on the role of judge and jury at the accident scene by assuming the anguish, insurance and civil suits will serve justice to all involved.

Accidents DO happen, but when a vehicle leaves the road or fails to yield and there just are not any contributing factors that truly mitigate a motorist being held accountable for being fit to operate their vehicle and focusing their attention on the job of driving, a proper investigation should be conducted, charges filed and prosecution pursued. Yeah, yeah... the court systems are already too clogged with "real crimes". What a sad state of affairs.

BTW, I'm not an advocate of the "Kill a Biker, Go To Jail" movement that exists in the motorcycle community. It's too far over the top and perhaps the only purpose it serves is to raise awareness... well, maybe. In some cases it probably just convinces JQP and legislators who don't ride motorcycles that a lot of the folks who do aren't all that rationale.