mconlonx

Intoxicated driver struck cyclist, say police
By Elizabeth Dinan November 09, 2011 1:57 PM

PORTSMOUTH [NH, USA] — A local woman is accused of being drunk when she drove into a cyclist who was cited by police for not having lights on his bike.

Arraigned Monday on a felony charge of aggravated driving while intoxicated was the driver, Consuelo Elder, 29, of 135 Osprey Drive. Police prosecutor David Colby told the Portsmouth court that Elder was initially charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, but blood tests later showed her blood alcohol concentration was at a level which justified the felony charge. ...

Colby told the court the unidentified cyclist was cited by a state trooper because he was wearing dark clothing after dark without lights on his bicycle.

mulveyr 

Seems reasonable. There's no indication in the article that they're treating the cyclist as having any sort of responsibility for the accident, just for being an idiot who bikes after dark without lights and in dark clothing.

If only they would ticket cyclists around here who do that...

unterhausen

not having lights would seem to be a contributory role in any such collision.

noisebeam

Likely, but the cyclist could have had a red rear reflector and no headlight and in NH the only illegal part would be not having a front white headlight. (and possibly no reflective clothing) If the cyclist was hit from behind not having the front headlight would likely be a non factor.

CB HI

When dealing with drunk drivers, having bright lights can lead the drunk to drive right into you. They do it to police cars.

unterhausen

same with blind drivers. I always figured that happened to Bohdan Kulakowski who was killed while riding on an 8 foot wide shoulder.