Laws needed for reckless drivers

St. Louis Bicycle Federation Chair Karen Karabell's letter to the editor was published in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

St. Louis Bicycle Federation

Kudos for dealing with reckless drivers

Kudos to St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert P. McCulloch for charging Mary Lott with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Missouri Department of Transportation worker Kenneth Hoierman ("Motorist is charged in death of highway worker," Dec. 9). This is a courageous step when it is next to impossible to convict drivers in a society in which many people still view fatal car crashes as accidents instead of the completely preventable tragedies that most are.

We need laws that make it easier for the judicial system to deal appropriately with all reckless drivers, not just those who have enough alcohol or drugs in their blood to get convicted, or those who kill highway workers. Dealing appropriately with reckless drivers should involve a combination of incarceration, fines and loss of driving privileges.
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The latter, despite what most people still think, is not necessarily punishment, at least not in the conventional sense of the word. Many people do not need a car to get around, even in St. Louis. Those of us who love bicycles could show so many what a joy it is not to drive.

Karen Karabell | St. Louis
Board chair, St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation

Karabell is responding the recent news that Lott will be charged with manslaughter in the August death.

The bicycling community in St. Louis has contrasted the strong response in this case with the tepid responses by prosecutors in recent deaths of bicyclists and pedestrians caused by careless and dangerous driving.

For instance:

• 19-year old Jennifer Stark was downloading ringtones on her cell phone when she ran off the road onto the shoulder and killed bicyclist Matthew Wilhelm. Stark was so far off the road she struck Wilhelm with the driver's side of the vehicle. Stark was charged with improper lane usage and charged $1000. Matt's friends and family are working hard to change Illinois law to keep these bad, careless, and dangerous drivers off the road.
  
• Driver Aaron Shoemaker drove off into the shoulder and killed bicyclist Mike Brady in 2000. The judge gave Shoemaker the strongest sentence he could under the traffic infractions Shoemaker was charged with (1 yr suspended sentence, 2 yrs probation, 1 yr license suspension).
  
• A bus driver killed pedestrian Susie Stephens while turning through a crosswalk where Stephens had the right-of-way. The driver was convicted of a traffic infraction and given a small fine.
  
• A woman sped through a School Zone, illegally changed lanes to pass other cars stopped at a crosswalk, and then ran over UMKC student Pei Chen in a crosswalk, killing her. The driver was charged with a traffic infraction.
  
• In 2005, St. Louis bicyclist Michael Katz was killed by inattentive driver Robert Rush, who had a long list of traffic violations on his record. The driver was charged with traffic infractions and the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation led a protest of the lenient sentence.

In almost all cases in Missouri where the driver kills someone through careless driving, the driver is only charged with traffic infractions. In cases where more serious charges are brought, such as for involuntary manslaughter, it is almost always because the driver is intoxicated.

Missouri law makes it much easier to convict a driver of more serious charges if the driver is intoxicated.

This Missouri Bicycle Federation has several times proposed legislation to close the "prosecution gap" for careless drivers who kill or injure others.

These provisions are part of MoBikeFed's proposed legislative agenda for 2007.