Driving Fatalities

[BadBoyBenny]

Should the law discriminate between this kind of thing (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/26/textmessage.death.ap/index.html) and driving under the influence?

[cardcounter0]

There is not an option for making the punishment WORSE than a DUI.

I'd like to see the votes separated by “I use my cell phone when driving,” and “I don’t use my cell phone when driving.”

What about women putting on makeup while driving? The morons that try to read the morning paper in traffic? The guy who turned around to grab something out of the backseat and lost control of his car?

At what point does it become "intentional," as the linked article says? If we agree that drinking enough that your BAC is over .08, and then getting behind the wheel is intentional, why isnt text messaging while driving - or anything else that distracts you, be it putting on makeup, or getting road head - on that same level?

Is it a question of level of distraction?

From the article:
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The driver could face a charge of careless driving resulting in death, Stanton said. Under Colorado law, the teen could face up to a year in prison.

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What's Colorado law say about a drunk driver hitting and killing someone?

I can see the argument in court.

Your honor, the defendant WILLINGLY and KNOWINGLY sent a text message while behind the wheel, knowing FULL WELL that in doing so, he would be too distracted to properly concentrate on driving.

I text message while I drive. I've scared the [censored] out of myself a few times when I've looked up and the jersey barrier in the middle of the highway was a whole lot closer to the nose of my car than it should have been.

A bit of research turns up this gem (my emphasis):

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(g) "Driving while ability impaired" means driving a vehicle when a person has consumed alcohol or one or more drugs, or a combination of both alcohol and one or more drugs, which alcohol alone, or one or more drugs alone, or alcohol combined with one or more drugs, affects the person to the slightest degree so that the person is less able than the person ordinarily would have been, either mentally or physically, or both mentally and physically, to exercise clear judgment, sufficient physical control, or due care in the safe operation of a vehicle.

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If I were the DA, and I wanted to send a powerful message, I'd charge the kid with criminally negligent homicide, or vehicular homicide, both of which are - under Colorado law - charges that can be levied against a drunk driver who kills someone.

But I'll probably still text message while I drive.

[BadBoyBenny]

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What's Colorado law say about a drunk driver hitting and killing someone?


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I don't know, but I think it is safe to assume manslaughter or vehicluar homocide.

[ChipWrecked]

The courts are rarely hard on drivers who kill cyclists. Their attitude is that cyclists shouldn't be on the road, even though they have a legal right to it. In this case the victim was riding in a marked bike lane.

BTW, the man who was killed was an avid forum poster. If anybody's interested, here's a thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=155557) discussing his death.

And while you're there, check out the number of 'cyclist killed' threads in the 'Safety and Advocacy' forum.

Cars don't kill cyclists. [censored] drivers do.