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Friday, December 11, 2009

Bikes Cars as Deadly Weapons, Seattle Version.

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 11:11 AM

"If you want to kill somebody and get away with it, you should do it with your car," said bike lawyer Ray Thomas last month, discussing the tragic cyclist and pedestrian deaths that shook Portland this fall. This isn't just a Portland problem. Seattlites tried to strengthen their laws relating to death and injury caused from cars, instituting a city-wide rule that said if a driver commits an infraction that winds up causing grave bodily harm or death, it’s a misdemeanor assault.

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  • Dave Neeson

But last week, Seattle blog Crosscut posted a rundown on how judges overturned that local law this summer, returning Seattle to a city (like Portland) where you can break a law while driving, kill someone and not automatically be charged with any crime.

In the case of a man who accidentally left-hooked and killed a cyclist, the appeals court ruled "that 'any act' that constitutes a traffic violation may not be classified as a crime based solely on the result — a serious injury or death."

David Hiller, Advocacy Director the Cascade Bicycling Club (Seattle's equivalent of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance), is irate. “Killing a child in a crosswalk while speeding and texting, that’s okay. But if your neighbor’s dog got out of its yard and mauled and killed your child, they would automatically be a criminally liable,” says Hiller.

Hiller's group launched an investigation to see how Seattle was dealing with deadly drivers. The results are astounding: in the 77 cases of car drivers who committed an infraction that wound up killing or injuring a pedestrian or cyclist in King County in 2007, there were zero felony prosecutions. “There’s something wrong with those laws,” says Hiller.

 

Comments (4) RSS

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1
This is a travesty. People do not think of their cars are loaded weapons, as they 100% are. I have been meaning to document / videotape my walking commutes to work and how often I am almost hit/creamed by cars coming out of parking lots. The most common offense are cars looking to their left [for cars] and turning right without ever looking for Pedestrians. Without screaming at these cars to look for me I would easily have been hit 20 times in the past 3 years.
Posted by NIG GER on December 11, 2009 at 11:29 AM · Report
2
“Killing a child in a crosswalk while speeding and texting, that’s okay. But if your neighbor’s dog got out of its yard and mauled and killed your child, they would automatically be a criminally liable,” says Hiller.

Both legal assertions are patently false, FYI.
Posted by Commenty Colin on December 11, 2009 at 11:49 AM · Report
3
This is what you get for trying to force your huggy-feely bike culture down Seattle's collective throat, Portland.

Are you happy now?
Posted by Alexjon on December 11, 2009 at 2:36 PM · Report
4
Why should every infraction automatically equal criminal charges? That is NOT how the system works in this country you dumb commies!
Posted by HIT ALL BIKERS NOW! on December 11, 2009 at 2:46 PM · Report

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