Hitting and killing a cyclist? That'll be $175

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

Moderators: robbosmans, Moderator Team

Post Reply
User avatar
kac
Posts: 361
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:31 pm

by kac

From a Seattle news source comes...

Hitting and killing a cyclist? That'll be $175

There is a law to protect vulnerable users of the road, like cyclists and pedestrians, but it's virtually unenforced. Here's why.

By Josh Cohen

June 24, 2014.

On March 18, the 29-year old driver of a pickup truck hit and fatally injured 19-year old Caleb Shoop as he rode his bike through the crosswalk at 61st Ave. NE in Kenmore. A car in the northbound lane stopped to let Shoop cross. The pickup driver, in the northbound lane, didn't. The driver struck Shoop, who died, in Harborview, on March 21.

The penalty for killing Caleb Shoop? A $175 ticket.

The King County Prosecutors Office reviewed the case for potential felony charges, but did not pursue vehicular homicide because there was no evidence that speed, drugs or alcohol contributed to the collision. A King County detective issued the $175 fine after King County Prosecutors determined they had no felony case.

There is legal recourse for pursuing further penalty in the case of accidents involving bicycles. It's called the Vulnerable User Law.

Enacted in 2012, the Vulnerable User Law created a civil infraction that increases penalties for drivers who, through their negligence, injure or kill vulnerable road users; that is, people who are walking, biking, in wheelchairs, on motorized scooters, etc. Specifically, the law states that if a driver commits a traffic infraction — speeding, texting while driving, running a stop sign, failing to yield at a crosswalk — that results in serious injury or death to a vulnerable road user, that driver is subject to an automatic fine of $5,000 and a 90-day license suspension.

The law also allows judges to compel the defendant to perform community service hours or take driver's ed classes. Because it is a civil infraction, it is typically up to the police officers investigating a case to make the decision about Vulnerable User.

Press Secretary Dan Donahoe said the County Prosecutor's Office referred the case on to the Kenmore Prosecutor’s Office, which would have been responsible for filing a Vulnerable User Law infraction. The Kenmore Prosecutor’s Office did not return a call asking if the Vulnerable User Law’s stiffer penalties were applicable in Shoop’s case.

John Duggan, a Seattle attorney who specializes in bicycle law, says the Vulnerable User Law likely could have been applied. “The fact that they cited him with an infraction makes me think Vulnerable User was applicable," said Duggan. "At the least, it should’ve been considered and probably charged and left to a judge to let it stick.”

Because the Shoop case fell outside of his jurisdiction and he did not have the investigative report, Seattle City Attorney’s Office Deputy Chief of Staff John Schochet declined to speak directly about it. But Schochet said because, “the law is designed to be used where any vulnerable users are seriously injured or killed as a result of the negligence of a driver, this is the sort of case we would certainly look at applying the vulnerable user infraction.”

The problem with the Vulnerable User Law is that nobody knows about it. “It’s one thing to get a law passed, but you need people aware and enforcing it," said Duggan. "It’s not just drivers; cops and city attorneys just don’t know about it … if you were to line up 50 cops I’d bet most of them have never heard [the vulnerable user law].”

In fairness, the Vulnerable User Law has been applied in previous cases. In October 2012, Trent Graham was struck and killed by a pickup truck while he was riding his bike along Evergreen Way SW in Everett. Snohomish County Prosecutors used the Vulnerable User Law to increase penalties to $10,287.

In September 2012, Heather Barnett, a client of Duggans, was hit by an SUV while she was biking down 8th Ave NW in Ballard. She suffered severe injuries and ran up more than $100,000 in medical bills. The City Attorney’s Office used the Vulnerable User Law to seek additional penalties after Barnett’s boyfriend pressed the issue. The driver who hit Barnett was eventually fined $11,184.

Since that case, the Seattle City Attorney’s Office has asked that police send all incidents involving collisions between motor vehicles and vulnerable users to the Attorney’s office to determine whether Vulnerable User Law charges can be filed.

No monetary fine can bring back the dead, but many believe that the stiffer penalties allowed under the Vulnerable User Law are far more in line with the death and damage done in these cases than a $175 ticket. Unfortunately, those cases are the exception.

“I have 90 bicycle versus car cases and Vulnerable User should be applied to pretty much all of them,” said Duggan. “Any case [in which there is] even a fractured finger, it applies.”

Duggan points to other awareness campaigns such as "Click It or Ticket" (for seatbelts) and Cover Your Load (for securing items in the open beds of pickup trucks and trailers) as safety successes. Advocacy groups like Cascade Bicycle Club and Washington Bikes, he argues, along with city governments should consider similar approaches with the Vulnerable User Law.

“We want to make the roads safer for all users," said Duggan, "cyclists, pedestrians, car drivers. Whatever you can do to educate and make people more aware, the better it is for everyone. Sometimes people need to be hit with a bigger fine or penalty to get that point across.”

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



CXTony
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 2:34 pm

by CXTony

I am constantly alarmed by how much the law system doesn't care about cyclists and is more than happy to let automobile drivers kill us with just a slap on the wrist as punishment.

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

It's because, on the whole, the legal system is created, maintained and dispensed by motorists.

mjduct
Posts: 657
Joined: Tue Dec 27, 2011 2:19 pm

by mjduct

Yeah but this doesn't cover civil cases. Even if no charges are filed in criminal court, wrongful death cases go for millions in civil court all the time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

Juries, judges, magistrates, lawyers, solicitors and so on, in civil cases are mostly motorists too.

xnavalav8r
Posts: 2594
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:09 pm

by xnavalav8r

Most bicyclists are also motorists.

User avatar
kbbpll
Posts: 494
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2010 5:56 am

by kbbpll

Details in the OP are sketchy. After looking at this
http://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2014/03/ ... crosswalk/
I would have to say that these crosswalks where there is nothing but paint on the road, and a law requiring motorists to stop, are death traps. I certainly believe the driver should be more severely punished, but on the other hand, the cyclist seems to have failed to observe the cardinal bicycling rule - every driver is trying to kill you, so act accordingly.

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

xnavalav8r wrote:Most bicyclists are also motorists.

And? That doesn't help.

User avatar
kac
Posts: 361
Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:31 pm

by kac

kbbpll wrote:Details in the OP are sketchy. After looking at this
http://www.seattlebikeblog.com/2014/03/ ... crosswalk/
I would have to say that these crosswalks where there is nothing but paint on the road, and a law requiring motorists to stop, are death traps. I certainly believe the driver should be more severely punished, but on the other hand, the cyclist seems to have failed to observe the cardinal bicycling rule - every driver is trying to kill you, so act accordingly.

Good points. The original article was from 'Crosscuts' and sometimes they present a somewhat "ideological" slant on the news.

uraqt
Posts: 1108
Joined: Mon Apr 03, 2006 8:53 am

by uraqt

I am on the fence with this general topic...

accidents are accidents, I don't think we should be locking people up for one time mistakes... but we need to "send the message that cars have to share the road"

I think it's a no win situation....

C

Butcher
Shop Owner
Posts: 1925
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:58 am

by Butcher

You will not find a jury to agree with a guilty plea. Most jury members will agree that they could have been that person driving the pickup and to be thrown in jail for life because of careless moment in life is nuts. If there was no malice , impairment, speeding, etc then it would be tough, but I would agree with the prosecutor.

As for the lawyer, Duggan, I know him and he's in it for the money and fame. My personal experiences with him is that he does not care but he is in it for the money.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



Post Reply