[OrRando] Oregon Residents - Call your senator about HB3314-A

[Michael Rasmussen]

Q&A: which of the following is punishable by death and which is punishable by a few
hundred in traffic fines:

a) Drifting left within your traffic lane while signaling a left turn
b) Driving with a suspended license, passing a no passing lane, careless
   driving

On Sunday June 10 Tim O'Donnell was one of five cyclists on a Portland Velo
ride.  He made a left turn signal and drifted to the left.  Jennifer Knight
was driving with a suspended license and chose to pass the group of five
cyclists.  In the process her vehicle struck Mr. O'Donnell.  The collision
killed him.

Under current Oregon law, with its high bar for criminal negligence, it is
unlikely that Ms. Knight will face no more legal repercussion than the fines
associated with the traffic tickets. 

Hopefully a bill before the legislature will be passed that would increase the
penalties for "offense of infliction of serious physical injury or death to
vulnerable user of public way" including jail time.

I strongly encourage you to contact your legislator in support of this bill. 
The following links provide more information to aid you in making an informed
decision.  Time is running short on this bill, a phone call might be more
effective than a letter or email.  My call literally took less than 30
seconds.  That's a tiny cost. 

Description of bill:
http://www.bta4bikes.org/docs/hb3314.a.pdf

BTA Call to Action on the bill:
http://e2ma.net/map/view=CampaignPublic/id=7840.614225164/rid=6cb3f37827944f42ad8759720c6e5c55
  aka
http://tinyurl.com/2s7k5k

Find your legislator:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/

BikePortland.org story on Tim O'Donnell's death and reaction:
http://bikeportland.org/2007/06/09/fatal-crash-in-washington-county/

-- 
      Michael Rasmussen, Portland Oregon  
    Be appropriate && Follow your curiosity
          http://www.patch.com/words/