The Portland Police have cited Rinker Cement truck driver Timothy Wiles for failure to yield to a bicyclist in a bicycle lane, ORS 811.500, when he drove over Tracey Sparling who was cycling in a bike lane. That citation carries a fine of $242. I did not know her, but am outraged that society does not value her life more than that.
As bad as that is for me, it's still better than the decision to not cite AGG Enterprises garbage truck driver Bryan Lowes for running over Brett Jarolimek.
While I agree with the finding that it does not appear that criminal prosecution is warranted, the driver DID NONE THE LESS FAIL TO YIELD. If I were the Jarolimek family I'd be looking into the possibility of filing a civil suit against AGG for putting a driver with such a bad driving record behind the wheel of one of their big trucks..... that resulted in the death of Brett.
Siobhan Doyle through a lawyer issued a citizen initiated citation when the Portland Police decided that they would not issue a citation to the vehicle that hit her as she cycled in a bike lane.
It seems that "I didn't see" the cyclist is a valid excuse to the Portland Police. I may try that if I ever get pulled over for running a red light. "Sorry officer, I was reaching for my cell phone and latte and didn't see the light turn red" :-O
BikePortland has a good article on these events. Please go here and read the full story.
I have other posts on this subject here , here
and here
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...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles YTD
Today...........0................12
YTD.............83.....+........267....=.........350
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It's amazing the "value" that they put on our life ... $242 for Tracey's life. I bet Tracey's family and friends would DISAGREE!!!
ReplyDelete- Auntie Shannon
Hey Kevin, what's your value? Did the driver that ever hit you get "fined?"
ReplyDelete- Auntie Shannon
The woman who hit me was cited for "failure to obey a traffic control device". I'm not sure what the fine is for that but not likely significant. I'm just amazed that the fine is the same whether they run a red light, or run a red light AND kill a cyclist (or pedestrian). It's as if a cyclist's life does not matter.
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