I've never been so afraid to ride on the road

[ZoneFive]

An arrest has -- finally! -- been made in this case. Let's see how this plays out now.

Arrest made in hit-and-run death of bicyclist

[smilingcat]

Our criminal justice isn't about rehabilitating a person, its more about retribution and keeping them out of the society. If he gets the full 15 years and stays for full 15 years, will he have learned anything or change his attitude? Probably not. Years of punishment is so arbitrary it makes no sense to me. Will he ever get any training or instruction that his way of thinking is wrong...

Well this is a cycling site so I will stop here. I hope he spends the next 15 years in prison though.

[zoom-zoom]

Our criminal justice isn't about rehabilitating a person, its more about retribution and keeping them out of the society. If he gets the full 15 years and stays for full 15 years, will he have learned anything or change his attitude? Probably not. Years of punishment is so arbitrary it makes no sense to me. Will he ever get any training or instruction that his way of thinking is wrong...

Well this is a cycling site so I will stop here. I hope he spends the next 15 years in prison though.

I get that...but there's currently so little incentive for motorists to exercise caution around cyclists. Because they can kill someone with their car and face FAR less time behind bars than they would if they were to "accidentally" cause death by other means to any other individual.

Regardless of jail sentence, I hope he never again possesses a license to drive. Let him get around for the rest of his days by bicycle. That would be better rehabilitation than anything else, IMO.

[OakLeaf]

Sadly, a lot of these people view a driver's license as a mere formality. They might or might not have had one at one time, but losing it doesn't stop them from driving, not around here anyway. And, people who've never had a serious accident also treat driving as a joke - listening to audio books, texting, poking at the screen in their cars, etc.

I wish we had real graduated licensing. Getting people to take driving seriously can't start for the first time *after* they've killed someone. Start with real bicycle education, not the half-accurate/half-dangerous "safety towns" they have in grade schools nowadays. Require kids to take the MSF course and hold a motorcycle license for two years before they can even think about piloting four wheels.

[zoom-zoom]

Sadly, a lot of these people view a driver's license as a mere formality. They might or might not have had one at one time, but losing it doesn't stop them from driving, not around here anyway. And, people who've never had a serious accident also treat driving as a joke - listening to audio books, texting, poking at the screen in their cars, etc.

I wish we had real graduated licensing. Getting people to take driving seriously can't start for the first time *after* they've killed someone. Start with real bicycle education, not the half-accurate/half-dangerous "safety towns" they have in grade schools nowadays. Require kids to take the MSF course and hold a motorcycle license for two years before they can even think about piloting four wheels.

I totally agree...though this guy lives in a community of about 3k people. Everyone knows him (and there has been an awful lot of talk to the effect of no surprise that he was responsible or that he ran. He's been bad news since grade school and grew up 2 doors away from a friend of mine). If he has no license, yet continues to drive, people will notice and report him.