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[RioGlide]

No word at all here whether she was yakking away on a cellphone while driving.  It would be easily determinable from her cellphone billing records, but the local PD would have to get a subpeona to have access to those.  Which is a big hassle for a small department.  Thus unlikely.

Cellphones and Blackberries are as big a threat as drugs and alcohol IMHO.  These things all take the mind's focus away from the road.  I swear the only things I fear out there are drunks, deer, and dopes texting the office on their Crackberries.

The threat to motorcyclists is higher than for cagers.  I think we all knew that when we bought the bikes.  Don't think additional legislation will change that equation, or the laws of physics.

[bgregston]

That's very true. And it's not going to get better anytime soon. We know that they younger generations are starting to text when they drive now. Talking on the phone is nothing compared to that. I've caught myself several times changing lanes or some other avoidence because I've noticed someone in a cage on the phone. Maybe an over-reaction but who cares. It's not woth taking the chance.

[Coolbreeze]

AAALLLLRight,  maybe SOME lawsuits are okay.  Like this one for instance.  It's just the stooooopid ones that pi$$ me off....      i.e.   I don't understand how a  jury could give a guy money that broke into someones house to steal stuff because the door opener was unplugged and he couldn't get out...   I mean really.   That's like pouring hot coffee on your wrinkly bits and expecting McDonalds to pay you for it...    utter crap.  and on top of that!     sorry....   


 I hope she smokes in hell for running the stop sign... but I'd rather bring those folks back.       

[Twolanerider]

AAALLLLRight,  maybe SOME lawsuits are okay.  Like this one for instance.  It's just the stooooopid ones that pi$$ me off....      i.e.   I don't understand how a  jury could give a guy money that broke into someones house to steal stuff because the door opener was unplugged and he couldn't get out...   I mean really.   That's like pouring hot coffee on your wrinkly bits and expecting McDonalds to pay you for it...    utter crap.  and on top of that!     sorry....   


 I hope she smokes in hell for running the stop sign... but I'd rather bring those folks back.       

Amen Breeze.  In those cases I don't know which annoys me more.  The idiot that actually thinks it's ok to sue for not realizing hot coffee might burn their privates or for somehow thinking it's the company's repsonsibility if they actually happen to shoot a button off their underwear and poke themselves in the eye with it or some supposedly intelligent judge who doesn't find grounds to dismiss the suit to begin with.

[murphy]

All boils down to intent and the most appropriate charge... we should be thankful that the driver was not allowed to plea to failing to stop at a stop sign!

[Screamin]

Wow, the tone of this is amazing to me. There's a brother and sister rider dead and we're somehow twisting this thing that it's just an accident. Most accidents aren't. Stop signs are pretty visible features on any roadway. Let me think, yep, I remember running one, nope that was a stop light, in the miles I've driven. So what you have is a choice made by a driver to not be attentive -  damn the consequences - and motor down the road. So she killed a couple of bikers - it could of just as easily of been a child, bicyclist, wheelchair bound person, et. al.
I think better than 1/2 the states now have right of way violation laws. While a small step, said laws are a step non the less. I think all states now have laws regarding harsher penalties, including jail time, for accidents in construction zones. These are, in my view, good laws. The notion that she only got a ticket and a $200.00 fine should and does just piss me off.

[murphy]

In Ontario Careless Driving is the most serious offence that can be laid under our Highway Traffic Act, there are six demerit points assigned to it and a $325 fine.

There has to be intent for a criminal charge to be laid.

I don't agree with the fine either, but there is not much info on the background of the driver... maybe it is their first offence?

The fines start here at the $325 mark and can escalate to $1000 and or six months in jail.

There would have to be a number of serious convictions on a person's record before jail time would be included in the penalty.

One only hopes that the civil suit more accurately reflects what the penalty should have been.

Regardless of how we interpret the offence, the rest of society sees it as just another traffic violation that resulted in fatalities!


Its another sobering reminder why we have to watch out for ourselves both figuratively and literally... no one else will!!!

[FNGw/08SERK]

I'm with Screamin on this - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicular_homicide

Howie