FeaturesJustice?Says Who? Bill Kresnak
July 4th weekend in Maine. Larry Birmingham and his wife, Roberta, are riding near the town of Millinocket. A pickup driver suddenly makes an illegal U-turn right in front of their Harley. The Birminghams can’t avoid a collision. Roberta is killed, and Larry is seriously hurt. Again, no charges are filed—not even a traffic ticket! Two isolated cases? Hardly. A week doesn’t go by without another report of motorcyclists being hurt or killed through the actions of car, truck or van drivers. And while the above cases are extreme examples, the consequences are often minor for those who cause these deaths and injuries. We’re not the first people to discover the lack of justice for victims of traffic crashes in this country. Twenty-five years ago, the parents of two young victims of drunk drivers formed an organization that is now known as Mothers Against Drunk Driving. They focused attention on this issue, campaigning for stricter drunk-driving laws, tougher enforcement and harsher penalties. The result? Today, nearly all states have lowered the blood-alcohol level that qualifies a driver as legally drunk. Police in many communities regularly set up sobriety checkpoints. And ordinary people actually think about having a designated driver before they go out. We’ve seen the effects of that campaign. In Texas, a driver was sentenced to 15 years in prison for intoxication manslaughter in the death of motorcyclist Rogelio Sosa, 44. The driver ran a stop sign and hit Sosa on his bike. And in Ohio, a driver was sentenced to 10 years in prison for aggravated vehicular homicide in the drunk-driving deaths of James and Virginia Bishop. The driver crossed the centerline on a road, hitting a motorcycle ridden by the Bishops. Those two cases are remarkably similar to the tragic crashes in New Mexico and Maine, with the exception of alcohol involvement. That one factor can make the difference between years in jail and a minor traffic ticket. Or worse, no charge at all. In recent years, we’ve seen successful campaigns develop around other highway issues, like road rage and distracted driving. And again, we’re seeing increased penalties when police can demonstrate that those factors played a part in causing a crash that resulted in a fatality or serious injury. What we haven’t seen is a national campaign aimed at eliminating another root cause of many highway tragedies: reckless disregard for the safety of others. Take the case of the 15-year-old in New Mexico. The consequences for the motorcyclists were devastating, with two riders dead and two more whose lives have changed forever. Walker, 59, was a locomotive engineer and veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam who had attended the Memorial Day rally every year for 18 years to pay tribute to fallen comrades. Pullara remembers him as “a wonderful, wonderful person.” “He had so many friends who thought the world of him,” she says. “We were to be married in the fall, and I miss him terribly.” Serles, 41, was a printer and the father of three sons, who were 21, 19 and 16 at the time. “The crash killed my husband of 12 years,” Jennifer says. “It’s a change to not only my life, but the lives of a lot of others.” Jennifer suffered multiple injuries in the crash, and only recently, after months of rehabilitation, was she able to return to work part-time. Pullara’s injuries were even worse. She suffered a fractured skull, a broken pelvis, and a shattered left leg that had to be amputated below the knee. She has been unable to return to work. But what about the driver? He knew that by operating the truck alone, he was violating the law. Then he lied to police, initially telling them that the motorcycles were in his lane, and that he tried to swerve to avoid them. Later, when a witness confirmed that the motorcyclists were traveling legally on the right side of the road, the driver said he dropped something on the floor and swerved when he bent to pick it up. Pullara and Serles believe the boy was playing a game of “chicken,” either with their motorcycles or with a car that was following his. Unfortunately, we’ll never know the truth, because Donald Gallegos, the district attorney in the county where the crash took place, determined that, under existing New Mexico law, there was no provision to prosecute the driver. Initially, a charge of manslaughter was filed, but Gallegos dropped it, saying that a New Mexico Supreme Court ruling requires that a driver must be guilty of another unlawful act at the time of a crash to face that charge. When asked about the violations committed by the driver, Gallegos stated that driving without a valid license and crossing the centerline of the road aren’t serious enough to warrant the charge. “I think the case speaks for itself,” Gallegos said. “I think there’s been a whole lot of unwarranted reaction to this case. Even though it was severe, even though it was very terrible, legally, as to what I can do for charges, or could have done, it just wasn’t there.” In Maine, the case in which Roberta Birmingham was killed and her husband, Larry, was seriously injured followed a similar course. The prosecutor there said that a vehicular manslaughter charge would require proving that the driver was criminally negligent, and it was his determination that an illegal U-turn didn’t amount to criminal negligence. According to the Bangor Daily News, three other people were indicted for vehicular manslaughter in that same county within the past year. What was different about those cases? Two of the drivers were allegedly drunk at the time of their crashes, and the third admitted to intentionally swerving into oncoming traffic. It’s clear that prosecutors have gotten the message when it comes to drunk driving, and they’re getting the message on issues like road rage. But reckless disregard for the safety of others—driving without a license and swerving across the centerline because you’re not watching the road, or making an illegal U-turn right in front of other traffic—isn’t seen as a significant issue. As a result, the charges stemming from such cases (when there are any charges at all) tend to be nothing more than minor traffic offenses resulting in small fines. Why does crossing the centerline and killing two people when you’re drunk get you 10 years in prison while doing the same thing sober carries no penalty? Partially because the issue of “reckless disregard” affects a minority of vulnerable road users, including motorcyclists, more than it affects everyone else. If the boy in New Mexico had crossed the centerline and hit a car or truck head-on, the consequences still might have been tragic for the innocent victims. But they likely would have been tragic for the boy as well. If the driver in Maine had made a U-turn right in front of a car or truck, his vehicle would have been hit broadside, right in the driver’s door. Again, you can imagine the result. To be blunt, the drivers in New Mexico and Maine both may owe their lives to the fact that the victims of their actions were motorcyclists. And laws in those states (along with almost all others) don’t recognize that even when the physical consequences of a crash aren’t serious for the person who caused it, the legal consequences sometimes should be. The AMA wants to change that. Just as society now views drunk driving as a serious offense, and road rage has worked its way onto the radar screens of lawmakers nationwide, the AMA wants to make reckless disregard for the safety of others unacceptable as well. So far, there are three main components of a campaign to raise awareness about this problem, combined in a program called Justice for All. We want drivers who commit traffic offenses that result in serious injuries or death to face the possibility of increased fines and license suspensions. And we want additional penalties, including possible jail time, for those who commit crimes such as vehicular manslaughter. Plus, we want to make sure that driver-education programs include training in watching out for vulnerable road users like motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians. None of this is designed to make criminals out of people who merely make a mistake while driving. The additional penalties we’re proposing would be available in cases where prosecutors and judges think they’re appropriate. The idea is to give prosecutors the legal options they need when dealing with cases like these. The Justice for All campaign also isn’t about creating a separate class of crash victims who get special treatment. The wording of everything we’re proposing deals with vehicle users who cause injuries or fatalities. That means the extra penalties could be applied to motorcyclists who hurt bicyclists or pedestrians through reckless disregard as well. What Justice for All is about is potentially passing three different pieces of legislation in all 50 states, for a total of 150 bills. In other words, it’s an uphill battle that’s going to take serious commitment on the part of motorcyclists around the nation. “This may be the most ambitious program the AMA has ever launched,” says Sean Maher, AMA director of state affairs. “It’s time for motorcyclists around the country to act to get laws changed. When drivers realize they won’t get away with killing someone, maybe they’ll think twice—like people do today about drinking and driving.” We’ve made progress. Pieces of the Justice for All package have become law in Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. Bills are under consideration in a host of states, including Arkansas, California, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas. And the AMA is working with Pullara and Serles in New Mexico, with Lisa Littlefield, the Birminghams’ daughter, in Maine, and with dedicated motorcyclists elsewhere to get more of these bills introduced. Yeah, it’ll be tough. But it is possible. After all, look at the success that MADD has had. Since it was founded in 1980, alcohol-related traffic deaths have declined 43 percent. As a motorcyclist, you have a vital stake in getting the same results when it comes to fatalities resulting from reckless disregard. Get involved now by going to www.amadirectlink.com/justice or by calling the AMA at (614) 856-1900 and saying you want to help get real justice for all. © 2005, American Motorcyclist Association |
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Memorial Day weekend, last year. Two couples—Timothy and Jennifer Serles, along with Les Walker and his fiancee, Kathleen Pullara—are riding to the Red River Run in Taos, New Mexico.
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