[nagdu] vehicular homicide

[Jenine Stanley]

In August 2009 my mother was killed when a car swerved left of center and
hit her car. The driver said he'd fallen asleep momentarily after working a
night shift. This happened at 1:00pm on a bright sunny day. 

He was charged with several things but vehicular homicide was the charge for
my mother's death. Reckless operation was another charge as was failure to
provide insurance coverage. 

One might say it was purely an accident as he didn't intend to kill anyone. 

He has served his time in prison and is without his license for the next 6
years with a permanent ban if he violates parole. 

I say all this to note that blind, sighted, or even canine, the penalties
for striking and killing someone with a vehicle are much less than you may
think. We were shocked at the 6 month jail term with 2 year probation and
license restrictions. He can't even drive to work. 

I do feel for the drivers here but again, it's their responsibility to look
out for pedestrians and drive accordingly. Same thing with assured clear
distance for the second driver. That's why such a law exists btw, to give
you time to stop or swerve. Hello? 

I live in a neighborhood with no sidewalks and some curving roads. I take
every precaution to assure that my dog and I are visible both during the day
and in low lighting and I mind which side of the street I walk on at the
curves to be most visible. I expect drivers in the area to do their part as
well. We are lucky to have local police for our village versus the city of
Columbus police with far fewer patrols, but that won't help me if someone
swerves just that tiny bit. 

Maybe a good initiative for NAGDU would be to start speaking to local
Driver's Ed classes about how blind people travel and what the pedestrian
laws are for your state and local areas. I believe one of the GDUI chapters
did this, maybe in Maine, and ended up getting 1 or 2 questions about what
to do when encountering a blind pedestrian on their state driver's test. 

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com