At a rally in Salem yesterday to bring attention to bike safety bills, Representative Tobias Read and Senator Floyd Prozanski introduced Senate Bill 1058.
The bill would create the crime of vehicular homicide and make it punishable by a maximum of five years improsinment and/or a fine of up to $125,000.
According to the new bill, the crime would be a Class C Felony and it stipulates that,
“Criminal homicide constitutes vehicular homicide when a person negligently operates a motor vehicle or a
boat in a manner that causes the death of another human being…’negligence’ means that a person fails to be aware of a risk that death will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the failure to be aware of it constitutes a deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.”
If the person is driving with a suspended or revoked license, the crime would be elevated to a Class B Felony.
many bike bills this session.
(File photo)
Both Prozanski and Read have been ardent supporters of bicycle bills during this legislative session. Both were instrumental in pushing HB 3314 (the vulnerable roadway users bill) into law.
Read is an avid cyclist and Prozanski was a personal friend of the late Jane Higdon, a women who was killed by a motor vehicle while riding in Eugene just over one year ago.
The bill is being officially introduced at the request of Higdon’s husband Thomas Jefferson and Mary O’Donnell, the wife of Tim O’Donnell who was killed recently while riding on a country road near Cornelius. SB 1058 already has the sponsorship of 15 legislators (7 senators and 8 representatives).
Over on the BTA Blog, lobbyist Scott Bricker says SB 1058 is,
“…a late-session effort to further strengthen Oregon’s laws that enforces against errant drivers who kill.”
This legislation is the latest effort to deal with the growing need to deal with cyclists and motorists sharing narrow, rural roads. That topic is the subject of a front page story in the Metro section of today’s Oregonian newspaper.
Lawmakers will have to act fast if they want this bill to become law. The 2007 legislative session is expected to close by the end of this week.