Bike alliance hopes tough law sends right ‘message’

Lawmakers urged to support vehicular homicide measure in ’09 session

By Kevin Harden

The Portland Tribune, Jun 9, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (58 Reader comments)

Alison Gene Smith / Pamplin Media Group

Mary O’Donnell of Aloha, left, and her attorney, Ray Thomas, told reporters Monday morning that a proposed new vehicular homicide law would increase penalties for dangerous drivers. O’Donnell’s husband, Tim, was killed a year ago by an Idaho woman who was driving with a suspended Oregon license.

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Portland’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance wants Oregon lawmakers to get behind its proposed vehicular homicide bill to send a loud-and-clear message that driving improperly or illegally could mean prison time.

Alliance members said Monday morning that they will send the proposed measure to Salem for the 2009 legislative session, which convenes in January. If adopted, the measure adds very sharp teeth to punish some people who kill a pedestrian or a bicyclist in an accident.

Under the proposed law, vehicular homicide would be a Class B felony targeting drivers who are on the road with suspended licenses (or no license), driving without insurance or are impaired by either drugs (prescription drugs included) or alcohol. If that driver kills someone — either on a bicycle or walking — it could mean a 10-year prison sentence.

Oregon is one of four states without a vehicular homicide law. That should change before the Legislature ends its work next year, said Portland attorney Ray Thomas, who handles bicycle-related legal cases. The only way to prosecute dangerous drivers now is to charge them with criminally negligent homicide, something that is difficult prove, he said.

“We believe this sends the right message,” Thomas said. “If we’re going to be leaders in terms of non-motorized users on our roads, we need to be leaders in protecting people who come here and are walking or riding on our streets and highways.”

Karl Rohde, government relations and public affairs director for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, said his group wanted the new law because its members were especially vulnerable in traffic accidents.

“If a dangerous driver is out on the road and runs into another car, the person in the other car is more likely to have a chance of surviving than a person on a bicycle,” Rohde said.

“Especially now with high gas prices, more people are turning to biking and walking and taking transit. It’s all the more important that we have these kinds of penalties.”