HB 2904 Robin W. Ames Memorial Act

[Frank Gmeindl]

Yesterday, Evan Hansen introduced HB 2904 Robin W. Ames Memorial Act, 

https://www.wvlegislature.gov/bill_status/bills_history.cfm?INPUT=2904&year=2021&sessiontype=RS

The penalties for texting or using other hands-on devices while driving are minimal but if this bill becomes law, killing somebody or causing serious bodily injury could put the offender in state prison for years and revoke his or her driving license for 5 years to Life.

4ank

[Christiaan Abildso]

Thank you Frank. And thank you Evan as lead sponsor, and Delegates Fleischauer, Walker, & Williams of Mon, and Delegate Doyle of Jefferson County as additional sponsors of the bill.

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[Ryan Post]

I find it disappointing that police still are not held responsible for distracted driving leading to injury.

(c) Subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to:

(1) A law-enforcement officer, a firefighter, an emergency medical technician, a paramedic or the operator of an authorized emergency vehicle in the performance of their official duties;

Ryan

[Christiaan Abildso]

I'm not sure if any of our local delegates is on this list, but if you all want to send a quick email of thanks to the sponsors, here are their email addresses:

evan....@wvhouse.gov,barb...@wvhouse.gov,john...@wvhouse.gov,john.w...@wvhouse.gov,daniell...@wvhouse.gov

On Thursday, March 4, 2021, 09:09:16 PM EST, Frank Gmeindl <fgme...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Gary Rodosta]

Thank you for the update on this, Frank. This is so important and needed … let’s hope it does pass. What a great way to honor and remember Robin. 

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[Drew Gatlin]

Frank,

Thank you for sharing the news about this bill. Robin's death was a tragedy and came among a string of other distracted driving crashes in the area resulting in fatalities and serious injuries. 

I appreciate Ryan's analysis of some of the details of the proposed bill. Research has proven that law enforcement officers, as a subgroup of emergency service personnel, are more prone to distracted driving and, despite their professional driving training, not immune to its negative effects on their driving performance. Basically, no one is effectively able to deal with high competing mental loads, and driving requires full attention (especially in urban areas). See the first half of this paper for an illustrative look at distracted driving in police from and insider's POV:

https://www.cji.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/distracteddrivingandthepoliceofficer.pdf

Unfortunately, because that verbiage is already included, I do not know if this bill will survive without its continued inclusion given the incredible defensiveness of all involved when critically analyzing these issues.

I do wonder if punitive justice is the best way to address distracted driving.

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J.D. Gatlin

[Frank Gmeindl]

Thanks, Christiaan!

Here’s the message that I sent to our delegates,

As a friend of Robin Ames and as an avid cyclist who was struck from behind by a distracted driver, I thank you for introducing HB 2904 Robin W. Ames Memorial Act.  

Please let me know what I can do to get it passed into law.

4ank

[Christiaan Abildso]

It's also interesting to think about the League of American Bicyclists removing "Enforcement" from the "5 E's" of bike friendly status. I attended the (virtual) National Bike Summit earlier this week (with Traci K), and the argument was quite convincing that "Enforcement" was (a) not implemented disproportionately by race/ethnicity, and (b) merely a band-aid to make up for bad Engineering that is designed for fast movement of motor vehicles. 

LAB announcement from last year: Pedaling Toward a More Just BFA Program: Removing “Enforcement” from our Framework

While these important enforcement changes are proposed for WV, please know that many of us are also doing our level best to change Engineering policies and practices to ensure that all roads are designed for safe movement of all users. It has taken - and will take - many people and many years, but we are well on our way. Let's keep it up!

Be well

Christiaan

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[Mike]

All,

As some of you may know, I worked with Delegate Hansen for over a year on this Bill. It was an emotional and gratifying moment to hear Hansen’s remarks on Tuesday, and to have it introduced.

What we tried to do is to mirror the State's penalties for DUI causing death, serious bodily injury and bodily injury, making death and SBI felonies.  We also built in appropriate license suspensions, and a community service and driver education component for all offenders - not just those who injure or kill.

No family who loses a loved one at the hands of a distracted driver should ever have their case adjudicated in Magistrate Court.  These cases should be handled in Circuit Court in front of an actual judge who is a lawyer.  For a bit of context, the woman who killed Robin was facing only Negligent Homicide, Reckless Driving, Improper Passing of a Bicycle, and Prohibited use of an Electronic Communications Device charges - all misdemeanors, which placed her case in the hands of a non-lawyer Magistrate.  She plead guilty to all charges, and despite Robin's family's expressed wishes at sentencing for the maximum penalty of one and one-half years in jail to be imposed, the Magistrate sentenced the driver to nine months in jail, but suspended it all for one year of unsupervised probation and thirty days of home confinement, as well as some community service.  This was woefully inadequate, but it was a direct result of the current state of West Virginia's law which only permits charging Negligent Homicide (a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail) in this circumstance.  (The Reckless Driving charge is also a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum six month sentence.)  

I am thrilled that our local Democratic Delegates have signed on as sponsors, as well as Delegate Doyle from Jefferson County. However, we need support from the GOP if there is any chance of this Bill passing. What I would suggest is contacting Delegate Joe Statler and asking that he cosponsor the Bill.  Mention that the other Mon Co Delegates are cosponsors and ask if he'll cosponsor as well. Offer any background information that you might have. One easy way to discuss the Bill is to do what Hansen has done, which is talking about how texting and driving is a decision that a driver makes, just like driving under the influence.  If you kill someone while distracted or drunk, the penalties should be similar.  A link to Hansen's remarks on the Bill is on his Facebook page here:  https://fb.watch/427hJUaoCc/

Statler's contact information is: joe.s...@wvhouse.gov  telephone: (304) 340-3153.  I am advised that for now, we should focus only on Statler so we can build support through the proper channels. This is critically important, as it is difficult to get Democratic initiatives through with the GOP supermajorities in place.

As to changes in the language, it is not advised. West Virginia recently received a large amount of federal grant money because of our hands-free law. We passed the drafts of this Bill through the right channels to ensure that we would not jeopardize any of those funds, which took years to obtain.

Please feel free to call me with any questions or for further discussion.

Michael Simms

304-588-3469