Please don't kill me drivers

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/20019701/detail.html

Ugh, a cyclist riding along Hines Dr., Stacey and my main training ground last year and the route I was planning on riding tomorrow, was hit by a driver that apparently fell asleep. The driver was a 27 year old doctor that had just worked a 24 hour shift.

I often wonder whether the odds of being seriously injured while riding are greater in SE MI compared to other areas. One of the local bike shop owners occasionally mentions how many people he knows that have been killed riding around here. It's not a small number, and it grows almost every year. I certainly feel less safe around here compared to the other areas I've lived. The thing is, Hines Dr. is the area I feel the safest. It's full of cyclists, as it's one of the few areas we can actually ride around here.

I am torn as to what should happen to negligent drivers that strike pedestrians, and this case presents a classic example of my conflict. On the one hand, this woman fell asleep while driving. That is inexcusable. If someone carelessly handled a gun, resulting in a death, I do not doubt that the person would be harshly punished. However, if the same person negligently operates a vehicle and kills someone, our criminal justice system says, "Ah, no big deal. We all know cars occasionally get in accidents." (Note that the media often says "cars" get in accidents, as if the driver had no part in the events.) The attitude that accidents are unavoidable barely changes when the driver is drunk or texting. Was not Donte Stallworth just released from jail after 24 days for running into and killing a pedestrian while Dante was operating his vehicle under the influence? Didn't some guy in Battle Creek get two months in jail for killing a pedestrian last year? I could continue citing examples barely-punished drivers ad nauseum, even when drivers are drunk and/or (often "and") leave the scene of the accident.

Shouldn't we start locking these drivers up for 10, maybe 15 years? Our current punishments serve as no deterent to negligent driving. A lack of punishment is likely why drivers text so frequently. A lack of punishment is why sleepy drivers only pull over when the drivers feel their own safety is at risk. Increasing drunk driving penalties seems to be working based on the attitudes about the risks drunk driving of people I know. (Someone disturbingly, by "risks" I mean the risks to the driver of being caught, not the risk of potentially killing someone.)

On the other hand, should a promising young doctor be locked up for years and years due to a single mistake made while trying to start a career helping others? It wasn't her choice to work 24 hours, and she's gotta get home somehow. She just got caught up in the rediculous system hospitals use for training doctors. (On a side note, can't the same logic used to hold bar-owners responsible for accidents of "over-served" patrons be applied to find liability with hospitals that require doctors to work shifts so long that doctors' driving skills are diminished to a similar extent as being drunk? Just with bar-owners, hospitals are knowingly sending diminished-ability drivers out on the road. Not that I agree with holding bar-owners responsible...but to the extent bar owners may be liable it seems the hospital situation is analogous.)

The more I think about it, the more I think this young woman (my age, by the way) should be locked up for a long time. I'd feel bad for her, but I feel worse for the cyclist that was injured through no fault of his own. If she doesn't get locked up, the trend of drivers not caring about the lives of pedestrians will continue. In every instance that a driver at fault injures a pedestrian, that driver needs to be charged, even if the driver is a 27-year old doctor with a promising future ahead of herself. Her grief, which I do not doubt is great, is not sufficient to change other drivers' behaviours.

So, if I am struck and seriously injured or killed, please ensure that the driver is charged, and then sue the driver, too. Donate any awarded damages to a cyclist advocate group. Get the case in papers. Maybe that'll help deter a future accident.