Seeking Justice

Do car drivers who kill motorcyclists get off easy?

American Motorcyclist, November 2001, Page 18

A driver veers across the road, swerving into the oncoming traffic lane, where he smashes head-on into a motorcycle, killing the rider and a passenger.

Another driver pulls out to pass a truck, ignoring an oncoming motorcycle. In the resulting accident, the rider dies.

What punishment fits these crimes?

In Danville, Pennsylvania, the penalty was a $225 fine. No jail time. No driver’s license suspension. Just 225 bucks.

In Romulus, Michigan, the penalty was two years probation and 60 hours of community service.

Three people are dead, and the drivers who killed them are allowed to keep driving, almost as though nothing had happened.

No, not all car-motorcycle accidents end this way. In many communities, police and the judicial system take highway deaths much more seriously. But in these two examples from the past year, it’s clear that there are still places where killing a motorcyclist doesn’t appear to mean much.

Take the Pennsylvania case. It was July 2 when Jerry Dodson, 56, and his wife, Sheila, 54, of Johnson City, Tennessee, were riding their Honda Gold Wing through the eastern part of the state. They were returning from a trip to New England and Nova Scotia with three other Tennessee couples, all on motorcycles.

The group was headed south near Danville at about 2:45 in the afternoon. At the same time, a 17-year-old driver was headed north on the same road in a Ford Escort.

In what a local newspaper called “one of the most horrifying accidents in borough history,” the driver suddenly veered out of his own traffic lane, crossed over a middle turning lane and entered the southbound lane, hitting the Dodsons’ motorcycle head-on. The couple died instantly.

Police closed the road for almost six hours while they investigated. Later that month, they announced that the driver would be charged with two traffic violations—reckless driving, and driving outside proper road lanes.

The penalty? A fine of $225.

Danville Police Chief Rae Leighow told the Danville News that there had to be “gross negligence” to warrant a higher charge of homicide by vehicle. And he said the evidence didn’t indicate gross negligence.

But if swerving across the road, directly into oncoming traffic and killing two people isn’t “gross negligence,” we wonder what is.

In the Michigan case, police reports indicate that a 39-year-old driver pulled out to pass a truck on a two-lane road last summer.

Andrew Ross, 32, a firefighter and paramedic in Trenton, Michigan, was riding his motorcycle in the oncoming lane and could not avoid the car. He died in the ensuing crash.

About eleven months later, the driver in the case was charged with negligent homicide. He pleaded no contest, and on July 31 of this year, he was sentenced to two years probation and 60 hours of community service.

Once again, a motorcyclist dies, and the driver who caused his death gets off with little in the way of actual punishment.

Valerie Ross, the mother of the victim, says she has become obsessed with her son’s death and the sentence his killer received.

“The laws certainly are not in favor of the motorcyclists,” she says. “As far as I’m concerned, the judge can be removed from the bench. I will support his opponent when elections come around.

“Meanwhile, I can only weep over the loss of my son, who was the sunshine of my life.”

There are two other cases we’re watching to see how the killing of a motorcyclist is handled in different parts of the country.

In Mount Olive, Illinois, a 34-year-old man has been charged by police with pulling his car into an intersection, right in front of a motorcycle ridden by Stephen Sheridan Jr., 51, of Benid, Illinois. Sheridan died in the crash, and at this point, the charge against the driver is first-degree murder.

But in Bristol, Connecticut, we’re waiting to see if charges will even be filed against a driver who allegedly turned his beer delivery truck into the path of an approaching motorcycle, killing rider Leonard Gosselin Jr., 40, of Bristol.

The wide range of responses to these fatal crashes nationwide is what has prompted the AMA to launch the Motorcyclists Matter campaign—an effort to ensure that motorists who hurt or kill motorcyclists face appropriate penalties.

“Research shows that more than half of all multi-vehicle motorcycle crashes are caused by other vehicles violating the right-of-way of a motorcyclist,” says Sean Maher, AMA director of state affairs. “By increasing penalties and aggressively promoting motorcycle awareness, we hope to cut the number of these crashes dramatically.”

The AMA is seeking to raise minimum fines and mandate license suspensions for various periods based on the severity of injuries suffered by the rider. Those penalties would give police the tools to more aggressively pursue car drivers in cases like these.

But the Motorcyclists Matter campaign goes beyond just protecting riders. It also seeks to establish the same penalties for car drivers who injure or kill other vulnerable road users, like bicyclists and pedestrians. And it calls for the creation of classes to make drivers aware of the responsibilities they face in sharing the road with these groups.

Of course, the AMA is not in a position to get these penalties and programs enacted alone. That requires action by state legislatures across the country. And that’s where you come in.

In Washington, legislation creating a felony crime of “vehicular assault” has been passed into law thanks to the Washington Road Riders Association. And a bill based on the model legislation developed by the AMA has been introduced in New Jersey.