BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I like this. Basically, you can push for applying State and Federal regulations governing CDL's to a Class C or Class M license - mandatory drug and alcohol testing after an accident involving death or personal injury (low hanging fruit for legislators to pass), or if the operator's vehicle is towed (a bit more difficult), or if the operator is cited for any and all moving violations (probably a long shot, but worth a try).

The goal is to teach people that you have a license to drive, not a right to drive.

SLOAPS... help me understand what all those things are... CDL's I know truck driver's must get automatically tested... is that what you are referring to??? If anyone cares to review what I am writing or help me out on this, please do so...

Kathi

Kathi, yes. Pennsylvania has Several Classes of licenses for operating motor vehicles.

As Commercial Driving Licenses (CDL's) typically have greater regulations on the operator, you could simply take those regulations regarding drug and alcohol testing, and seek to apply some or all of those regulations to the rest of us with "non-commercial" licenses.

That would seem a bit more feasible to get something transferred to another area... I see where you are going with this and I agree.... Baby steps instead of the whole enchillada, as they would say... Mandatory testing , to me, is absolutely something that should be done... no questions asked..just pass go and do it.

A human life gone.....Someone that did so much to serve others deserved at least that much... To me the whole thing was despicable the way they handled the investigation. Only one observation on the police report, despite all the people that were there....

The other concern.... all witnesses did not have the opportunity to give their account of the hit. There was only one that was allowed to report and the others were not called even to this day. Her story differs from what the reported statement says.

I would say mandatory testing for all accidents involving personal injury with the presumption of DUI if driver flees scene.

The fact that hit-and-run followed by sobering up and turning yourself in, is lower severity than DUI creates terribly perverse incentives, and we should (in an ideal world) be able to get MADD on board with that.

The unintended consequence would be that the hit-skip perp has even less motivation to confess at that point

This is something I was playing with.. It could be for both federal and PA legislatures.

PENNSYLVANIA STATE LEGISLATORS

Dr Albert Varacallo was killed by a reckless driver at 7:54 AM on July 8, 2010 in DuBois,PA a rural community of approximately 7700. Dr. Varacallo was seriously injured resulting in severe head trauma. He was immediately life flighted to the Altoona Trauma Unit, where he died only a few hours later.

There are several issues of concern. The first being, the driver was not given a drug or alcohol test, despite the severity of Dr. Varacallo’s injuries. Dr. Varacallo had already passed the intersection when he was hit head on. Drivers in an accident with a Commercial Driving License must mandatorily submit to a drug and alcohol test, no questions asked. If Pennsylvania legally considers a bicycle a vehicle once it touches the road, in the case of severe injury or death… a mandatory drug /alcohol test should be the minimum of requirements. This particular driver was late for work and was due to be on the floor of Lowes at the time he hit Dr. Varacallo. He still had a 10-15 minute drive to even reach his work place, let alone be on the floor at 7:55 AM. The motorist received a welcomed divorce decree on the previous day and could have been celebrating with drugs or alcohol the evening before. If drugs/alcohol remained in his system, it would not have been visible by the police officer, although his driving ability could have been significantly impaired. The driver’s adrenal hormones ,or fight and flight response, could have easily kicked in rendering him a different person biochemically when the officer interacted with the driver. Thus a need for testing to validate all possibilities.

Drowsy driving was not investigated, although there are 1500 deaths each year and 40,000 injuries according to the federal government. Our driver falls within two of three categories of the drowsy driver profile … age and time of day The sun was not in the driver’s eyes as he claimed and this can be verified by numerous people at the scene of the accident, in addition to others that went to the area the next morning at the exact time Dr. Varacallo was hit.

Dr. Varacallo was a respected member of the community and gave his life in service to others in the community and surrounding areas. In the case of his death, it is only respectful that he should have been given the full attention of the law to rule out all possibilities. This was not done and we the undersigned petition the PA legislature to consider MANDATORY DRUG/ALCOHOL

TESTING in accidents with serious injuries/death.

I like it. Laws aren't absolute. Let's turn the burden of proof on the operator of a machine rather than the pedestrian and/or bicyclist.