Oregon Cycling Magazine

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance has announced its intention to pursue a vehicular homicide law in the 2009 session of the Oregon State Legislature. Mary O’Donnell and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance are seeking to better protect roadway users by increasing penalties for drivers who cause deaths as a result of their habitual violation of traffic laws. Mary O’Donnell’s husband, Tim O’Donnell, was killed on June 9, 2007 as he rode with other members of the Velo Bicycle Club on a group ride in rural Washington County. Tim was hit from behind by a negligent driver attempting to pass the bicyclists as they crossed through an intersection to turn left onto Long Road.

Mary O’Donnell thinks Oregon should have a Vehicular Homicide law to protect roadway users like Tim from dangerous drivers. Oregon is one of only four states without a Vehicular Homicide Law. This summer, as Oregonians enjoy the summer weather, they will also encounter too many dangerous drivers. She is calling upon the Oregon Legislature to pass a new law that would punish drivers whose violations of traffic laws result in deaths on Oregon’s roads if they are driving unlawfully without a drivers’ license, mandatory insurance, or while impaired as a result of the use of alcohol or drugs.

“Tim and I would have been married 50 years this April but I celebrated this anniversary by myself because a dangerous driver ran him down on his bike. Unlicensed and uninsured Drivers are a danger to everyone on Oregon’s roads. These drivers have already demonstrated their inability to safely operate a motor vehicle. Some drivers have been suspended multiple times and continue to drive. It is inexcusable and unacceptable for the state to continue to allow them to flaunt the law and to endanger everybody else who is using our roads, including other motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.”

Tim O’Donnell was killed by a driver who got suspended in Oregon for failing to appear on a ticket for Driving Uninsured and subsequently obtained an Idaho Drivers’ License. The driver then got in another crash in Idaho before she returned to Oregon and hit Tim on June 9, 2007.  Tim would be alive today if the driver who hit him had quit driving when she got a ticket for driving uninsured in Oregon. The law O’Donnell and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) are seeking would classify Vehicular Homicide as a Class B Felony, the same as Criminally Negligent Homicide.

Possibly Related

• August 2008: Getting your due
• September 2008: Ride the Rogue draws the crowds
• June 2008: Help save important Mt. Hood trails
• January 2008: On becoming an expert cyclist
• August 2006: Going after dangerous neighborhood cranks