Post by jgaffney on Nov 17, 2011 17:58:31 GMT -5
Our traffic courts are constrained to a limited range of penalties when a driver appears in front of the judge. The judges hate to do it, but the worst penalty they can hand out is to confiscate the perp's drivers license and order him/her not to drive for a prescribed period. We all know how that doesn't work. This is from Tuesday's PeeDee
A CHP motorcycle officer helping at a crash Tuesday morning on Highway 101 was hit by a car and thrown from his bike, the CHP reported.
Officer Martin Little, a veteran with the department, suffered what appeared to be minor injuries, said CHP spokesman Officer Jon Sloat. Little's injuries were being evaluated Tuesday afternoon.
He and other officers had gone to a 10:15 a.m. highway crash near Wilfred Avenue involving a Dodge Ram truck hit by a VW Jetta, Sloat said.
Little was clearing a Santa Rosa Avenue off ramp for the Jetta to leave the highway when the Jetta driver made an abrupt right turn and hit the officer, Sloat said.
Driver Juan Carlos Avendan Ortiz, 23, of Rohnert Park is an unlicensed driver with two prior convictions for driving despite not being licensed, Sloat said.
Tuesday Ortiz still was on probation for his last conviction and was not legally allowed to drive.
Didn't slow him down too much, though.
Then, today, we have the final report on the SSU student who killed a 2-year-old girl in a crosswalk in RP while texting on her phone. here's the report on the sentencing:
A 19-year Sonoma State University student who killed a toddler and injured her mother when she hit them in a Rohnert Park crosswalk while texting and driving was sentenced Wednesday to five days in jail.
Kaitlyn Elisabeth Dunaway also was ordered by Judge Bradford DeMeo to serve 115 days on electronic home confinement, perform 200 hours of community service and surrender her driver's license for one year.
Who knows? Maybe Ms. Dunaway will actually not drive for the entire year, but I seriously doubt it.
On another note, why was there no attendant liability for the mom who drug her child into the crosswalk and into the path of the vehicle? Did the mother feel, as so many do, "I'm in the crosswalk, so, therefore, you have to stop!" Surprise. That doesn't always work. When my girls were young, I taught them, "When you are in the street, pretend you are invisible." It worked. They're still alive.
A CHP motorcycle officer helping at a crash Tuesday morning on Highway 101 was hit by a car and thrown from his bike, the CHP reported.
Officer Martin Little, a veteran with the department, suffered what appeared to be minor injuries, said CHP spokesman Officer Jon Sloat. Little's injuries were being evaluated Tuesday afternoon.
He and other officers had gone to a 10:15 a.m. highway crash near Wilfred Avenue involving a Dodge Ram truck hit by a VW Jetta, Sloat said.
Little was clearing a Santa Rosa Avenue off ramp for the Jetta to leave the highway when the Jetta driver made an abrupt right turn and hit the officer, Sloat said.
Driver Juan Carlos Avendan Ortiz, 23, of Rohnert Park is an unlicensed driver with two prior convictions for driving despite not being licensed, Sloat said.
Tuesday Ortiz still was on probation for his last conviction and was not legally allowed to drive.
Didn't slow him down too much, though.
Then, today, we have the final report on the SSU student who killed a 2-year-old girl in a crosswalk in RP while texting on her phone. here's the report on the sentencing:
A 19-year Sonoma State University student who killed a toddler and injured her mother when she hit them in a Rohnert Park crosswalk while texting and driving was sentenced Wednesday to five days in jail.
Kaitlyn Elisabeth Dunaway also was ordered by Judge Bradford DeMeo to serve 115 days on electronic home confinement, perform 200 hours of community service and surrender her driver's license for one year.
Who knows? Maybe Ms. Dunaway will actually not drive for the entire year, but I seriously doubt it.
On another note, why was there no attendant liability for the mom who drug her child into the crosswalk and into the path of the vehicle? Did the mother feel, as so many do, "I'm in the crosswalk, so, therefore, you have to stop!" Surprise. That doesn't always work. When my girls were young, I taught them, "When you are in the street, pretend you are invisible." It worked. They're still alive.