"spin156" wrote in message
ups.com...
This story has moved onto the national news:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/26/tex....ap/index.html

Jim's daughter, Kimberlee, has put up a bunch of posts on
bikeforums.net and cyclingforums.com (and probably more) using Jim's
logins and discussing her
father's life and his death. As you can see from the CNN article,
Jim's wife,
Shirley, is being very forgiving of the young driver. Considering
how high his
profile was on all of these forums, it's all kind of surreal. I'm
going to miss this
guy. He added more than a little spice to this broth we are in.

-- Bill


So, the CNN article says the kid on the cell phone who couldn't control
his truck is being considered for a misdemeanor charge that might result in
1 year in the slammer. Big deal. As long as we Americans continue to view
killing cyclists with our vehicles as not particularly loathsome,
prosecutions for vehicular homicide will continue to be weak.

Typically, a spokesperson for the local sheriff tries to minimize the
severity of the driver's act with, "We do not believe it was an intentional
act..." The driver chose to drive, which involves the inherent
responsibility to do so safely and not kill other people, and he chose to
fool with his cell phone will driving. The root causes for Jim Price's
death were choices made by this driver. It wasn't an unavoidable
"accident". It was manslaughter. Killing a cyclist probably isn't what the
driver set out to do that day, but his criminal negligence and lack of
responsibility should net him much more than a misdemeanor prosecution. He
screwed his life up, but at least he's still alive. Jim Price isn't and
that's entirely the fault of this driver.

We have far too much of a "forgive and forget - let's get back to driving"
attitude in this country regarding killing other people with our vehicles,
and it needs to change. We've got stronger laws for killing other people
than the specially weakened ones that tend to get used when vehicles are
involved. Let's use them! Maybe it will start to change the mindset that
killing someone with your vehicle is somehow less serious than doing it with
a baseball bat.

I hope the initial shock of Jim's death wears off soon and his surviving
family members seek redress in a civil suit. The driver's parents need to
feel some pain for allowing their minor child to pilot that truck, knowing
he had a cell phone and probably being the signatories for the service
agreement for it. Why is a 17-yr old kid so important that he needs a cell
phone to use while driving alone anyway?

As many have expressed: Rest in peace, Jim

Cal