What is it with all the distracted driver lately.

[bdhsfz6]

That's what I don't get. My county has spent untold thousands building miles of bike trails. The rural roads still get more bike traffic than the trails see.

Bike trails are great for recreational riders and they're also building them here. They don't help those who commute to work by bike though. The answer would be dedicated bike lanes along highways with traffic barriers like in Europe but no $$ in the budget for many towns & cities here.

 

[KennyG]

That's what I don't get. My county has spent untold thousands building miles of bike trails. The rural roads still get more bike traffic than the trails see.

We have a few nice bike trails. I never ride them. I would have to load my bike up and drive 15 minutes to a half hour just to get to the trail. My experience with trails is that they are full of people riding 5 mph (I ride 15 to 20), walkers in the middle of the trail with head phones on, etc. I've had two bike accidents bad enough to damage the bike in my life and they were both on bike paths.

 

[D&D]

Bike trails are great for recreational riders and they're also building them here. They don't help those who commute to work by bike though. The answer would be dedicated bike lanes along highways with traffic barriers like in Europe but no $$ in the budget for many towns & cities here.

Time of day blurs the vision of 99+% being commuters. Their spandex clad bunches do not appear in quantity until Saturday and Sunday mornings. Often spotted in smaller bunches in late afternoon/evening.
One neighbor was a true commuter, pedaling in rain, snow, hot and cold 13 miles in each direction. He's retired now.

 

[Gator6x4]

And there's the key...actually enforce these laws, and make the penalties severe enough to actually have an impact.

Forced mandatory compliance to traffic laws, rules regulations is expensive. Volunteer compliance is the desired objective and goal. What prevents volunteer compliance being successful is you have those who believe that laws, rules and regulations do not apply to them so we have to have laws, rules and regulations with penalty clauses to force compliance.

 

[D&D]

Forced mandatory compliance to traffic laws, rules regulations is expensive.

Nah, you just contract out the traffic cams and let them keep a % of the take.
Locally, you get a choice a) pay the ticket b) pay the ticket as owner c) Have the vehicle registration suspended until you pay
Truly a fair system that doesn't violate your "due process" rights

 

[Gator6x4]

I think it is time for Trump to start using the personal handler care giver he was always saying Biden needed.

Trump flubs location of Putin meeting—and social media explodes

Where is Trump meeting Putin?

www.nj.com

 

[JeepHead]

They finally released the details of the accident. The cyclist was a 70 year old man crossing the 4 lane highway on a green light. He was hit by a 26 year old guy who ran the red light. Sunlight wasn't a contributing factor so it must have been distraction. Mandatory drug/alcohol testing as well since it was a fatality. If it's detected in your system at all, it becomes a crime.

 

[mllud]

I have a neighbor that has seven DWI's since he was 18. He is now 47.
He is now on probation for a three year prison term deferred to 5 years probation.
He has 4 probation violations in the last 18 months. If they never follow through with any real punishments, these guys laugh at courts. He told me, I don't know how the courts expect me to work without a license. He is that Ignorant!
He is lucky he hasn't killed someone.
Make punishments a real thing!

 

[kenmbz]

I worked with a guy who kept getting DWI every year or so.
The last time he was in the middle of the road, sitting/leaning against his upside down car.
Our place finally fired him.
Very nice and knowledgeable engineer, but he was certainly just lucky he hadn't killed anyone.
AA etc enforced, but he kept drinking, lost touch with him many years ago.

 

[Gator6x4]

I have a neighbor that has seven DWI's since he was 18. He is now 47.
He is now on probation for a three year prison term deferred to 5 years probation.
He has 4 probation violations in the last 18 months. If they never follow through with any real punishments, these guys laugh at courts. He told me, I don't know how the courts expect me to work without a license. He is that Ignorant!
He is lucky he hasn't killed someone.
Make punishments a real thing!

In Missouri, in 2015, 10 years ago the average cost to incarcerate a prisoner was $22,187 per year, according to the Vera Institute.

So depending on what the probation violation was would be a determining factor if the individual was incarcerated. The individual probably has a wife and children. The tax payer would also have to, house, feed, cloth and provide medical care for them if they lock the individual up.

So economics and individual sorriness forces on society a situation that is not ideal.

 

[kenmbz]

So how much does it cost to kill someone because nothing happens to them?

 

[mllud]

Its a nonviolent offend until they kill, crimple or ruin an innocent persons life. I understand the cost to lock them up and am sure that is part of the issue.
They could beat him with a bat. Oh no that's cruel.
The courts profit from chronic offenders. That money should go to victims. Maybe if the county courts lost profits from chronic DUI's they would give jail and teach lessons.
Break the cycle.

 

[Gator6x4]

So how much does it cost to kill someone because nothing happens to them?

I don't understand your question?

One .45 caliber round if purchased in bulk form can be had for .50 cents. If one had the .45 automatic the cost to kill an individual would be $ .50.

Americans are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Like I have said many times, stupid people do stupid things. The stupid things people do results in the death, injury and/or maiming of others and themselves.

Have others noticed that when a habitual DWI person is being tried in Court how many from the Church show up to tell about what a wonderful God Fearing and caring person the individual is?

Stupid people who have just got to have Cigarettes, Beer, Liquor or Drugs is imposing a tremendous financial and social costs on Tax Payers in the US. Societal costs of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use are nearly 6 percent of the nation’s income — over $532 billion a year.

 

[kenmbz]

I don't understand your question?

One .45 caliber round if purchased in bulk form can be had for .50 cents. If one had the .45 automatic the cost to kill an individual would be $ .50.

Americans are addicted to drugs and alcohol. Like I have said many times, stupid people do stupid things. The stupid things people do results in the death, injury and/or maiming of others and themselves.

Have others noticed that when a habitual DWI person is being tried in Court how many from the Church show up to tell about what a wonderful God Fearing and caring person the individual is?

Stupid people who have just got to have Cigarettes, Beer, Liquor or Drugs is imposing a tremendous financial and social costs on Tax Payers in the US. Societal costs of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use are nearly 6 percent of the nation’s income — over $532 billion a year.

by not punishing them you let them kill someone, which affects their family and future income.
So you save 22,000 dollars a year, but cost the dead persons family millions and the heartache of losing a loved one.

 

[Gator6x4]

by not punishing them you let them kill someone, which affects their family and future income.
So you save 22,000 dollars a year, but cost the dead persons family millions and the heartache of losing a loved one.

There are way to punish besides locking them up. Make them pay into a victim of drunk driver fund each month. Each month they miss a payment, the monthly amount owed each month increases.

Miss repetitive months start seizing cars, truck and other properties to sell at public auction. Letting an individual lay around on his arse while the tax payers pay his/her medical and dental, clothing, food, foot ware, and college education is not in my mind punishment. The kicker being providing a guard 24/7 to insure the SOB’s like minded friends don’t do him/her personal harm.

 

[Jstpssng]

I agree there are other ways of punishing them. How much does "alligator alcatraz" cost to run? Let them serve their time doing community service, and go back at night to beans and rice. At least they aren't out endangering another's life.

 

[lman]

There are way to punish besides locking them up. Make them pay into a victim of drunk driver fund each month. Each month they miss a payment, the monthly amount owed each month increases.

Miss repetitive months start seizing cars, truck and other properties to sell at public auction. Letting an individual lay around on his arse while the tax payers pay his/her medical and dental, clothing, food, foot ware, and college education is not in my mind punishment. The kicker being providing a guard 24/7 to insure the SOB’s like minded friends don’t do him/her personal harm.

Punishment is one factor but I think an even more important point is that the court has an obligation to protect society from these repeat offenders and sometimes locking them up is the only way to do it.

 

[Jstpssng]

On one of the landscaping jobs I worked to keep food on the table, I had a coworker who never held a driver's license. He was a habitual offender frpm having beem caught driving so many times, often drunk. Yet he'd worked all over the country, been a tree climber out west and had even driven a log truck for a while.

Another coworker didn't have a license because in his words; "I decided that I like drinking more than I like drivimg."
He had two kids coming in 2 different women, and when we left town for a week he found another he was trying to hook up with.
So the cycle continues.

 

[kenmbz]

They took my coworkers car, his license and had him paying a huge fine via installments.
He still went drinking and crashed a car.

 

[Eagle1]

They took my coworkers car, his license and had him paying a huge fine via installments.
He still went drinking and crashed a car.

I worked with a guy like that, after loosing his cars he proceeded to get a couple of DUIs on a bicycle, then it was public intoxication walking home. I guess they could take his shoes....