BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1951
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Date of Hearing: April 19, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 1951 (Ammiano) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
SUBJECT : Accidents resulting in bodily injury
SUMMARY : Allows a Vehicle Code violation that causes an injury
to another person to be prosecuted as an infraction or a
misdemeanor. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes it either an infraction or a misdemeanor to operate a
motor vehicle in a manner that violates the Vehicle Code as an
infraction-level offense that causes an injury to another
person.
2)Makes such a violation punishable by imprisonment in the
county jail for between five and 90 days and/or a fine of
between $145 and $1000.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires, with certain exceptions, a person convicted reckless
driving that causes bodily injury to a person other than the
driver to be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for
not less than 30 days nor more than six months or by a fine of
not less than $220 nor more than $1,000, or by both the fine
and imprisonment.
2)Provides that any infraction-level violation of the statutory
rules of the road that results in bodily injury or great
bodily injury to another person is considered to be a public
offense of unsafe operation of a motor vehicle punishable by a
base fine of $70 or $95.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, California bicyclists,
pedestrians and other so-called "vulnerable users" face
disproportionate dangers when sharing our roadways with motor
vehicles. Citing a high number of bicyclist and pedestrian
injuries and fatalities, he terms the treatment of negligent
drivers hitting other roadway users a "traffic justice" problem.
"Unless the police investigating a crash find the driver under
AB 1951
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the influence of alcohol or drugs, or the driver knowingly flees
the scene and is later apprehended, there is little that can be
brought as a legal charge against that driver, even if he has
seriously injured or killed a pedestrian or bicyclist due to his
careless driving. Often such tragically careless drivers are
released without even a simple citation or fine, and their
victims are left to seek some sort of compensation through
insurance claims or civil suits." Supporters add that, "We
believe that all drivers who injure others as a result of
violating traffic laws must be held to the same high level of
responsibility. By making the penalties for unsafe driving with
bodily injury comparable to reckless driving without injury, AB
1951 offers an appropriate deterrent to drivers who fail to
respect others' use of the road."
This bill seeks to establish a more meaningful penalty for
driving in a manner that injures a bicyclist or pedestrian. The
base fine for such an offense is $70 if bodily injury is
involved, and $95 for great bodily injury. By way of
comparison, the base fine for passing a school bus with flashing
red signals is $150 and the base fine for a first violation of
unauthorized parking in a disabled spot is $250. (Assessments
and fees make the punishment for all these offenses
significantly higher than simply paying the base fine.)
The California District Attorney's Association is concerned that
this bill will set a relatively low threshold for turning what
otherwise might be a minor traffic accident caused by a
low-level code violation into a criminal matter. They also note
that it does not require much of a collision with a pedestrian
or bicyclist for bodily injury to occur and that the bill "will
cause an enormous increase to district attorney workload(s)."
In order to address the concerns of the district attorneys while
also promoting the author's desire to make the penalty for this
behavior more meaningful, the author may wish to amend the bill
so that it simply increases the base fines for Vehicle Code
violations that result in bodily injury and great bodily injury.
Legislative history : The current fine structure for these
offenses was established by SB 1021 (Bowen) Chapter 898,
Statutes of 2006.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 1951
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Support
Bay Area Bicycle Coalition
California Association of Bicycling Organizations
California Bicycle Coalition
Ecology Action
Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
12 letters from individuals
Opposition
California District Attorneys Association
Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093