NEWS RELEASE
February 26, 2018
Duties of hit-and-run drivers need to be redefined
HB 4055 is a response to an Appears Court decision about obligations of drivers involved in accidents when there is property damage, injury or death
SALEM
– The Oregon Senate is sending a bill to
Gov. Kate Brown for her signature that will hold more hit-and-run drivers
accountable to the people who are harmed, or whose property they have damaged.
House
Bill 4055 – which passed the Senate on a 27-0 vote – lists obligations drivers
must meet when they learn, after leaving the scene of a collision, that they
may have been involved in a collision involving injury or death to another
person; injury or death to a domestic animal; or damage to a vehicle, fixtures
or property.
“According
to our current hit-and-run law, unless you realize at the time of the accident
that you’ve seriously injured or possibly killed someone with your car, you
have no responsibility to help them,” said Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who
carried the bill on the Senate floor. “It shouldn’t ever have to be debated
that it’s wrong to have our laws written or interpreted that way. House Bill
4055 will require the driver to take reasonable steps to comply with the
statute upon realizing they were in an accident.”
The
bill is a response to an Oregon Court of Appeals decision that stems from a
case in 2013 when a driver ran over a pile of leaves in Washington County. Two
young girls were in the leaf pile and were killed by the injuries they
sustained in the accident. The driver, it was ruled in court, was not required
to return to the scene because she did not become aware that she had hit two
people until later.
“The
current law, as defined by the Court of Appeals allows for, or even encourages,
plausible deniability,” Washington County Senior Deputy District Attorney
Bracken McKey testified. “We can do better. Whether you’re from Track Town USA
or Bike Town, this is a law that protects the most vulnerable in our
communities. Oregonians are stronger when we look out for each other. When we
do the right thing.”
The
bill also adds additional duties to drivers involved in these collisions, such
as investigating what the vehicle struck and providing the phone number of the
insurance carrier of the vehicle.
Susan
Robinson is a teacher of 17 years in Washington County and the mother of Anna
Robinson and Abigail Robinson, the two girls who were killed in the automobile
collision addressed in the Appeals Court case. She forgave the woman who was
driving the car that terrible day, because the driver was young and Robinson
didn’t want to let anger consume her.
“The
way the current law stands she had no obligation to identify herself as the
person who was involved in the accident. This has caused our family a
tremendous amount of added grief in a situation where our grief is already
immeasurable,” Robinson said. “In making this change someone in the future,
already trying to survive a perfect storm, will not be faced with what we have
gone through the past 4 years. Years of reliving tragedy. If the law changes,
our girls will have had a small piece of making that happen and that will make
us very proud. I can’t go watch Abigail on the stage and I can’t watch Anna
ride her big horse Teva anymore, but what I could say is that my girls helped
change a law that was broken.”
The
bill now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature.
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Contact: Rick Osborn, Communications Director
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1074
Email: rick.osborn@oregonlegislature.gov
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-223, Salem, Oregon 97301
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