Originally Posted by
parkbrav
I think the criminal aspects are irrelevant here since this is a civil penalty.
I thought the point here was, besides the sympathy for the poor unfortunate cyclist who lost her life tragically, more along the lines of, is the CIVIL penalty of a three month license suspension and a $1000 fine ENOUGH?
I say, not nearly enough.
It does seem a bit light. A lot can go into those judgements. If the driver is a model citizen with a record of staying out of trouble, if the road is known to be treacherous, if there are witnesses, he didn't leave the scene and offered assistance the best he could, complied with officials, showed remorse and sympathy for the loss of life, and basically wasn't a jackass (or the wrong skin tone in some cases), then he gets the low end of the formula as a penalty.
Honestly, I have no idea how they formulate those judgements. But I know there are standards written down in some law book somewhere for each state, maybe each county.