Jim
Nitro Member
Reading through the local paper this AM I was pissed when I read this headline "Lowell death prompts bill to jail drag racers" The article goes on to say that "Everyone has been on a highway where two people are speeding up behind you, coming up on the inside and the outside and switching lanes." That does not sound like any drag race I have ever seen. The rest of the article can be found here (or at the bottom of the page): Lowell death prompts bill to jail drag racers - BostonHerald.com
The State Senator noted in the article can be contacted at his website: SENATOR STEVEN C. PANAGIOTAKOS if anyone is so inclined. It would be ashame if the term "drag racing" and not "illegal street racing" got into the language of the bill.
From the Boston Herald:
Lowell death prompts bill to jail drag racers
Drag racers would face jail, under a no-nonsense bill the Legislature is now mulling in reaction to the horrifying death of an expectant mom crushed to death on the Lowell Connector two years two.
“Everyone has been on a highway where two people are speeding up behind you, coming up on the inside and the outside and switching lanes,” said state Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos, a Lowell Democrat. “You need a law on the books that acts as a deterrent and I don’t think we have that.” His proposal is mandatory time behind bars for first-time offenders. The bill goes before the Legislature’s Committee on Transportation tomorrow.
Inspired by the Nov. 3, 2005, death on the Lowell Connector of Deborah Hornberger, 31, a Leominster geologist weeks away from giving birth, Senate Bill No. 2083 would have drag-racing delinquents cooling their jets behind bars for up to 2 years and their licenses suspended for not less than 30 days - 180 days if they reoffend.
Currently, drag racing is punishable by fines of up to $500 and the loss of license for not less than 30 days - not less than 60 days for a second conviction. Stiffer fines may apply to drivers with a learner’s permit.
“We had a terrible tragedy here,” Panagiotakos, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said of Hornberger’s horrid death, “and we want to make sure the commonwealth is protected.
“Innocent lives are at stake when people are engaging in this type of activity,” he said. “The margin for error is very, very small.”
Neither Hornberger’s widower nor her parents in Pennsylvania could be reached for comment yesterday.
She and her unborn son Samuel Morrow Hornberger were killed when Carlos Rodriguez and Angel Nieves, both of Lowell, were drag racing on the Lowell Connector.
Traveling more than 90 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone, Rodriguez hit a median and flipped his Acura Integra, landing on top of and crushing Hornberger’s Subaru Legacy.
Both men pleaded guilty last year to motor vehicle homicide charges and were sentenced to five years in prison. In addition, Rodriguez lost his license for 15 years.
In addition to jail time, Nieves received five years’ probation for drag racing.[email protected]
The State Senator noted in the article can be contacted at his website: SENATOR STEVEN C. PANAGIOTAKOS if anyone is so inclined. It would be ashame if the term "drag racing" and not "illegal street racing" got into the language of the bill.
From the Boston Herald:
Lowell death prompts bill to jail drag racers
Drag racers would face jail, under a no-nonsense bill the Legislature is now mulling in reaction to the horrifying death of an expectant mom crushed to death on the Lowell Connector two years two.
“Everyone has been on a highway where two people are speeding up behind you, coming up on the inside and the outside and switching lanes,” said state Sen. Steven C. Panagiotakos, a Lowell Democrat. “You need a law on the books that acts as a deterrent and I don’t think we have that.” His proposal is mandatory time behind bars for first-time offenders. The bill goes before the Legislature’s Committee on Transportation tomorrow.
Inspired by the Nov. 3, 2005, death on the Lowell Connector of Deborah Hornberger, 31, a Leominster geologist weeks away from giving birth, Senate Bill No. 2083 would have drag-racing delinquents cooling their jets behind bars for up to 2 years and their licenses suspended for not less than 30 days - 180 days if they reoffend.
Currently, drag racing is punishable by fines of up to $500 and the loss of license for not less than 30 days - not less than 60 days for a second conviction. Stiffer fines may apply to drivers with a learner’s permit.
“We had a terrible tragedy here,” Panagiotakos, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said of Hornberger’s horrid death, “and we want to make sure the commonwealth is protected.
“Innocent lives are at stake when people are engaging in this type of activity,” he said. “The margin for error is very, very small.”
Neither Hornberger’s widower nor her parents in Pennsylvania could be reached for comment yesterday.
She and her unborn son Samuel Morrow Hornberger were killed when Carlos Rodriguez and Angel Nieves, both of Lowell, were drag racing on the Lowell Connector.
Traveling more than 90 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone, Rodriguez hit a median and flipped his Acura Integra, landing on top of and crushing Hornberger’s Subaru Legacy.
Both men pleaded guilty last year to motor vehicle homicide charges and were sentenced to five years in prison. In addition, Rodriguez lost his license for 15 years.
In addition to jail time, Nieves received five years’ probation for drag racing.[email protected]
