NH Legislator Wants Cyclists Exempt from DWI Laws Following Cyclist's Arrest

Back in July, 2003, I posted a copy of a local newspaper story about a guy who was arrested here in
New Hampshire for DWI while riding his bike. My posting sparked a long (89 messages) thread in which
the wisdom and legality of this arrest was passionately debated. Today, the newspaper article posted
below appeared in Foster's Daily Democrat, another local newspaper. Following the arrest of this
cyclist, one NH legislator is attempting to exempt bicycles and other "self propelled vehicles" from
our DWI laws. The legislator feels the guy should be commended for going to a bar on a bike rather
than in a car.

I'm not a regular follower of the group these days but thought that those of you who were interested
in the original story might also find this interesting.

Brad Monday, November 24, 2003

New laws proposed on drunken driving, hit-and-run boating CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — One state lawmaker
wants to increase the penalties for driving drunk with a child in the car, while another wants to
make it legal to drink and bicycle.

A third lawmaker is proposing two bills for the next legislative session that would set penalties
for hit-and-run boating or snowmobiling.

Rep. Robert L-Heureux, R-Merrimack, wants to enhance the charge for anyone caught drinking and
driving with a passenger under 16 to aggravated DWI. The enhanced charge also would apply to drunken
boaters and snowmobilers with children as passengers.

L'Heureux said adults should pay a higher price for drunken driving when they jeopardize children.

"We're doing everything we can to protect the kids," L'Heureux said.

On the other hand, state Sen. Frank Sapareto, R-Derry, says the Legislature sometimes goes
overboard. He is sponsoring a bill that would exempt bicycles and other self-propelled vehicles from
drunken driving laws.

Sapareto cited the case of Timothy Bradley, 44, who was arrested in Londonderry for riding his
mountain bike after drinking. Bradley's driver's license had been suspended after a DWI conviction
in Massachusetts the previous year.

Sapareto said Bradley should have been commended for riding his bicycle, not punished. He goes to
trial Jan. 12 in Derry District Court.

"This person was going to a bar. He could have taken his keys out, driven to the bar and driven home
in a 4,000-pound vehicle, drunk," Sapareto said. Instead, he decided "to drive a 30-pound bicycle
home, and we're going to charge this guy with drunk driving?"

Sapareto also hopes to derail a bill that would make it a crime to host an underage drinking party.
The bill passed the House, and will come before the full Senate this year. Sapareto was the lone
opponent on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"We don't want kids to drink, but what we're doing is punishing everyone involved," he said. "We're
trying to find everybody else in the world to blame in our crusade to punish people, and in so doing
we lose more and more of our freedoms."

State Sen. Robert Flanders, R-Antrim, wants to close a loophole in the state's boating laws that
allowed a Meredith man to escape punishment for leaving the accident scene after his boat struck
another boat on Meredith Bay.

Daniel Littlefield's boat crushed and killed Jack Hartman, 69, of Bedford, on Aug. 11, 2002.
Littlefield was convicted of negligent homicide in June.

The trial judge noted at Littlefield's sentencing that he would have faced an additional charge of
"conduct after an accident" had he been driving a car instead of a boat.

Flanders' proposed bill would make leaving the scene of a boating accident a misdemeanor in cases of
property damage and a Class B felony if injury or death results.

Flanders also wants to make sure the state's off-road vehicles laws include similar language, after
a snowmobiler struck a dogsledder and left the injured man lying in the snow last February.

Earlier this month, the snowmobile driver, Denis Lancey, 30, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of
conduct after an accident. Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, he will spend a year in jail.

The musher, Stephen Hessert, 51, of Cumberland, Maine, did not object to the plea deal, according to
the Coos County attorney's office. He is still recovering from his injuries and multiple surgeries.

© 2003 Geo. J. Foster Company