She should have been charged!

Could this be an example of law enforcement not doing their job?

Before you answer read about what happened first.

"A car/bicycle accident Tuesday (9/28/10) afternoon in Decorah injured a Decorah man.

50-year-old John Condon was riding his bike north on Locust Road around 4:00 p.m. Tuesday. 55-year-old Sherri Heckstein of Decorah was driving her car north on Locust Road. She told police some items fell off the visor of the car, distracting her. When she looked up, Condon's bike was in front of her. She swerved to the left, but struck Condon. Condon was thrown from his bike and landed ten feet away.

Condon suffered minor road rash and contusions on his left shoulder, left side and right calf. He was check by EMS personnel and released.

Heckstein was not ticketed in connection with the accident."

Here is how I see this. heckstein very likely saw Condon before the crap fell from her visor. Yet she felt and thought it more important to deal with said crap falling from here visor rather than paying attention to what was on the roadway in front of her. If it was so damn important to deal with something falling off of a visor why did she not pull over to deal with it? Why did she put the life of Condon and others at risk by taking her eyes off the road?

To add insult to injury law enforcement officials either being incompetent to do their job or not wanting to research what heckstein should be charged with they decide not to cite her at all. This is yet another example of drivers not being held accountable for their behavior, justice not being served as it should and cyclists taking a back seat, being treated like second class citizens by law enforcement.

This was no accident. It may have been unintentional, then again, maybe not. But it was avoidable. An accident is not avoidable, a collision, whether unintentional or intentional is avoidable. Had heckstein not messed with the crap falling from her visor and kept her eyes on the road she would have avoided hitting Condon.

No doubt there are those who think law enforcement acted as they should have by not charging the driver. Some think this because they think cyclists should be banned from the roadways. Others think this for other reasons.

Let's not kid ourselves here. This was certainly distracted driving. and Iowa does have laws against distracted driving. The problem is they are vague at best and subject to law enforcement interpritation at worst. The "Bicycle Safety Bill", once passed into law will define this law and make it clear how law enforcement is to act and will hold drivers accountable for their actions. The problem is, unitl then, cyclsits will continue to be injured and killed at the hands of bad drivers.

Story: Decorah bicyclist injured Tuesday in car accident