Is Outcome-Based Law What People Really Want?

The car-bicycle accident that occurred last June 24 west of Cheney was a tragedy for all concerned.

For the family and friends of 13-year-old cyclist Cooper Jones, who died as a result of his injuries. And also for Glenna Ward, the 65-year-old Sprague motorist who struck the teenager shortly before 7 p.m. that summer evening.

None of the grief was eased when, after investigating the accident for three months, the Washington State Patrol issued Ward a $250 ticket for second-degree negligent driving.

Many cyclists, highly sensitive to share-the-road issues, were enraged that a more serious charge wasn’t lodged.

But to do that, the law requires conditions that Lt. Steve Jewell of the State Patrol says didn’t exist in this case.

Ward wasn’t speeding. She wasn’t impaired by drugs or alcohol. She wasn’t driving erratically. Her behavior wasn’t wanton or reckless enough to qualify, under law, for criminal charges.

From a distance, emotions overpower the particulars of the law.

“It’s very frustrating for us to know that somebody can be killed and that all you need to do is write a check and walk away from it,” said Cooper’s mother.

Is the law inadequate in this case? Should the degree of a motorist’s guilt be determined by his or her specific conduct or by its consequences?

Paradox includes some ‘good news’

It is an “interesting paradox,” in Janice Keith’s words, that Spokane fourth-graders scored so poorly in the state’s new, more challenging statewide test, while the community’s high schoolers routinely do quite well in SAT and Advanced Placement exams.

“It was also nice to see mention of the good news regarding SAT scores,” the Spokane Valley woman said. “Good news too often is not (news).”

Meanwhile, Rebecca Wagner of Spokane offered this explanation: “I think the mixed test results can imply that perhaps the kids that learned 10, 12 years ago were being taught more than they’re being taught now.

“Also, a lot of parents send their kids to private schools when they’re younger to try and escape the formative years of public education, and then they send them to high school to finish their education. Therefore, they received a better education in their earlier years, perhaps at a private school.”

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