Mayor of Moraine, Ohio, dies because of ineffective laws
By dragon54u
@dragon54u (31633)
United States
October 19, 2010 9:40am CST
Mayor Bob Rosencrans was hit by a car and died at the scene last Friday, October 15th. The driver of that car, Mark Myles, aged 21, had been convicted EIGHT TIMES since 2008 of driving without a license.
Why is this man, Myles, even a free man? I don't understand why he is not in jail. He, his passenger and a two year old child (who was not in a car seat) are still in the hospital in serious condition. A witness said he may have been drag-racing when he murdered the mayor with his car and injured his passengers and himself.
So, someone panhandling on the street or caught with some weed can go to jail for months but someone who habitually breaks the law by driving without a license retains his freedom and ends up killing a man and injuring his passengers. He could serve as little as 180 days if he's convicted of vehicular homicide.
I know this kind of thing goes on all the time but think about it when you go to the voting booth next month. We need to get our lawmakers' priorities in the right place. A lot of people die because our courts don't take the law seriously and our lawmakers refuse to impose serious penalties for crimes. I just had to rant and get this off my chest, sorry.
6 responses
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
19 Oct 10
How sad! It seems terribly unfair to think that the laws are so lenient in certain areas.
1 person likes this
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
19 Oct 10
You see... this is crazyness.
You want to jail a driver who was doing everything right.
I would think that 15MPH in a school zone is the legal limit, and the boy ran in front of his car.
If you want my opinion, someone should have educated the boy about crossing the road.
The roads are still being built, even in 2010, for the sole purpose of having cars on them. Pedestrians should be solely responsible for crossing those roads.
Pedestrians are an arrogant bunch, and have zero respect for motorists.
1 person likes this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36847)
• Pamplona, Spain
19 Nov 10
Hiya dragon,
So sorry to hear about the Mayor. Many Accidents here too where the Driver gets away with it still. No one can explain how they work out the Jail Sentences for some really long sentences for minor offenses and the others get off much more lightly. Cyclists here and People on Motorbikes come off the worst.
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
19 Nov 10
Cyclists don't fare well here, either. People just don't pay attention! And then, some cyclists act like they are cars and ride in the middle of the lane, holding up traffic, but most try to stay well away from cars.
I wish that once a license was suspended they could confiscate their vehicle. Not a perfect solution but it might be a start. No excuse for someone with multiple suspensions to be driving!
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36847)
• Pamplona, Spain
19 Nov 10
Hiya dragon,
That´s right if I hit someone I would not expect to be Driving again in a lifetime. I would be so afraid of hurting someone.
Cyclists can be their own left foot sometimes too. Here they have a habit of deliberately going slow in front of you right in front of you. You don´t want to hit them so you have to put up with them. They should also be fined because they can cause multiple accidents. This is the third time I have come across this very bad habit. All they do is to look back and glare at you.
I am always careful when it comes to cyclists giving them a wide berth as possible I respect them very much but not that kind of behaviour I have mentioned before.
My condolences to the Mayor´s Family they must be going through a very bad time.
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
19 Oct 10
We do have similar stories in Australia. However, if he is found at fault, killing that person, he probably would get 10 years in Australia.
There are several problems with the law.
More often than not, the law unfairly remove people licence over some pity traffic offences. And as a result, we have ten of thousand of drivers without a licence. But this don't seem to reduce the road toll.
Some people will take the law in their own hands and drive without a licence.
The law does not care that taking someone licence away can destroy the life of that person and its family, if he lose his job over it.
In most cases,they take your licence away as a punishment.
NOT because you are not capable to drive a car.
And if you want to jail anyone caught driving without a licence, you better start building some new jails. But the reality is, particulary with young people, if you don't keep them in jail until they get their licence back, they will keep on driving, because in our society, we have come to believe that driving is our birth right. In Australia we have 80 years old fighting tooth and nail to keep their licence. They are just as dangerous as a 21 year old, but for different reasons.
I cannot comment on this accident, as I don't know the circonstances of it. But more than likely, wether he had a licence or not, would not have made any difference. The only thing we can say, is that if he had not driven without a licence, he would not have been on the road in the first place. But that argument is as valid as saying "It was the will of God".
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
19 Oct 10
I agree that abusing license suspension like that is very ineffective and wrong. But this guy was convicted 8 times of driving without a license. You would think that after the 3rd or 4th offense he would get jail time and may have not been driving when the mayor was on the road. Add to that the blatant disregard for the child in his car--not being in a car seat--and I think he should be put away for at least ten years.
But what I think bears no influence on reality. Our laws here are shockingly lax on people that kill with their vehicles.
@bellis716 (4799)
• United States
20 Oct 10
I was wondering why the driver of the offending car couldn't be charged with murder instead of vehicular homicide. It couldn't be premeditated murder, because for that, intent would have to be proved. One charge which should be brought against him is child endangerment.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
20 Oct 10
I certainly hope that child endangerment is part of his charges as well as charging his female passenger with the same--the child is probably hers, although anything is possible. If you saw the mayor's car you could imagine how fast Myles' car was going and be amazed the child is alive at all.
No, there was nothing premeditated but I hope they take into account the fact that he was intentionally breaking the law and has done so habitually. A new report says he has a total of 14 convictions for driving without a license, going back to when he was 14 in 2003! How he got this far without serious jail time is beyond me, and a poor reflection on our courts system. I hope the mayor's family sues if nothing is done to this man in the way of taking him permanently off the road.
@bunnybon7 (50970)
• Holiday, Florida
19 Oct 10
well i say dont be sorry. you've brought up a very important subject here. i think you are surely right. and i'll bet more will be concidered now that someone that important has gotten killed because of it. its a shame that if the ordinary citizen gets killed not much is done about law changes. but if someone important gets killed its really jumped on. 
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
19 Oct 10
Yeah, it's pretty bad when we ignore stuff like this and people die until someone "important" suffers then it's all hands on deck! Same way with diseases, nobody pays attention till a celebrity gets it or endorses the fund raising.
I just hope the laws are tightened. That guy should have been doing some serious jail time.
Same way with diseases, nobody pays attention till a celebrity gets it or endorses the fund raising.
I just hope the laws are tightened. That guy should have been doing some serious jail time.
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
19 Oct 10
I looked it up. Ohio is incredibly lenient with vehicular homicides. So are a lot of other states and I just don't understand it. I hope that with his record of convictions he'll get a stiffer sentence. They haven't charged him yet, probably because he's in the hospital, and that surprises me.
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
19 Oct 10
My guess is he'll be going straight from the hospital to jail. If not, Ohio DOES need to "shape up". I think New Mexico is getting more strict, but we have way too many people driving who shouldn't be and without insurance and illegals with drivers licenses (thanks to our Governor, Bill Richardson). Hopefully, that will change with a Republican governor next year.
1 person likes this
