Earlier today an article titled, “In
an Accident, Drivers Have New Reasons Not to Run,” was published by the
Texas Tribune. The article covers a new legislation that will be going into
effect on September 1 involving hit-and-run accidents. From that day forward,
drivers involved in hit-and-run incidents will have a much greater incentive to
stick around and help the injured parties. The incentive is fueled behind an
increase in penalty for injuring another person and fleeing the scene.
Justin Dehn states that, “currently, it
is a third-degree felony, carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. The
new law raises the offense to a second-degree felony, with a maximum penalty of
20 years. Another new law makes failure to stop and render aid after an
accident that may have caused injury punishable by up to 10 years.”
Surprisingly, this new piece of
legislation was a no-brainer for both democrats and republicans, which is
likely due to the trial of a former legislative staff member. Gabrielle
Nestande was responsible for the death of a 30-year-old Austinite by the name
of Courtney Griffin. She was found guilty of the crime, and then was later
acquitted for various reasons.
Quite frankly, I find it saddening that
it takes a situation like this for new legislation to be passed for something
that practically came down to common sense for all of the involved parties. I
am definitely on board with this new legislation, and can only hope that we don’t
continue to make new laws to prevent wrongs which have already taken place. We
need to become much more proactive and set a new standard for Texans.
2 comments:
In a blog post entitled “Texans Will Now Hit-And-Render-Aid” by one of my classmates, he explains new laws going into effect on September 1st that will increase the penalty of hit-and-runs. I fully agree with this post and feel that hit-and-runs should be penalized with the utmost severity and I am glad that this law was easily passed by both houses. My classmate also brings up the case of Gabrielle Nestande, a former Texas legislator who was responsible for the death of a 30-year-old woman but was somehow acquitted after being found guilty. Personally, I feel that it is embarrassing to the state of Texas that legislators are not held to the same standards of the citizens when a crime is committed and Nestande should not have been acquitted, she should have been sentenced just as any other citizen would have. Overall, I am glad that this law will soon take effect because as human beings, we need to take responsibility for what we do to one another, even though for some it may be fear of the penalty rather than just from kindness and care for others.
Commentary on "Texans Will Now Hit-And-Render-Aid"
Fellow blogger Alejandro Atencio wrote a blog entry entitled Texans Will Now Hit-And-Render-Aid where he discusses a Texas Tribune story about a new Texas State law that will become effective September 1, 2013, where the punishment for failing to stop and render aid in a fatal accident will be increased from a third degree to a second degree felony. He summarizes that the law was the result of a joint bi-partisan effort that stemmed from a recent incident involving a former Austin legislative staff member involved in a fatal hit and run accident who was found guilty, but then acquitted.
I agree with his assessment that this was common sense to change this law. The mother of the victim, Laurie Griffin, in a video portion of the story, expresses how disappointing it was that there were no existing laws that the driver could be charged with. A comment made to her by a detective indicating that the only way to provide justice in the future was to change the law motivated her to lobby to actually get the law changed. This unfortunate incident empowered her to become involved in the legislative process to change a law that will benefit and comfort future victim’s family members. It’s also an appropriate lesson to the end of this course that shows how participation in our government can actually affect change.
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