assignment due 7/22

part 1)Mom Not Charged In Toddler's Hot Car Death
Video Shows Mom Returned To SUV Five times
POSTED: 7:59 am EDT September 5, 2007
UPDATED: 11:24 am EDT September 5, 2007

BATAVIA, Ohio -- A mother who left her 2-year-old daughter in a hot car for more than eight hours will not face criminal charges, reported WLWT-TV in Cincinnati.
The Clermont County prosecutor's office said Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby left her daughter Cecelia in her sport-utility vehicle Aug. 23 at Glen Este Middle School.
The prosecutor's office said Tuesday that the girl's death was an accident, and no charges would be filed.
Leaving the child in the car for the workday was "a substantial lapse of due care," but it did not meet the definition of reckless conduct necessary for prosecution, said Clermont County Prosecutor Don White.
Nesselroad-Slaby's attorney, R. Scott Croswell III, has said that she became distracted from her normal routine of dropping Cecilia at a baby sitter's house because she stopped to buy doughnuts for a faculty meeting, then forgot about the girl when she unloaded the doughnuts from the back of the vehicle.
Union Township police released security camera video on Tuesday that showed that Nesselroad-Slaby returned to the SUV five times during the day, and once moved the SUV to another location in the parking lot.
Union Township police said they believe Nesselroad-Slaby should have been charged with child endangerment.
White said that from numerous comments from the public that his office has received, people are about evenly split regarding possible prosecution.
"However, unlike most elected officials, judges and prosecutors should not, and by law cannot, make their decisions based on popular or public opinion," White said. "Judges and prosecutors are bound by the law."
Nesselroad-Slaby has been on paid leave since her daughter's death. There was no answer at her home phone after the prosecutor's decision was announced.
White has said from the beginning that the child's death was an accident, and the only question was whether a charge of child endangering was appropriate.
On Tuesday, he said he would not ask a grand jury for an indictment.
"The statements of witnesses, a significant interview with Cecilia's mother and a review of videotape and audiotape support the conclusion that Cecilia's mother simply, albeit tragically, forgot that Cecilia was asleep in her car seat when she arrived at work early Thursday morning," White said in a statement released by his office.
"As bad as that appears, it is not a perverse disregard of a known risk," he said.
A July analysis by The Associated Press showed around 340 heat-related deaths of children trapped inside vehicles in the past 10 years, and a wide range of prosecutions and penalties.
Charges were filed in just less than half the deaths. Of those that had been decided, 81 percent resulted in convictions or guilty pleas, and half of those brought jail sentences.
The AP identified more than 220 cases in which the caregiver admitted leaving the child behind. More than three-quarters of those people said they simply forgot.
The same day as Cecilia's death, a 7-month-old infant died in a parked car near the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where the child's father is a research analyst, authorities said. Prosecutors there have not said if they will file charges.
This weekend, an Oregon man was charged with child neglect, accused of leaving his 2-year-old daughter in a car in 95-degree heat in the parking lot of a Nevada brothel. The toddler was treated for dehydration and released to the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services



I think that leaving babies in the car is an unresponsible thing. Shown here anything could happen. In class we talked about child and other passengers safty.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14047414/detail.html







Driver Charged With DWI, Nearly Hitting Child
POSTED: 11:00 am EDT September 4, 2007

LACONIA, N.H. -- A 31-year-old Laconia man is facing charges he smashed his car into several vehicles and nearly hit a child while driving drunk.
Police said Jonathan Clifford struck one vehicle on South Main Street, hit several more vehicles in Young's Auto parking lot and nearly hit a child on Gilbert Street.
Police found Clifford's car soon after the string of incidents Monday, but he wasn't in it. They said they got a call that the driver ran into a house, where they arrested him. Clifford is charged with aggravated drunken driving, conduct after an accident, resisting arrest or detention, felony reckless conduct and criminal trespass.



Driving impared is the worse thing to do because people aren't always aware of what they are doing and it can be dangerous. In class we watched films about drunk driving and the outcome is not good. You may not die but other people in different cars can end up dead.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/14040396/detail.html





Bail Reduced For Man Charged With Hitting Bicyclists
National Guard Member Ordered To Not Drive, Stay Away From Guns
POSTED: 12:25 pm EDT August 24, 2007
UPDATED: 11:42 pm EDT August 24, 2007

CONCORD, N.H. -- A man charged with driving drunk and crashing into two bicyclists asked a judge Friday to reduce his bail.
Adam Lamothe, 24, was charged with felony driving while intoxicated in connection with an Aug. 17 crash. Surveillance video shows a car hitting another vehicle and then running into two bicycle riders, seriously injuring one of them.
Bail was originally set at $100,000, but defense attorney Chris Carter said that Lamothe has no previous history and is a member of the Massachusetts National Guard.
"He's returning to an extremely structured, regimented environment," Carter said. "He's not going back out on the street."
One of the bicyclists was treated and released, but the other one, Adam Boyer, remains hospitalized in serious condition. Prosecutor Scott Murray said that Lamothe is a danger to the public who left the scene of a previous accident earlier in the evening.
"Having not stopped at that accident, he then proceeded on and was engaged in the accident which ultimately injured the man who is in Concord Hospital and another man, as well, for that matter, less seriously," Murray said.
But Carter said Lamothe tried to help after the bicyclists were struck.
"Immediately after this incident, Mr. Lamothe was the first person to attempt to give CPR to Adam Boyer," Carter said. "He did not run away."
The judge ordered bail reduced to $25,000. As a condition of his release, Lamothe must have his National Guard commanding officer write a weekly letter to police saying that he is staying away from alcohol. Lamothe was also ordered to not drive, and he must have no contact with firearms or ammunition.


In class we also talked about pedestrians and bicyclists they have the right-of-way. You have to be alert for them because they are harder to notice. I think that he did not mean to hit him but you have to pay attention to what you are doing.

part 2)Timing your arrival for a green light, you should see the light in your target area, also you should see the red light as a closed front zone. When coming closer to the light check your rear zone, alert the person behind you by tapping your brakes. Now start your constant braking. Now you should time the arrival into an open zone. Once stopped, At 10mph, go or stop, at a green light search the intersection and at a red light stop smoothly.

part 3)The benifits of keeping a four second following distance is that it opens your view to see better. Allows you to gather vital information, Allows you to plan ahead, allows adequate for reduced risk responses, removes control the front vehicle has over ur actions,Eliminates or minimizes surprises, decreases or eliminates stress,decreases the likelihood of crashing your car into the one you are following, you learn to value the open space and your ability to actulley create more time an space, and you become acutley aware of the disatvantages of having less amounts of space.