Kajuan Cornish

You may recall the story of Kajuan Cornish, a cyclist convicted of reckless driving and fined over $1000 under the state of Virginia's draconian 'abusive driver' law. Cornish was riding back to work when he was stopped by a police officer who said other motorists had to slow down in order to avoid hitting him.

Well, here's the good news. The state voted to rescind the legislation effective July 1st. Originally, they enacted this law to add to the state's revenue and fund more road construction. This was an ingenious end-run around taking responsibility for road funding by raising taxes. Or so it seemed at the time.

Here's the news piece about the change.

(And as an aside, it's amazing how much reading and writing I can get done when I leave the stupid television off for the evening!)

'Reckless' cyclist fined $1,050...

I'd like to know more about this one. Cornish was convicted of reckless driving. Officer George Evans said that motorists had to slow down to avoid hitting him. Much is left unsaid here. Was Cornish running a red light? Was he weaving? Or is it somehow illegal to force motorists to slow down? Please take a look at this video.

If anyone finds more on this, I'd like to hear about it. Don't expect the local bicycle advocates or LAB to get involved. Cornish is a black guy riding a bicycle to work and back, not a Lycra-clad 'real' cyclist. I'll set up another news alert in Google on this.

One bike and $1,050 fine

by Kimball Payne |247-4765

January 11, 2008

Newport News - Kajuan Cornish, 19, ran afoul of the General Assembly's controversial abusive driver fees Thursday, when he was convicted of reckless driving in Newport News traffic court.

The conviction for crossing over Warwick Boulevard during afternoon rush hour triggered more than $1,050 in fees under a program designed to raise money to pay for highway maintenance.

Cornish got the ticket while steering his 18-speed Huffy bicycle back to work.

...Some local lawmakers said Cornish's predicament underscored two big flaws with the abusive driver program: Lawmakers don't want to charge the fees — which run as high as $3,000 for the most egregious offenses — on smaller infractions.

Also, it would be extremely difficult to collect the money from Cornish.



...But according to the Newport News code and the police officer who wrote up Cornish, every vehicle on the road has to follow established traffic laws.

Officer George Evans said that when Cornish crossed Warwick south of Denbigh Boulevard, drivers had to slow down to avoid hitting him — a fact that Cornish disputes.

Either way, Evans said, he would have written a warning. "If he gets hit, then we have a mess," he said. "It was a major violation right in front of us."