This morning’s frost reminded me about something I heard about last year and caused me to pause and warm up my teenager’s car before he left for school today. An employee of a friend of mine was in a rush one morning and scraped only a part of his windshield. His life changed irrevocably because of this. As he pulled out of his driveway to head to work, he didn’t see the jogger on his right. He struck and killed this person. He was charged with misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide which can carry a jail sentence of up to 2 ½ years in a House of Correction.

Who would ever expect that something like this could or would happen? It does. And far too often. People are driving and doing many other things; texting, eating, spilling coffee on themselves, picking something up that fell or even trying to find a song on the radio. If someone dies while you are operating a motor vehicle on a public way in such a manner that it endangers the public, you will likely be charged with this crime. If you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you will likely face felony motor vehicle homicide charges which is punishable by up to 15 years in State prison.

Any motor vehicle homicide charge also carries with it a 15-year license suspension which can turn into a lifetime suspension if you have an OUI conviction on your record.

The moral of the story is to take a little extra time and scrape off your windshield on those cold mornings and remind your kids to do the same. And, avoid doing those things that you do while you are driving that could end up really coming back to haunt you. It’s just not worth it.