Date:
March 18, 2005
Introduction: Dr. David T. Ryan, a world-class physicist and former semi-pro cyclist, was Walter Cicha’s co-worker at the General Electric Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. A speeding vehicle, driven by 18-year old Joshua Paniccia of Niskayuna, tragically killed 32-year old David on June 29, 2004, while he was on a cycling training ride in southern Clifton Park.
Mr. Paniccia subsequently was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide on September 25, 2004 in Saratoga County Court and currently is facing a March 7, 2005 trial date. His driver’s license was not suspended by the State of New York until the September arraignment. In just over two years of driving, Mr. Paniccia was charged at least four times with speeding and/or reckless driving, together with other lesser infractions of traffic law, yet, owing to his effective utilization of readily available plea bargains, the driving abstract of Mr. Paniccia does not reflect this. In large part, this explains why he had a valid driver’s license in his possession on June 29, 2004. It is felt by the advocates for “Ryan’s Law” that Mr. Paniccia’s story prior to the accident date is more common than most realize and that there are many drivers on New York’s roads under the age of 21 with similarly incomplete driving abstracts, who fortunately yet have not killed anyone
Immediately following David’s tragic and avoidable death, Walter Cicha, who himself is an avid cyclist and distance runner, quickly put together the “David Ryan Memorial Committee,” which successfully managed to organize the “David T. Ryan Ride for Safety Awareness,” held on October 9th, a day after what would have been David’s birthday. The ride, which attracted over 250 registered riders and much media coverage, raised in excess of $21,000 for the “David Ryan Scholarship Fund.” The fund now is under the directorship of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and will be used to award multi-year $5000 annual merit scholarships in David’s name to a deserving student at RPI, starting in the 2005 fall term. Please see David Ryan’s official memorial web site, at www.davidtryan.com, for more information. Plans already are underway for a 2nd annual “David T. Ryan Ride for Safety Awareness,” to enhance the scholarship fund and to continue increasing the public’s consciousness about sharing the roads with non-motorized travelers.
Objective: To instill a new law that makes
roadways safer for non-motorized travel by prosecuting repeat offender
motorists, especially those under age 21, before they cause serious problems.
1. Empower the police officer or investigator at the scene of any accident where a motorist kills [or seriously injures] a pedestrian, bicyclist or other non-motorized traveler to immediately suspend the driver’s license until further notification from the State and/or County.
2. Mandate that drivers under the age of 21 automatically go to six months of educational classes that are strictly defined by State Law instead of going to court for their first charged offense; the nature and duration of these classes would be uniform throughout the State of New York and would be financed directly from collected traffic fines, including those from moving violations.
3. Mandate that the driving abstract of
any licensed driver under the age of 21 shall include all charges for moving
violations, and the disposition of each charge shall be included whether or not
a plea bargain was reached; it is essential that these complete abstracts are
made available to District Attorneys upon request.
4. Mandate that the police notify at least one parent or guardian of any driver under the age of 21 who is charged with a moving violation, whether or not it resulted in an accident; the police legally would have up to 24 hours following the charged infraction to do so.
1. Bring together the coalition listed above.
2. Use objective research and resulting solid data to:
a. Contrast the percentage of drivers under age 21 who have killed or seriously injured bicyclists or pedestrians and i) who have been convicted of prior moving violations versus ii) those who have not been convicted of prior moving violations;
b. Contrast the percentage of drivers under age 21 who have killed or seriously injured bicyclists or pedestrians and i) who have been charged with prior moving violations versus ii) those who have not been charged with prior moving violations;
c. Determine the percentage of all drivers who have killed or seriously injured bicyclists or pedestrians who were under age 21;
This and other information will be critical to sway those opposed to the proposed reform.
3. Convince District Attorneys to sign onto a letter calling for reform of the plea bargain overuse issues and find a group of legislators to effectively champion the cause.
4. Announce these intentions publicly, with the help of the media.
A Little More about Walter Cicha…
Walter is a professional scientist who has spent most of his 15-year career with the DuPont Company (Wilmington, DE) and with General Electric’s Global Research (Niskayuna, NY). He was born in Prague, in what then was Czechoslovakia and at the age of six, in 1968, was transplanted by his parents to Winnipeg, Canada. He obtained > 99 % of his education in Canada, culminating with the earning of his Ph.D. degree (Chemistry) at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver (1989). After spending a year as a Postdoctoral Associate in Paris, France, he spent two more years in Canada working in the area of nuclear energy research before taking up a position with DuPont on the last day of 1992. In 1997, Walter won the American Chemical Society’s “Hero of Chemistry” Award for his discovery of a new process that reduced emission of a polluting carcinogen at a DuPont plant by > 95 %. The GE Company brought Walter to NY State in the summer of 2000. Walter has many serious hobbies, including competitive participation in a plethora of sports, performing music, photography, critical writing and advocacy. The death of his close friend Dr. David Ryan reawakened something that has always been within him, namely a deep desire to improve society, especially areas that are potentially harmful to human health and quality of life.