Husband of Cyclist Killed in Crash Asks Senate to Change Law

Tom Rogers is urging New Hampshire state senators to pass a bill to close a loophole in state law that he says allowed an unlicensed driver to get back behind the wheel and later crash into four cyclists in Hampton.

His wife, Pam Wells, was one of two women who died in the accident Sept. 21, 2013.

The House passed the bill earlier this year to modify penalties for driving without a license. A Senate committee, however, is recommending the full Senate reject the bill.

The Senate convenes May 15 to take up the bill. Rogers has written an open letter to the Senate, imploring members to consider passage. 

Here is more of what he has to say, in his own words, in advance of Thursday's vote:

"Lives are at stake."

Right now, if one is caught driving in New Hampshire without a valid license, the most the police can do is issue a summons to appear in court. House Bill 1135-FN, as amended by the state’s House of Representatives, seeks to change the existing state law and make it a misdemeanor to drive without a valid license.

Why is a Massachusetts resident urging passage of this bill?

Because back in September, a terrible accident happened in Hampton, New Hampshire.

At around 8:30 in the morning on Saturday, September 21, a 19-year-old named driver named Darriean Hess struck four bicyclists who were participating in the Granite State Wheelmen’s Seacoast Century. This 100-mile charity ride follows the coast from Hampton Beach State Park, south to Newburyport, then back north again up into Maine, and finally back to Hampton Beach State Park.

The victims were Pam Wells, my wife of 19 years, her friends Margo Heigh and Elise Bouchard of Danvers, MA, and Uwe Umeyer of Essex, MA.

Margo was in the lead, and it appears she was the only one who had any warning, perhaps for just a split second, of the impending crash. She was badly beat up but will be OK. Uwe Umeyer was severely injured but has made a good recovery. Elise Bouchard and my wife Pam Wells were killed.

As if dealing with the accident were not enough, the survivors and their relatives soon learned that Darriean Hess had been pulled over by the Hampton police for speeding at 12:45 AM that same morning. Hess was going 59 in a 30-mile per hour zone, on the same stretch of road as the accident.

Police learned that Hess did not have a license. She was alone, driving her boyfriend’s car.

The police gave Hess a summons to appear in court for speeding and driving without a license. Also the police allowed Hess to call a friend in order to drive the vehicle away. Hess called Cindy Sheppard, who had recently been arrested and was awaiting trial for drug-related charges.

Sheppard took Hess to Sheppard’s home. Reports indicate that when Hess left Sheppard’s home later that same morning, Hess was under the influence of Fentanyl, Klonopin and Percocet. A little before 8:30, Hess got back in the same car and headed south again on the same stretch of road, sped over the bridge and crashed into my wife’s group of bicyclists.

Had driving without a valid license been a misdemeanor last September, the officer who pulled Hess over would have had the right to arrest her if she had appeared to be a risk to public safety. The officer would then have looked up Hess’s records and might have concluded that Hess should be taken to the police station for booking.

If House Bill 1135-FN had been in effect last September, the Hampton police would have arrested Darriean Hess, or at minimum impounded the car and thus gotten Hess off the streets. Had this happened, my wife and Elise Bouchard might still be alive today.

If House Bill 1135-FN is signed into law, more lives may be spared.

Since its creation last fall, House Bill 1135-FN has come a long way. The state’s House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass the bill. The state’s Senate Transportation Committee recommended passage of the bill and the state’s full senate made the same recommendation, during a unanimous voice vote on April 17, 2014.

So what’s the roadblock? On May 6, the Senate Finance Committee passed a motion, put forward by Senator Chuck Morse, recommending the bill not be passed. Thus, the bill now goes back to the full senate for another vote.

The New Hampshire Senate Finance Committee came up with an estimated cost of $28,000, needed for the initial implementation of the bill if it were signed into law. The only cost following the initial implementation would relate to enforcement. As likely passing the bill would not lead to New Hampshire needing any additional law enforcement personnel, the cost in years following the law’s initial implementation would be negligible.

The costs, for the State of New Hampshire, incurred in the aftermath of accidents such as the one on September 21, 2013, which killed Pam Wells and Elise Bouchard and injured two other persons, are far greater than $28,000. (See details on the attached fact sheet.) The state’s overall 2014 budget is over 7 billion dollars. The expenditure of $28,000 is an increase of four ten-thousandths of a percentage of the state’s budget. How can the state let $28,000 stand in the way of saving lives?

Please help call for the New Hampshire Senate to pass House Bill 1135-FN. Anything short of its passage is unconscionable.