Killer on the road

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Roadside memorial for Daniel Haley., Rt 116 northbound Hadley/Amherst line, parallel to UMass football stadium
Since his assailant was going the wrong way on a state highway and he was only a few miles from his Amherst apartment after a long late-night motorcycle trip from Pittsfield, it's safe to assume they were both going at least the 55 mph speed limit.

When he initially spotted her bearing down he may have assumed it was just an optical illusion -- that she was actually in the southbound lane where she belonged.  After all, who would anticipate a car going the wrong way on such a well marked, well maintained divided roadway, on such a clear night?

And in that split-second realization a high-speed missile was indeed locked on him, maybe he thought the UMass exit -- only a few hundred yards ahead -- could provide safe haven.  But two objects hurtling towards one another leaves little time to carry out a deliberative decision.

Whatever desperate evasive maneuver taken by Daniel Haley, age 24, it was not enough.  He was killed instantly, only a month before his scheduled UMass graduation.  By a drunk driver.  Worse, and all too typical, a repeat offender:  Brittini Benton, age 23, of Sunderland.

In a judicial review of 57,000 DUI cases spanning four years, sparked by a Boston Globe Spotlight team expose on leniency towards drunk drivers in Massachusetts, an independent special counsel found juries acquit drunken driving cases over half the time (58%).   But judges in similar situations (where a defense attorney has waived the right to jury trial) acquit a whopping 86% of the time!

In Massachusetts a driver can refuse a breathalyzer test without penalty of a license suspension, if they are later acquitted of the drunk driving charge.  And in the absence of concrete scientific evidence provided by a breathalyzer, that acquittal, sadly, is more likely to happen.

Allowing careless potential killers back on the road. So once again, sweet family will die.