REMEDYING THE C&I PROBLEM

In an example of the "law of unintended consequences," legislators and prosecutors now agree that a law that changed careless and imprudent driving from a misdemeanor to an infraction is a mistake that has, understandably, outraged families of victims. A measure passed during last year's session of the General Assembly decriminalized careless and imprudent driving. Instead of a possible $500 fine and a year in jail, the penalty for C&I became a $200 fine, even if someone died in the accident.

The measure began as an effort by the Missouri Prosecutors Association to ensure that speeders couldn't tie up the courts by seeking jury trials. A series of amendments added C&I to the section that decriminalized speeding. The amendment was added during the session's last three days, when the pace of business is always frenetic. Prosecutors lobbying for the bill's passage missed the implication of the amendment, and so did the governor's staff in reviewing it prior to signing it into law.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler, has pledged to work for swift passage of a corrective measure. This should be a non-controversial priority for action in the 1996 session that begins today in Jefferson City.