Chair Michael Garcia appointed a four-member ad hoc committee to develop a fact-based white paper on motorist accountability and collisions involving cyclists following the recent fatal crash of Steven Ballinger.

The appointments named Ellen Wang as chair of the ad hoc committee and included Gary Schiffmiller, Bill Adrian and Khalil Spencer. The committee is intended to produce policy recommendations and may seek crash data and other technical assistance from the Santa Fe Police Department, committee members said.

The committee formed after members pressed law enforcement about why the driver involved in Ballinger's death was charged with careless driving rather than the city's reckless-driving ordinance. Member Gary Schiffmiller (Member, BPAC) reviewed the city code's reckless-driving language and noted in the meeting, “A person operating a motor vehicle shall not endanger a bicyclist.”

Schiffmiller said many in the cycling community view prosecutions in cyclist-involved crashes as inadequate. “So a lot of us are wondering, you know, how is it that you kill a bicyclist and you get a slap on the wrist?” he said.

A lieutenant from the Santa Fe Police Department described how serious crashes are handled. “If there is a crash involving great bodily harm or a motor vehicle fatality, those particular cases are actually handed over to our traffic division, who is certified to be able to investigate those types of crashes,” the lieutenant said. The lieutenant said a dedicated motor-vehicle-fatal team performs measurements and reconstruction, collects witness statements and then the lead investigator consults the district attorney’s office about appropriate charges.

Committee members also cited a New Mexican quotation attributed to Deputy Chief Valdez, who said investigators must determine intent and that, in some cases, evidence fits a careless-driving charge rather than reckless driving. As read in the meeting, Valdez said, in part, “We have to look at what the intent is ... when it's beyond a reasonable doubt, it has to fit with the charge with what the charge language is. If it doesn't fit with reckless, but it does with careless, that's what we're left to charge with.” That quotation was identified in the meeting as coming from the New Mexican.

The lieutenant said Officer Martinez, a member of the traffic fatal team, led the Ballinger investigation and consulted the district attorney; the district attorney’s office recommended a careless-driving charge in that case, the lieutenant said. The lieutenant also told the committee that the department’s crime analysts can provide statistics and that crash reports are publicly obtainable through the city’s records process (Santa Fe Next request) or via analytic summaries prepared by the department.

As next steps, the ad hoc committee will begin meeting to assemble recommendations. Members said the group may request crash data and other evidence from police analysts to inform the white paper. The committee also asked police about possible collaborative educational initiatives around intersection controls and signal timing.