Accidentally killing people isn’t necessarily criminal, but but in civil court, he will be found grossly negligent and he will pay a huge financial penalty, it would seem to me.
I ride a motorcycle and these sorts of drivers are my primary concern. I’ve heard of too many incidents where bikers are killed stopped in traffic at a red light. Seems there’s never a time when riding not to feel invisible and vulnerable and need eyes in the back of your head.
I check my mirrors regularly when stopped at a light, particularly when there is no vehicle behind me; I try to maintain space for evasion ahead; and I always idle in low, never neutral.
A police report says McDonald was going the speed limit, 45 mph, when he struck the stopped vehicles, and lists "driving too fast for conditions" and "distraction/inattention" as contributing factors in the accident.
I do the same thing, even in my car. Two months ago I quickly had to pull to the shoulder on the freeway in a construction traffic jam. It was after an NBA game and lots of cars were wandering...
I noticed the car behind me wasn’t slowing to the stopped traffic, so I pulled to the shoulder. He braked hard, but it was too late. I felt bad for the car in front of me.
One thing that I notice bike riders do when they are sitting at a red light is to put the transmission in nuetral and then take their foot off the brake. This dims the brake light, not the best thing to be doing if you are trying to maintain high visibility, IMO.
I always stop with my headlight in the drivers side rear view mirror and I watch the rearview in case a car is coming. If they ain’t gonna stop, I can hit the gas and run drivers side to get out of harms way.