Dozens of cyclists clad in brightly colored gear, families and local leaders gathered in Boulder’s Valmont Bike Park on Thursday morning to celebrate the signing of a law that aims to make detecting impaired drivers easier and to honor the teenage cyclist whose death spurred officials to take action.
The legislation — dubbed Magnus’ Law after 17-year-old cyclist Magnus White, who was fatally struck by a driver while riding on Colorado 119 in Boulder County — will require law enforcement across the state to offer preliminary breath tests to drivers involved in fatal or suspected serious injury crashes. Legislators hope the law will provide a clear protocol for serious crashes and give victims and their families confidence that impairment will be investigated.
“There’s only one person responsible for my son’s death. Gaps in the system are responsible for the 20 months it took to find out what one question at the scene could have told us that afternoon,” Michael White said to the crowd gathered in the Boulder park where his son spent hours doing what he loved.
“We are choosing to fix the things that are broken. That’s the only thing that’s made any of this survivable,” he added…