Bill Text: FL S0244 | 2011 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Motor Vehicles/Highway Safety Act

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 2-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-05-07 - Indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration [S0244 Detail]

Download: Florida-2011-S0244-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2011                              CS for SB 244
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator Bennett
       
       
       
       
       596-01798-11                                           2011244c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to motor vehicles; creating the
    3         “Highway Safety Act”; providing legislative intent
    4         relating to road rage and aggressive careless driving;
    5         amending s. 316.003, F.S.; defining the term “road
    6         rage”; amending s. 316.083, F.S.; requiring an
    7         operator of a motor vehicle to yield the left lane
    8         when being overtaken on a multilane highway; providing
    9         exceptions; amending s. 316.1923, F.S.; revising the
   10         number of specified acts necessary to qualify as an
   11         aggressive careless driver; providing specified
   12         punishments for aggressive careless driving;
   13         specifying the allocation of moneys received from the
   14         increased fine imposed for aggressive careless
   15         driving; amending s. 318.19, F.S.; providing that a
   16         second or subsequent infraction as an aggressive
   17         careless driver requires attendance at a mandatory
   18         hearing; requiring the Department of Highway Safety
   19         and Motor Vehicles to provide information about the
   20         Highway Safety Act in driver’s license educational
   21         materials; reenacting s. 316.650(1)(a), F.S., relating
   22         to traffic citations, to incorporate the amendments
   23         made to s. 316.1923, F.S., in a reference thereto;
   24         providing an effective date.
   25  
   26  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   27  
   28         Section 1. This act may be cited as the “Highway Safety
   29  Act.”
   30         Section 2. The Legislature finds that road rage and
   31  aggressive careless driving are a growing threat to the health,
   32  safety, and welfare of the public. The intent of the Legislature
   33  is to reduce road rage and aggressive careless driving, reduce
   34  the incidence of drivers’ interfering with the movement of
   35  traffic, minimize crashes, and promote the orderly, free flow of
   36  traffic on the roads and highways of the state.
   37         Section 3. Subsection (89) is added to section 316.003,
   38  Florida Statutes, to read:
   39         316.003 Definitions.—The following words and phrases, when
   40  used in this chapter, shall have the meanings respectively
   41  ascribed to them in this section, except where the context
   42  otherwise requires:
   43         (89) ROAD RAGE.—The act of a driver or passenger to
   44  intentionally or unintentionally, due to a loss of emotional
   45  control, injure or kill another driver, passenger, or
   46  pedestrian, or to attempt or threaten to injure or kill another
   47  driver, passenger, or pedestrian.
   48         Section 4. Present subsection (3) of section 316.083,
   49  Florida Statutes, is redesignated as subsection (4), and a new
   50  subsection (3) is added to that section, to read:
   51         316.083 Overtaking and passing a vehicle.—The following
   52  rules shall govern the overtaking and passing of vehicles
   53  proceeding in the same direction, subject to those limitations,
   54  exceptions, and special rules hereinafter stated:
   55         (3)(a) On roads, streets, or highways having two or more
   56  lanes that allow movement in the same direction, a driver may
   57  not continue to operate a motor vehicle in the furthermost left
   58  hand lane if the driver knows, or reasonably should know, that
   59  he or she is being overtaken in that lane from the rear by a
   60  motor vehicle traveling at a higher rate of speed.
   61         (b) Paragraph (a) does not apply to a driver operating a
   62  motor vehicle in the furthermost left-hand lane if:
   63         1. The driver is driving the legal speed limit and is not
   64  impeding the flow of traffic in the furthermost left-hand lane;
   65         2. The driver is in the process of overtaking a slower
   66  motor vehicle in the adjacent right-hand lane for the purpose of
   67  passing the slower moving vehicle so that the driver may move to
   68  the adjacent right-hand lane;
   69         3. Conditions make the flow of traffic substantially the
   70  same in all lanes or preclude the driver from moving to the
   71  adjacent right-hand lane;
   72         4. The driver’s movement to the adjacent right-hand lane
   73  could endanger the driver or other drivers;
   74         5. The driver is directed by a law enforcement officer,
   75  road sign, or road crew to remain in the furthermost left-hand
   76  lane; or
   77         6. The driver is preparing to make a left turn.
   78         (c) A driver who violates s. 316.183 and this subsection
   79  simultaneously shall receive a uniform traffic citation solely
   80  under s. 316.183.
   81         Section 5. Section 316.1923, Florida Statutes, is amended
   82  to read:
   83         316.1923 Aggressive careless driving.—
   84         (1) “Aggressive careless driving” means committing three
   85  two or more of the following acts simultaneously or in
   86  succession:
   87         (a)(1) Exceeding the posted speed as defined in s.
   88  322.27(3)(d)5.b.
   89         (b)(2) Unsafely or improperly changing lanes as defined in
   90  s. 316.085.
   91         (c)(3) Following another vehicle too closely as defined in
   92  s. 316.0895(1).
   93         (d)(4) Failing to yield the right-of-way as defined in s.
   94  316.079, s. 316.0815, or s. 316.123.
   95         (e)(5) Improperly passing or failing to yield to overtaking
   96  vehicles as defined in s. 316.083, s. 316.084, or s. 316.085.
   97         (f)(6) Violating traffic control and signal devices as
   98  defined in ss. 316.074 and 316.075.
   99         (2) Any person convicted of aggressive careless driving
  100  shall be cited for a moving violation and punished as provided
  101  in chapter 318, and by the accumulation of points as provided in
  102  s. 322.27, for each act of aggressive careless driving.
  103         (3) In addition to any fine or points administered under
  104  subsection (2), a person convicted of aggressive careless
  105  driving shall also pay:
  106         (a) Upon a first violation, a fine of $100.
  107         (b) Upon a second or subsequent conviction, a fine of not
  108  less than $250 but not more than $500 and be subject to a
  109  mandatory hearing under s. 318.19.
  110         (4) The clerk of the court shall remit the moneys collected
  111  from the increased fine imposed by subsection (3) to the
  112  Department of Revenue for deposit into the Department of Health
  113  Administrative Trust Fund. Of the funds deposited into the
  114  Department of Health Administrative Trust Fund, $200,000 in the
  115  first year after this act takes effect, and $50,000 in the
  116  second and third years, shall be transferred into the Highway
  117  Safety Operating Trust Fund to offset the cost of providing
  118  educational materials related to this act. Funds deposited into
  119  the Department of Health Administrative Trust Fund under this
  120  subsection shall be allocated as follows:
  121         (a) Twenty-five percent shall be allocated equally among
  122  all Level I, Level II, and pediatric trauma centers in
  123  recognition of readiness costs for maintaining trauma services.
  124         (b) Twenty-five percent shall be allocated among Level I,
  125  Level II, and pediatric trauma centers based on each center’s
  126  relative volume of trauma cases as reported in the Department of
  127  Health Trauma Registry.
  128         (c) Twenty-five percent shall be transferred to the
  129  Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund and used by the department
  130  for making matching grants to emergency medical services
  131  organizations as defined in s. 401.107.
  132         (d) Twenty-five percent shall be transferred to the
  133  Emergency Medical Services Trust Fund and made available to
  134  rural emergency medical services as defined in s. 401.107, and
  135  shall be used solely to improve and expand prehospital emergency
  136  medical services in this state. Additionally, these moneys may
  137  be used for the improvement, expansion, or continuation of
  138  services provided.
  139         Section 6. Section 318.19, Florida Statutes, is amended to
  140  read:
  141         318.19 Infractions requiring a mandatory hearing.—Any
  142  person cited for the infractions listed in this section shall
  143  not have the provisions of s. 318.14(2), (4), and (9) available
  144  to him or her but must appear before the designated official at
  145  the time and location of the scheduled hearing:
  146         (1) Any infraction which results in a crash that causes the
  147  death of another;
  148         (2) Any infraction which results in a crash that causes
  149  “serious bodily injury” of another as defined in s. 316.1933(1);
  150         (3) Any infraction of s. 316.172(1)(b);
  151         (4) Any infraction of s. 316.520(1) or (2); or
  152         (5) Any infraction of s. 316.183(2), s. 316.187, or s.
  153  316.189 of exceeding the speed limit by 30 m.p.h. or more; or.
  154         (6) A second or subsequent infraction of s. 316.1923(1).
  155         Section 7. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor
  156  Vehicles shall provide information about the Highway Safety Act
  157  in all driver’s license educational materials newly printed on
  158  or after October 1, 2011.
  159         Section 8. For the purpose of incorporating the amendments
  160  made by this act to section 316.1923, Florida Statutes, in a
  161  reference thereto, paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section
  162  316.650, Florida Statutes, is reenacted to read:
  163         316.650 Traffic citations.—
  164         (1)(a) The department shall prepare and supply to every
  165  traffic enforcement agency in this state an appropriate form
  166  traffic citation that contains a notice to appear, is issued in
  167  prenumbered books, meets the requirements of this chapter or any
  168  laws of this state regulating traffic, and is consistent with
  169  the state traffic court rules and the procedures established by
  170  the department. The form shall include a box that is to be
  171  checked by the law enforcement officer when the officer believes
  172  that the traffic violation or crash was due to aggressive
  173  careless driving as defined in s. 316.1923. The form shall also
  174  include a box that is to be checked by the law enforcement
  175  officer when the officer writes a uniform traffic citation for a
  176  violation of s. 316.074(1) or s. 316.075(1)(c)1. as a result of
  177  the driver failing to stop at a traffic signal.
  178         Section 9. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.