Year: 2011
Resolution Number: 11
Action Taken: Disapproved
Status:
Author(s): Robert Levine, MD
Sponsor: Robert Levine, MD
On behalf of: Oakland County Delegation
Committee: B (Legislation)
Resolved Section(s):
RESOLVED: That MSMS seek legislation that would do all of the following:1) Establish a site to which consumers could report unsafe practices of drivers operating a vehicle for hire;2) Require the posting of the contact information for the reporting site in all vehicles that are for hire with a driver;3) Include a provision that an operator of a vehicle for hire for who there are proven complaints of his/her talking on a cell phone or inputting information into a hand held device and/or into a vehicle installed device lose their chauffeurs’ license and the privilege of driving vehicles that are for hire with a driver; and4) Provide a significant fine for the company whose vehicles had drivers that were transporting passengers while “driving distracted.”RATIONALE: This Committee supports the idea of reducing distracted driving. This resolution asks for establishment of a new bureaucracy for the reporting of distracted drivers and the ability for this new agency to levy significant fines based on a complaint filed by any passenger. It is not clear if an agency could impose such fines without first verifying the claims of the person making the allegation. These allegations would be very difficult to prove, rendering enforcement almost impossible. Furthermore, the Committee had other resolutions that are worded n a way to better address the issue of distracted driving in a more comprehensive and practical way.
RESOLVED: That MSMS seek legislation that would do all of the following:1) Establish a site to which consumers could report unsafe practices of drivers operating a vehicle for hire;2) Require the posting of the contact information for the reporting site in all vehicles that are for hire with a driver;3) Include a provision that an operator of a vehicle for hire for who there are proven complaints of his/her talking on a cell phone or inputting information into a hand held device and/or into a vehicle installed device lose their chauffeurs’ license and the privilege of driving vehicles that are for hire with a driver; and4) Provide a significant fine for the company whose vehicles had drivers that were transporting passengers while “driving distracted.”RATIONALE: This Committee supports the idea of reducing distracted driving. This resolution asks for establishment of a new bureaucracy for the reporting of distracted drivers and the ability for this new agency to levy significant fines based on a complaint filed by any passenger. It is not clear if an agency could impose such fines without first verifying the claims of the person making the allegation. These allegations would be very difficult to prove, rendering enforcement almost impossible. Furthermore, the Committee had other resolutions that are worded n a way to better address the issue of distracted driving in a more comprehensive and practical way.
Fiscal Note: NULL