Press release from state Reps. Bill Hamzy and Ron Burns:
A fatal accident on Route 6 in Bristol last August that took the lives of four young people and injured three others, two seriously, might have been prevented if a measure that that passed the state House of Representatives today had been in effect in 2007, state Representatives William A. Hamzy and Ron Burns said today.
The legislation (House Bill 5748) would increase the amount of behind the wheel, on the road training 16- and 17-year olds must complete before qualifying for a drivers license; set tougher mandatory drivers license suspensions for 16- and 17-year old drivers who violate certain traffic laws; and extend the passenger restrictions that currently apply to 16- and 17-year-olds after they are licensed from the first six months after being licensed to a full year, said representatives Hamzy, R-78th District, and Burns, R-77th District, who the bill.
“Almost every day, I drive by the scene of a horrific fatal accident on Route 6 in Bristol that occurred last year,” said Representative Hamzy, who lives in Terryville and works in Bristol. “It is a tragic reminder of what can happen when teenagers drive at excessive speeds or take unnecessary risks behind the wheel. The likelihood of a serious or fatal accident increases significantly when one or more young people are riding in a vehicle operated by an inexperienced teen driver. The purpose of this legislation is to significantly reduce the number and seriousness of these kinds of accidents in the years ahead.”
“As a parent, I understand the concern parents feel when their sons and daughters take the wheel in the months after they get their drivers’ licenses,” Representative Burns said. “While I believe this bill still needs work, the good that it will do far outweighs some of the concerns I have about it. I’m confident the state legislature will iron out whatever shortcomings in the law become apparent in the years ahead. Meanwhile, parents should feel more confident that our action today will help ensure the future safety of all Connecticut motorists – not just teenagers.”
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
Showing posts with label accidents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label accidents. Show all posts
April 9, 2008
October 5, 2007
Crack down on young speed demons
In the past couple of months, seven teenagers have died in two high-speed, sickening car accidents.
In both cases, the drivers had already proven their recklessness on the road, but were still behind the wheel of hot Subaru sports cars that nobody who’s 17 ought to be driving.
What angers me most about the accident yesterday is that Anthony Apruzzese, the driver, had no business driving anything faster than a 10-speed.
Look at what the Waterbury Republican-American has uncovered about Apruzzese’s driving record if you want to see government failure at its best.
Since he got his license 14 months ago, Apruzzese racked up a speeding ticket in November, another one a few days later and a ticket after that for improper seat belt us.
Then, in March, he slammed a car into a tree at 90 miles an hour – while he was drunk.
Amazingly, he got his driver’s license back 90 days later.
Yesterday, of course, Apruzzese ceased needing a license. And two girls, 14 and 15, died along with him after he veered into the path of a delivery truck at high speed.
Of course, the driver bears most of the blame. His parents will also have to live with their failures in this.
But what concerns me is how come this guy was allowed to keep driving?
Capt. Domenic Angiolillo, Wolcott police spokesman, told the Waterbury paper that “he had frequently spoken to Apruzzese about his driving habits, including at least six times in September alone. He said Abruzzese was always respectful and polite.”
"He was a good kid who just made some bad choices," Angiolillo told the paper.
Well, maybe.
But among the bad choices in this whole sorry mess are ones made by lawmakers in Hartford.
The law should be changed, as quickly as possible, to crack down on this type of teenage recklessness.
Anyone under 21 who is found guilty of drunk driving should have no chance at all to recover his or her license until they are 21. That just seems like a no-brainer, for so many obvious reasons.
Moreover, anybody under 21 who gets a second speeding ticket should also lose the right to drive, maybe for a year.
But if anyone under 21 is caught going more than 20 miles over the speed limit, which is pretty darn fast, they shouldn’t even get a chance to rack up another ticket.
It’s not teen drivers who are the menace. It’s reckless teen drivers.
Once they’ve proven themselves unfit to be behind the wheel, make damn sure they’re not. It’s our responsibility to protect the rest of society from the danger they pose, of course, but it’s also our duty to protect them from themselves.
Kids make mistakes. But we should make it a whole lot harder for them to make the same mistakes over and over until they get killed from them.
I don't want to see more teenagers smashed up and dead like the ones who who died in Bristol in July and in Wolcott yesterday. Let's do something about it.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
In both cases, the drivers had already proven their recklessness on the road, but were still behind the wheel of hot Subaru sports cars that nobody who’s 17 ought to be driving.
What angers me most about the accident yesterday is that Anthony Apruzzese, the driver, had no business driving anything faster than a 10-speed.
Look at what the Waterbury Republican-American has uncovered about Apruzzese’s driving record if you want to see government failure at its best.
Since he got his license 14 months ago, Apruzzese racked up a speeding ticket in November, another one a few days later and a ticket after that for improper seat belt us.
Then, in March, he slammed a car into a tree at 90 miles an hour – while he was drunk.
Amazingly, he got his driver’s license back 90 days later.
Yesterday, of course, Apruzzese ceased needing a license. And two girls, 14 and 15, died along with him after he veered into the path of a delivery truck at high speed.
Of course, the driver bears most of the blame. His parents will also have to live with their failures in this.
But what concerns me is how come this guy was allowed to keep driving?
Capt. Domenic Angiolillo, Wolcott police spokesman, told the Waterbury paper that “he had frequently spoken to Apruzzese about his driving habits, including at least six times in September alone. He said Abruzzese was always respectful and polite.”
"He was a good kid who just made some bad choices," Angiolillo told the paper.
Well, maybe.
But among the bad choices in this whole sorry mess are ones made by lawmakers in Hartford.
The law should be changed, as quickly as possible, to crack down on this type of teenage recklessness.
Anyone under 21 who is found guilty of drunk driving should have no chance at all to recover his or her license until they are 21. That just seems like a no-brainer, for so many obvious reasons.
Moreover, anybody under 21 who gets a second speeding ticket should also lose the right to drive, maybe for a year.
But if anyone under 21 is caught going more than 20 miles over the speed limit, which is pretty darn fast, they shouldn’t even get a chance to rack up another ticket.
It’s not teen drivers who are the menace. It’s reckless teen drivers.
Once they’ve proven themselves unfit to be behind the wheel, make damn sure they’re not. It’s our responsibility to protect the rest of society from the danger they pose, of course, but it’s also our duty to protect them from themselves.
Kids make mistakes. But we should make it a whole lot harder for them to make the same mistakes over and over until they get killed from them.
I don't want to see more teenagers smashed up and dead like the ones who who died in Bristol in July and in Wolcott yesterday. Let's do something about it.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
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