You could receive fines upwards of $5,000 from this one state. Check to see the new legislation before the annual Halloween panic. Keeping the roads safe requires significant legislative updates and monitoring, not just regarding driving conduct, but also what is permitted to be installed on your vehicle itself. During the holiday season, law enforcement often sees an uptick in unlawful and unsafe driving practices on the roads, as well as changes to the vehicles themselves, which can become hazardous for other drivers.
Updating legislation to enforce safe driving behaviour
It is essential that drivers take it upon themselves to continue to update themselves on changing laws and legislation regarding acceptable driving conduct and behavior. While you may not intend to break the law, your fellow drivers often force law enforcement to tighten road traffic safety policies, meaning that you may unintentionally not be abiding by these policies if you have not kept yourself informed.
Recently, across the nation, updates to legislation have pertained to stamping out speeding and distracted driving practices. Speeding is regularly an issue for law enforcement, and states have begun to implement harsher consequences if convicted, as well as using automated speed camera technology to catch speeding drivers in the absence of law enforcement on the road.
Additionally, the country is seeing more states enforce ‘hands-free’ laws in order to reduce instances of distracted driving. Phone usage while behind the wheel is a significant contributor to distracted driving behavior, with these new laws making it illegal to have your phone in your hand while driving, even if you are using it for navigation purposes. If you wish to use your phone for navigation or to answer a hands-free call, these new legislative pieces require drivers to have their phones mounted on their dashboards, with any other phone practice (particularly texting) strictly forbidden while behind the wheel.
$5,000 fines for using these car lights
Recently, a new piece of road safety legislation was passed by Florida lawmakers. Florida House Bill 253 stipulated that drivers are banned from installing front-facing red, blue, and red-and-white lights that flash and rotate. This is because these types of lights are commonly associated with emergency services vehicles, such as ambulances and police vehicles.
The law goes into place just in time before Halloween, when residents may decide to dress up as members in these professions and may be tempted to deck their vehicles out to match. If caught violating this law, you may face a third-degree felony charge, with penalties including up to five years’ worth of prison time as well as fines of up to $5,000.
Harsh crackdown on fines and jail time
Increasing fine amounts and implementing jail time convictions are becoming increasingly prevalent across states in order to reduce and eliminate unsafe driving practices once and for all. One such state leading by example is Nevada, whereby October 1 saw a host of new penalties go into place for the following unsafe driving practices:
- Reckless driving
- Negligent driving
If convicted of reckless driving, you can be fined up to $1,000 as well as receive up to 60 days’ worth of jail time. If you are convicted of negligent driving, you can now be fined up to $750. Reckless driving is considered to be anyone driving over 30mph over the speed limit.
On top of these new changes, you can also face a fine of up to $1,000 if you are convicted of aggressive driving. According to the new legislation, aggressive driving is defined as displaying three of the following practices: disobeying traffic lights with steady indications; improper overtaking or passing; passing on the right; failure to maintain a lane; following another vehicle too closely; failure to yield the right of way; and speeding over the maximum speed limit.
