Mandatory motorcycle helmets dropped from CT legislative proposal

The legislative Transportation Committee on Thursday dropped a proposal that would have required motorcycle riders to wear helmets for the first time since the mid-1970s.

It’s another victory for the two-wheeled “Let those who ride, decide” supporters, who recently told the committee that they want to keep their freedom of choice.

“There was a lack of support from committee members on both sides of the aisle,” said state Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, cochairman of the committee, after the committee voted on its deadline day. The committee took the action with no discussion.

The large-scale transportation bill still includes a section that would finally ban open containers of alcohol in vehicles, but that was the target of criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike, even as state Rep. Will Haskell, D-Westport, committee co-chairman, cited law that requires a percentage of federal road construction money go to alcohol education in states that don’t ban open containers.

Opposition to the provision, which is nestled in a much-larger, 23-section

DOT bill, was led by state Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Lyme, the top Republican on the panel, along with veteran state Sen. Steve Cassano, D-Manchester, who said that in the real world, designated drivers are important when others are drinking.

“From my perspective, if the driver is not drinking an alcoholic beverage, then I don’t think there is a law violated,” Carney said. “The whole point of designateddriver laws is just that. If the driver even takes a drop of alcohol while they are driving, they could be guilty of driving under the influence. That law is already in place.”

Carney warned that creating the open-container law could result in more traffic stops around concerts and sporting events at a time when police are already over-worked. “I just don’t think that this is an egregious violation,” Carney said. “Obviously nobody wants somebody driving to drink, but we already have those laws in place. Having a passenger with an open container just does not, to me, seem like something we should be asking police to look for.”

Connecticut is one of only 11 states without specific laws against open containers of alcohol. Haskell replied that the state’s lack of a statute prohibiting open containers has resulted in the diversion of three percent of federal highway construction support to education instead of infrastructure. He said since 2001, $175 million that could have gone to roads has instead shifted over to alcohol education, and $11.2 million is estimated to be diverted this year.

“Unfortunately we are seeing a spike in alcoholrelated injuries and fatalities in the state of Connecticut,” Haskell said. “In 2019, 98 of 249 fatalities on our roadways were alcohol-impaired. In 2020 that number increased to 118 out of 299 fatalities.”

Cassano agreed with Carney that designated drivers are important, stressing that there have been extensive media and public service campaigns for years stressing their importance.

“I’ve gone to a Red Sox game or a Patriots game, whatever it might be and we’d have a designated driver,” he said. “It made sense. This proposal just tears that apart. It’s totally inconsistent with the kind of money they invested in making sure that somebody driving that vehicle is not drinking. People are just going to break the law. They’re still going to go to a ballgame. They’re still going to have beer in the car.”

Every few years, state lawmakers again propose the return of motorcycle helmets, or finally stopping passengers in motor vehicles to drink alcohol. But one way or another, the measures fail. Passengers in taxi and livery vehicles including ride-sharing vehicles would be allowed to imbibe under the current proposal, which next heads to the House of Representatives.

In recent years it has been defeated in committee and, most recently in the House of Representatives. One year it was UConn supporters in the House, concerned about tailgating in the rain, who killed the legislation. Another year it was pulled from a multi-hour debate after urban lawmakers warned that sipping beer in parked cars in front of their homes could invite racial profiling from police.

In other action on Thursday, the committee approved legislation to allow direct sales of electric vehicles in the state. But on a Democratdominated committee, the legislation received opposition from Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford and Rep. Christine Conley, DGroton.