Measure would aid deaf drivers during traffic stops

TALLAHASSEE — Lawmakers this week sent a bill to Gov. Rick Scott that could help provide data to police about whether drivers are deaf before officers approach cars during traffic stops.

Under the bill (HB 135), Florida drivers could voluntarily identify themselves as hearing impaired when they register cars. That information would be included in a driver and motor-vehicle database and a criminal database police officers routinely access.

House sponsor Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, said giving police access to the information upfront would help “to eliminate any potential communication issue” between officers and hearing-impaired drivers.

The idea came from Tallahassee Police Lt. Robert DiGonzalez, who became interested in protecting deaf drivers in 2016 after hearing about a 29-year-old North Carolina man who was fatally shot just outside his home after he didn’t pull over for police.

A nearly 30-year veteran of the force, DiGonzalez said the shooting occurred the day before he and his wife, Linda DiGonzalez, took a three-hour car trip to St. Augustine, home of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. Linda DiGonzalez is a trustee at the school, where their deaf son, Javi, is enrolled. “That was our discussion on the drive there. Trying to figure out a way, because my son was going to be driving, what could I do as a dad to prevent that from that happening again,” he said, reflecting on the impetus behind the idea.

The bill, passed unanimously in the House and Senate and sent to Scott on Wednesday, comes at a time when the nation is taking a closer look at how first responders, including police officers, interact with people with disabilities.

Because they cannot hear, many deaf drivers aren’t able to respond to oral commands. Misunderstanding can be mistaken for insolence or defiance.

The state estimated that it would cost less than $25,000 to collect the information and include it in the driver and vehicle databases as well as the criminal database police use.

Scott has until March 29 to sign, veto or allow the bill to become law without his signature.