Revision: Dec. 14, 2011, midnight
HB 1328 – AS INTRODUCED
2012 SESSION
03/04
HOUSE BILL 1328
AN ACT relative to vehicle operation with a stuck throttle or runaway engine.
SPONSORS: Rep. Osgood, Sull 4; Rep. Rodeschin, Sull 2; Rep. Campbell, Hills 24; Rep. Cloutier, Sull 4; Sen. Odell, Dist 8
This bill specifies that negligent driving includes continuing to operate a motor vehicle with a stuck throttle or runaway engine. This bill also requires that driver education include instruction on dealing with a stuck throttle or runaway engine.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
12-2037
03/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twelve
AN ACT relative to vehicle operation with a stuck throttle or runaway engine.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Driver Education. Amend RSA 263:19, I to read as follows:
I. A driver’s license may be issued subject to the provisions of this chapter to a person under the age of 18 years who has attained his or her sixteenth birthday, if such person shall present a certificate of successful completion of a driver education course given by a public or nonpublic secondary school and approved by the department of education in cooperation with the department of safety or given by a motor vehicle drivers’ school licensed under the provisions of this chapter. An approved driver education course, whether conducted by a secondary school or by a school licensed under this chapter, shall consist of both classroom instruction and behind the wheel driver training of not less than 10 hours, in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to RSA 541-A, published jointly by the commissioner of education and the commissioner of safety, such standards to be not less than those presently required. The classroom instruction shall include 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized motorcycle safety education course approved by the director and 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized tractor-trailer safety education and awareness course approved by the director. The course shall include instruction in dealing with a stuck throttle or runaway engine, which may be accomplished by simulation or classroom instruction with a test, and which shall instruct students how to shift the transmission into neutral, pull to the side of the road, come to a stop, and shut the engine off. The department of safety, by the nature of its function, shall be held ultimately responsible for setting and maintaining the quality standards for driver education in the state, aided and facilitated by the department of education. This authority shall apply uniformly over both secondary school courses and private motor vehicle drivers’ school courses.
2 Negligent Driving. Amend RSA 265:79-b to read as follows:
265:79-b Negligent Driving. Whoever upon any way drives a vehicle negligently or causes a vehicle to be driven negligently, as defined in RSA 626:2, I(d), or in a manner that endangers or is likely to endanger any person or property shall be guilty of a violation and shall be fined not less than $250 nor more than $500 for a first offense and not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 for a second or subsequent offense. Driving a vehicle negligently shall include, but not be limited to, continuing to drive a motor vehicle with a stuck throttle or runaway engine without shifting the transmission into neutral, pulling to the side of the road, coming to a stop, and shutting the engine off.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2013.