Capitol Update: PIA-Backed Reckless Driving Package Moves Through Legislature

Stories regarding reckless driving incidents and dangerous driving behaviors continue to dominate the news. As insurance agents, PIAW members are particularly in tune with these trends and the increasing risk that they pose to Wisconsinites’ health, safety, and property. To help aid in curbing these dangerous trends, PIAW is supporting a package of bills currently making their way through the legislative process aimed at preventing reckless driving.

Assembly Bill 55 (Senate Bill 90) is authored by Rep. Bob Donovan (R- Greenfield) and Sen. Duey Stroebel (R – Saukville). This bill would strengthen Wisconsin’s current penalties by increasing fines that have not been raised since the 1950s and increasing terms of imprisonment for various repeated reckless driving offenses. Due to the fines not having been increased since the 1950s, the authors have made the argument that the penalties are less of a deterrent than they were when they were initially implemented due to inflation, etc. PIAW supports increasing these penalties in order to keep penalties consistent with the seriousness of the crimes that have the potential to cause the reckless loss of life, injury and property.

The second bill of the package, Assembly Bill 56 (Senate Bill 92) is also authored by Rep. Donovan in the Assembly and then by Sen. Steve Nass (R – Whitewater) in the Senate. This bill would allow political subdivisions (like Milwaukee) to allow law enforcement to impound cars that have been used in reckless driving incidents if the fines have not been paid. This would only apply if the owner of the vehicle was the individual involved in the reckless driving incident and has not paid the fines related to previous incidents, they were involved. PIAW supports this bill to get vehicles out of the hands of repeat offenders when possible.

Both of these bills were passed on the floor of the Assembly yesterday, and the Senate passed SB 92 on a voice vote. AB 55/SB 90 will still need a vote by the Senate, but AB 56/SB 92 is on its way to Governor Tony Evers for his signature. Though this is not a cure-all for the reckless driving problem, taking steps to curb the problem is an important step in prevention. PIAW circulated a memo to legislators last week urging support and requesting swift passage. Read the memo here.