Requires the use of hands-free wireless phones as of July 1, 2008, with limited exceptions. Two Way Cells are exempt. The fine will be $70 for the first offense, $175 for subsequent ones.
"Trunking"
AB 1850 makes it unlawful for a person to knowingly drive a motor vehicle while another person is riding in the trunk; riding in the trunk is also illegal. The driver receives a fine and one point on his or her driving record; the person riding in the trunk receives a fine. The law is a response to some teen drivers' attempts to evade the passenger restriction in California's graduated driver licensing law by hiding teens in the trunk. Since 2000, there have been 153 collisions involving trunking, resulting in nine deaths and 140 injuries.
Commercial Driver License
Ensures immediate administrative driver licensing sanctions are imposed when any driver is operating a commercial vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .04% or greater.
Requires California to report convictions of commercial driver traffic violations to the home state of the commercial driver for sanctioning purposes.
Establishes the following:
- A first conviction for driving any vehicle under the influence of drugs is cause for the disqualification of the commercial driving privilege for one year.
- A commercial driver who is convicted of leaving the scene of an accident, regardless of whether the violation occurred in a commercial vehicle or the driver’s personal vehicle, is subject to the disqualification of the commercial driving privilege for one year.
- A first conviction of gross vehicular manslaughter or vehicular manslaughter is cause for the disqualification of the commercial driving privilege for one year.
Eliminates the authority for the issuance of a restricted commercial driver’s license when the driving privilege is suspended or because the driver or driver’s family has a serious health problem (does not prohibit the issuance of a restricted Class C or M license; thereby allowing the commercial driver to operate a non-commercial vehicle).
Organ Donation
Removes the minimum age requirement for persons to consent to participate in the organ and tissue donor program.
Driver License Suspension For DUI
Increases the mandatory driver’s license suspension period to ten months for persons convicted of a first offense of Driving Under the Influence of alcohol if the individual’s blood alcohol concentration level was .20% or greater, and the court orders an enhanced alcohol treatment program.
Also.... Anyone under 21 who has a measurable blood alcohol level of 0.01%, in addition to license suspension of a year, it is now a CRIMINAL OFFENSE with a minimum fine of $350 (not including penalty assesments).
Driving Infraction
Creates a new infraction for driving a motor vehicle while knowingly permitting a person to ride in the trunk. A passenger found guilty of riding in the trunk of a vehicle would be guilty of an infraction. Both the driver and passenger would be subject to fines pursuant to a specified schedule. A driver convicted of knowingly permitting passengers to ride in/on the trunk of a vehicle would receive one negligent operator point on his or her driving record.
Emergency Vehicles
Requires drivers to take specific precautionary actions on a highway when passing a stopped emergency vehicle when the emergency lights are activated. When facing any emergency vehicle with a siren or flashing lights, you have to move at least two lanes away for their safety. This law makes it an infraction for failure to comply with those requirements.
Equipment of Vehicles
Clarifies existing statute regarding the use of headlamps during darkness and/or inclement weather. YOU HAVE TO HAVE YOUR HEADLIGHTS ON IF IT IS RAINING!!!!!
Graffiti and Vandalism
Allows courts to impose increased driver license sanctions for graffiti and vandalism. Courts may now suspend a driver license for a period of up to two years, or delay issuing a license for a period of one to three years.
Ignition Interlock Device
Prohibits a manufacturer of an ignition interlock device (IID) from furnishing information to any individual or entity that would allow modifications to be made that would allow it to be used in a manner that is contrary to its intended purpose.
Prohibits the tampering of an IID by a service center or technician and prohibits reinstatement of the driving privilege until the DMV receives proof that the device has actually been installed. Requires DMV to verify installations on court ordered IID.
Mature Driver Improvement Course
Revises the Mature Driver Improvement Program by increasing the maximum allowable course fee and by providing for a renewal course with reduced instructional time. (4 HOURS)
Addresses comments of course participants who do not believe the full 400-minute course is necessary every three years for renewal purposes.
Allows course providers to charge a fee of up to $30 for either the initial or renewal course and providers indicate this fee increase is needed because costs have risen since the inception of the program in 1986.
Requires DMV to establish standards and develop criteria and review each provider’s renewal course lesson plan to ensure it meets the Mature Driver Improvement Course requirements.
Reckless Driving/Racing
Increases penalties for first conviction of reckless driving or engaging in a speed contest resulting in specified injuries to a person other than the driver.
First-offenders would be subject to BEING CHARGED WITH A FELONY...confinement in state prison or county jail for not less than 30 days nor more than 6 months, or by a fine of not less than $220 (reckless driving) or $500 (speed contest) nor more than $1000. The specified injuries which would incur these sentences are; loss of consciousness, concussion, bone fracture, protracted loss or impairment of function of a bodily member or organ, wound requiring extensive suturing, serious disfigurement, brain injury, and/or paralysis.
Vehicle Impoundment
Under AB 2253, a court can impound a vehicle used in the illegal dumping of waste matter for up to six months if the person driving the vehicle has a prior conviction for the offense. Waste matter does not include beverage containers or food wrappers, but it does include oil and other petroleum products, paints, garbage, furniture, dirt, gravel, and body parts.
School Bus Certificate
Authorizes the California Highway Patrol to conduct a preliminary criminal and driver history check to determine the eligibility of an individual prior to issuing a special certificate authorizing the operation of a schoolbus, school pupil activity bus, youth bus, or a general public paratransit vehicle.
Exempts school bus mechanics and driver trainees from having to obtain a school bus endorsement for the operation of the vehicle provided they are not engaged in the transportation of children.
Three-Tier Driver Assessment Project
Requires the department to conduct a study of a Three-Tier Driver Assessment System, contingent upon receipt of grant money, and determine the effectiveness of the program in identifying functional impairments, reducing crashes, and prolonging safe driving years of all drivers regardless of age.
Autoette
Establishes a definition of an “autoette” in the Vehicle Code and requires the department to issue regular license plates and registration to an autoette operated exclusively in the City of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island.
Requires the owner to surrender the license plates to the department when the vehicle is removed from the island and brought to the mainland.
Hybrid Vehicles HOV (Carpool) Lanes
Extends the sunset date for the clean air vehicle program to January 1, 2011. Allows an additional 10,000 hybrid stickers to be issued.
Recreational Vehicles: Contaminated Methamphetamine Property
Requires the DMV to provide a form to be used by local health officials to:
- request vehicle license stops
- issue informational memoranda, and
- place a stop (upon request) on a vehicle record in order to preclude a transfer of ownership on a recreational vehicle previously found to have been used as a Methamphetamine lab.
The vehicle registration stop would remain in place until the local health officer provides a release to DMV.
Records Access
Prohibits computer vendors, vehicle manufacturers and other specified entities from accessing information from a motor vehicle dealer’s computer system regarding the dealer’s customers. This is designed to prevent “data mining” from a dealer’s database without the dealer’s consent.
Allows requesters to have access to DUI conviction information for violations that occurred within the past ten (10) years. Currently, only law enforcement and the courts are able to access this information for a ten-year period.
Car Key Replacement:
the law requires an automaker to provide, at any time, the codes necessary for a registered locksmith to make a replacement key for vehicles sold or leased in California. (Manufacturers that currently permit no one but themselves to duplicate a key, such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW, have until 2013 to comply with the law.) The law also requires the automaker to verify the locksmith's identification and registration, and it requires the locksmith to verify the vehicle owner's identification and registration.
What the legislation doesn't do
It doesn't apply to automakers that sell fewer than 2,500 vehicles in California. And it doesn't directly address how much replacement keys will cost. However, if a locksmith doesn't have to partially dismantle a car to make a replacement key, locksmith fees are likely to decline. And if independent locksmiths are able to make duplicate keys that now can be obtained only through an automaker and its dealers, the cost of replacement keys is also likely to decline.
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