×

Buckle up, pay up: Lawmakers drive changes to traffic laws

Multiple vehicle-related bills have been introduced during this session of the North Dakota Legislature, some of which could cost residents a few extra dollars.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the more notable bills:

Increasing Fines

House Bill 1239 aims to double the base fine for most traffic violations. House Bill 1151 would increase the fine for failing to stop at a stop sign or having headlights turned off from $20 to $100. Rep. Mark Owens, R-Grand Forks, the primary sponsor of HB 1239, said that current fines are too low.

“We are a joke in the region,” Owens said during a Jan. 18 House Transportation Committee hearing, suggesting that some drivers go out of their way to drive through North Dakota due to the low fines for speeding.

“The reward is so great, and the risk is so low,” Owens said. “People abuse this state with the way they drive.”

Sgt. Wade Kadrmas, safety and education officer for the North Dakota State Highway Patrol, said during an interview that the Highway Patrol is officially neutral on HB 1239, but agreed with Owens’ sentiment on the low fines.

“Talk to any law enforcement within the state and they can probably tell you a few stories on how they’ve been kind of laughed at from out-of-staters,” Kadrmas said.

Owens said he spoke with Grand Forks law enforcement and they agreed current low fines put law enforcement and other drivers at a higher risk. “It’s not worth an officer’s life to pull someone over for a $20 ticket,” he said.

Rep. LaurieBeth Hager, D-Fargo, said she’s concerned about how doubling fines will affect lower income families. Hager said her district has one of the lowest median incomes in the state.

Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, vice chair of the Transportation Committee, said he disagrees with increasing fines. Becker said he sees violations as an issue of enforcement, that increased fines won’t solve the problem.

“The issue is fairness”

Senate Bill 2061 proposes an annual fee on fully electric and partially electric hybrid vehicles.Owners would pay in addition to normal vehicle registration fees.

Primary sponsor Sen. Curt Kreun, R-Grand Forks, said that he’s not opposed to anyone owning electric or hybrid vehicles, but that he’s looking for a way to finance the maintenance of roadways.

Road maintenance is financed through a gas tax imposed at the pump. North Dakota’s gas tax is 23 cents per gallon at the state level and 18.4 cents at the federal level.

Since electric cars don’t require gas, Kreun said that the owners don’t pay their fair share of the road maintenance cost.

“The issue is fairness,” Kreun said. “I don’t care what you’re driving.”

Matt Wetsch, vice president of Skeels Electric, the preferred Tesla charger installation vendor in North Dakota, agreed with Kreun’s sentiment that all drivers should contribute to the maintenance of roadways. “How to arrive at that fair share, I’m not sure,” Wetsch said.

Kreun said he came up with the proposed fee amount by using averages of 15,000 miles driven per year and of 25 mpg, figures he got from the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

Jamie Olson, public information officer for NDDOT, said during a phone interview that the department typically uses figures of 12,000 miles driven per year and 20 mpg for vehicles when estimating vehicle usage, based on information from federal highway authorities.

Kreun acknowledged the difference during an interview. “The national numbers are lower than what we have in North Dakota,” he said.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, less than 1 percent of all cars in the United States are electric. According to the NCSL, 20 states imposed a special fee for hybrid and electric vehicles as of October 2018.

SB 2061 would impose the highest road-use fee on noncommercial, fully electric vehicles in the nation at $248 per electric vehicle registered yearly. The proposed fee for hybrid vehicles is $71.

“I think that bill is premature,” Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, said. He said the revenue generated “isn’t going to do squat” because there are so few electric vehicles. “Let’s look at it in a few years,” Becker said.

Seat Belt – First Cause

Senate Bill 2060 aims to make the failure to wear a seatbelt a first-cause offense. Under current law, adults cannot be pulled over solely for not wearing a seatbelt.

Kreun, the primary sponsor, said during an interview that SB 2060 aims to help clarify current seatbelt law, minimize “human anguish” and the subsequent economic fallout from people getting injured or killed in car accidents. “It doesn’t cost a dime,” Kreun said in reference to wearing a seatbelt. “It’s already there.”

Sheriff Sarah Warner of Hettinger County said that wearing a seatbelt gives drivers a better chance of walking away from an accident, and Kadrmas, the Highway Patrol safety and education officer, said the patrol favors SB 2060.

Kadrmas said the Highway Patrol alone issued 13,000 seatbelt citations in the past two years and that the patrol’s support of the bill isn’t about giving law enforcement another reason to pull people over.

“We already have plenty to do,” Kadrmas said.

Newly elected Sheriff Corey Lee of Stark County agreed with Kadrmas’s sentiment but is personally opposed to SB 2060. Lee said that it’s one’s choice whether to wear a seatbelt or not.

“We have enough reasons to pull people over and bother their day as it is,” Lee said.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today