Following last year’s high-profile DUI incidents involving three members of the General Assembly – as well as the steady pace of driving-under-the-influence cases and fatalities each year in Connecticut – the Transportation Committee is moving this year to fight the problem in a variety of ways.
On Friday, the committee voted unanimously to raise a slate of legislative concepts to be considered in the weeks ahead. Afterward, committee co-chair Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, talked about how Connecticut might reduce the number of impaired drivers while also specifically trying to prevent wrong-way crashes.
Either through an omnibus bill or through a series of different legislative efforts, Cohen said the committee will consider more signage and equipment to prevent and track wrong-way drivers as well as lowering the state’s blood-alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05.
How big of an issue is alcohol in Connecticut? According to 2023 census, the state has 3.61 million residents. A recent report from the Office of Legislative Research indicated that nearly 180 million mini-liquor bottles – commonly called “nips” – were sold in Connecticut over the last two years. DUI cases dropped off during the pandemic with a low of 5,650 in FY20-21. However, there were 9,302 DUI cases in FY22-23, up from 8,390 right before the pandemic in FY18-19.
But this problem struck close to home for the General Assembly last year.
In January 2023, Middletown Democrat Quentin Williams, 39, died in a head-on collision with a wrong-way driver on Route 9 on his way home from the inaugural ball in Hartford. Williams and the wrong-way driver, Kimede Mustafaj, 27, of Manchester, both had blood-alcohol levels over the legal limit of 0.08 as well as THC – the active ingredient in cannabis – in their systems.
In March, Rep. Robin Comey, D-Branford, was charged with a DUI following a rollover crash just blocks away from the state Capitol. In November, Rep. Geoff Luxenberg, D-Manchester, also was charged with DUI.
Wrong-way crashes
According to the state Department of Transportation, wrong way collisions are often fatal and in almost every wrong-way crash at least one driver is impaired by alcohol. Following Williams’ death last year, the DOT began focusing on off-ramps to reduce wrong-way driver crashes.
Thus far, countermeasures have included new warning signage at about 700 highway off-ramps.
The signs – including “Wrong Way”, “Do Not Enter”, and “One Way” were accompanied by an additional 500 “Wrong Way” signs that have been placed on the backs of speed limit signs, where drivers see them about once every mile on state roads and highways.
Cohen said it’s not only signage at the end of off-ramps.
“Now there’s flashing lights, as well as a State Police notification that will be going onto all these ramps that have been identified as high risk ramps,” Cohen said.
Cohen said technology has been added to 19 of “high-risk” off-ramps so far to trigger the notification to State Police when a vehicle passes through going the wrong way, and electronic signage on the highway is also set up to warn motorists that a wrong-way driver is approaching.
The DOT conducted an analysis of over 700 ramps in Connecticut, each receiving a risk factor assessment. Thus far 236 ramps have been assessed as high risk.
According to Cohen, the state has funding for about half of the high-risk ramps and the DOT has plans to equip 120 more locations by the end of 2024.
“We really want these folks to see the lights, self correct, and be on their way,” Cohen said. “Should somebody be under the influence, there’s potential for them to pass through these countermeasures; that’s where the state police notification comes in.”
Lowering Connecticut’s BAC Limit
The current blood-alcohol content limit while driving is 0.08. Cohen wants to see that limit drop to 0.05. She said Utah is the only other state with a 0.05 limit. Utah’s legislature lowered their state’s limit in 2019.
“There are these underlying problems with automobile crashes, and that is we know that a lot of these drivers are under the influence,” Cohen said.
“We want to deter that. We want to make sure, not that they stop going out and enjoying our fantastic entertainment industry, or our restaurant industry, but that they think twice before getting behind the wheel of a car,” Cohen said, adding that Utah is very different from Connecticut but it has a robust tourism industry.
“So they do have a robust alcohol industry believe it or not and they didn’t see a decline in that [following the reduction in the state’s BAC limit],” Cohen said.
“What they did see was a decline in crashes and fatalities as well as DUI charges,” she said.
According to Cohen, this isn’t about getting folks arrested for driving under the influence.
“This is really about deterrence; making sure they are not getting behind the wheel of a car. We know that ability impairment starts after the first drink,” she said. “In other areas where there are lower BAC limits we are not seeing an increased number of DUIs. We are actually seeing a deterrence effect because people think twice when the blood alcohol concentration is .05 as opposed to .08.”
Testing for THC
Cohen said she and other legislators are waiting for recommendations from a working group that’s studying the technology available to test motorists’ blood and/or saliva for THC before moving forward with discussions of any legislation regarding cannabis testing.
“One of the things we have to be cognizant of is enforcement capabilities and we are also being mindful of the fact we legalized cannabis recently and so we are still working out details around that,” Cohen said. “This is where we are now… we have to make sure that folks are safe on our roadways and we really want to make sure we are deterring the use of any substance before getting behind the wheel of a car.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the original version of this story we erroneously reported that the Transportation Committee was going to consider legislation to allow police to test motorists’ blood and/or saliva for THC. However, before they discuss any legislation the committee is waiting for recommendations from a group studying available testing technology.
