Articles Posted in Rhode Island Legislature

Welcome news this morning as I was reading the Turn to 10 webpages. It appears that RI Lawmakers have put in place mechanisms to check and ensure that Rhode Island drivers have active automobile insurance coverage. Failure to maintain active auto insurance can result in suspension of your driver’s license. A link to the story can be found here.

This is certainly welcome news since 1 in 5 vehicles on the road in Rhode Island is currently uninsured. Every week I have to give the extremely upsetting news to a car accident client that the at fault driver did not have auto insurance at the time of the accident. That means that despite thousands of dollars in vehicle damage and serious bodily injury, the at-fault driver will not be able to compensate the victim. Luckily, on many occasions, my clients have uninsured motorist coverage on their policy and they are able to receive compensation through their own insurance company. Many clients, however, do not have this coverage and are out of luck.

Theoretically, you can sue the at-fault driver for damages with or without insurance. Unfortunately, this is a time consuming and complex process. There are also quite a few costs associated with a lawsuit. Drivers who do not possess auto insurance on their vehicle are also very unlikely to have any money or assets since a person of wealth would never risk driving their vehicle without insurance. So, you have a time consuming and a complex lawsuit against a defendant with no money. That is why a personal injury attorney is unlikely to help you if there is no insurance.

Although similar attempts have been made in the past, the Rhode Island legislature is once again considering a bill to toughen state seat belt laws. It goes without saying that seat belts can save lives and reduce the severity of injuries in serious auto accidents, yet thousands still fail to buckle up every time they get in their car.

Under the current laws, the police can issue a citation for failure to wear a seat belt, but only if they stopped you for another moving violation. In other words, the police can not pull over an adult driver (the laws are different for drivers under 18) if the only law he or she is breaking is failure to wear a seat belt.

Under the new proposal, police would be allowed to make a traffic stop solely for seat belt use and issue a $75 citation if caught operating without a seatbelt. Thirty States already have similar laws, but previous attempts to pass such a law in Rhode Island have failed. This time around, however, there is $4 million dollars in federal money available if the State should pass such a law.

By now we have all seen the electronic traffic message signs telling us that there is a new law in Rhode Island banning texting while driving. It is true that Rhode Island has joined the growing number of States to make illegal this dangerous activity.

One might ask, how dangerous is texting while driving? It turns out, according to a Car & Driver report, that it may be more dangerous than drunk driving.

In a safe test environment they tested the reaction and stopping times of individuals who were texting, emailing, or legally drunk (over .08). The results were startling.

The Rhode Island State Senate unanimously approved a bill granting “domestic partners” the right to claim the bodies of, and make funeral arrangements for their loved ones. The bill defines “domestic partner” as someone who had been in “an exclusive, intimate and committed relationship” with the deceased and had cohabited for at least a year before the death.

The law rises from a tragic story of a man who desperately tried to obtain the body of his deceased lover in order to cremate him according to his wishes. The story becomes secondary to a much larger picture here in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is the only State in New England that fails to recognize any legal relationship between homosexual couples. Our Court and legislature have previously refused to expand the rights of homosexuals in this State, yet today, the legislature agrees to let a domestic partner claim a body and make funeral arrangements?

I find this decision curious, to put it mildly. While it can be argued that any progress is beneficial progress, I can’t escape the irony that our State refuses to recognize any legal relationship for same sex couples during their life and yet acknowledges the validity and strength of same sex relationships in death.