Sheppard, Ann B.

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2000 Survey of Rhode Island Law: Legislation: Motor Vehicles: An Act Relating to Motor Vehicles, An Act Relating to Motor & Other Vehicles

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Roger Williams University Law ReviewVolume 6 | Issue 2 Article 26Spring 20012000 Survey of Rhode Island Law: Legislation:Motor Vehicles: An Act Relating to Motor Vehicles,An Act Relating to Motor & Other VehiclesAnn B. SheppardRoger Williams University School of LawFollow this and additional works at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LRThis Survey of Rhode Island Law is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at DOCS@RWU. It has been accepted for inclusion inRoger Williams University Law Review by an authorized administrator of DOCS@RWU. For more information, please contact mwu@rwu.edu.Recommended CitationSheppard, Ann B. (2001) "2000 Survey of Rhode Island Law: Legislation: Motor Vehicles: An Act Relating to Motor Vehicles, An ActRelating to Motor & Other Vehicles," Roger Williams University Law Review: Vol. 6: Iss. 2, Article 26.Available at: http://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR/vol6/iss2/26SURVEY SECTIONMotor Vehicles. An Act Relating to Motor Vehicles. Provides thatindividuals found to be driving "aggressively" as defined by thechapter shall be civilly penalized. Effective July 13, 2000. 2000R.I. Pub. Laws ch. 254.This legislation (the Act) amends Title 31 of the Rhode IslandGeneral Laws, entitled "Motor and Other Vehicles" by addingChapter 27.1, entitled "Aggressive Driving."' Pursuant to the Act,"aggressive driving" means that an individual operates a motor ve-hicle in violation of both the speed limit 2 and two or more of thefollowing sections: 1) obeying traffic control devices;3 2) overtakingon the right;4 3) driving within a traffic lane;5 4) following tooclosely-interval between vehicles; 6 5) yielding right of way;7 6) en-tering the roadway;8 7) using turn signals;9 8) relating to schoolbuses, special stops, stop signs and yield signs;10 and 9) using theemergency break-down lane for travel.11Any person found in violation of this chapter shall be fined be-tween $260 and $500.12 Also, anyone convicted of a first offense ofaggressive driving may be required to attend an educational pro-gram approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles and may besubject to a minimum thirty-day suspension of his or her driver'slicense. 13 In addition, the lesser-included offenses which togetherestablish "aggressive driving" may be individually prosecuted.14All violations of this chapter shall be heard by the traffictribunal. 15Ann B. Sheppard1. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-27.1-2 (1956) (2000 Reenactment).2. See id. § 31-27.1-3 (citing § 31-14-1 et seq.).3. See id. (citing § 31-13-4).4. See id. (citing § 31-15-5).5. See id. (citing § 31-15-1).6. See id. (citing § 31-15-12).7. See id. (citing §§ 31-15-12.1, 31-17-1, 31-17-2, 31-17-4, 31-17-6, 31-17-7,31-17-8).8. See id. (citing §§ 31-15-14, 31-17-3, 31-17-5).9. See id. (citing §§ 31-16-5, 31-16-6, 31-16-8, 31-16-9).10. See id. (citing § 31-20-1 et seq.).11. See id. (citing § 31-15-16).12. See id. § 31-27.1-4(a).13. See id.14. See id. § 31-27.1-4(b).15. See id. § 31-27.1-4(c).83920011840 ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 6:593Motor Vehicles. An Act Relating to Motor & Other Vehicles. Pro-vides that a "Traffic Stop Study" will be conducted in order to de-termine whether police are detaining individuals solely on thebasis of their race or ethnicity. Effective July 13, 2000. 2000 R.I.Pub. Laws ch. 251.This legislation (the Act) amends Title 31 of the Rhode IslandGeneral Laws, entitled "Motor and Other Vehicles" by addingChapter 21.1, entitled "Traffic Stops Statistics Act."' The Act au-thorizes the study of traffic stops made by the Rhode Island StatePolice and the municipal police departments in order to assesswhether "racial profiling" is occurring.2 "Racial profiling" is de-fined as "the detention, interdiction or other disparate treatment ofan individual solely on the basis of the racial or ethnic status ofsuch individual."3 The data that is to be collected and analyzedincludes: 1) the date, time and location of the stop; 2) the race orethnicity, gender and approximate age of the driver stopped as per-ceived by the officer making the stop; 3) the reason for the stop; 4)whether a search was performed; 5) the scope of any search per-formed; 6) whether the search was performed pursuant to consent,probable cause or reasonable suspicion; 7) whether contraband ormoney was seized during the search; 8) whether a warning or cita-tion was issued; 9) whether an arrest was made; 10) the approxi-mate duration of the stop; and 11) whether the vehicle wasregistered in Rhode Island.4The Act establishes a "Traffic Stop Study Advisory Commit-tee" which comprises thirteen members: three from the House ofRepresentatives (no more than two from one party) who are ap-pointed by the Speaker, three from the Senate (no more than twofrom one party) who are appointed by the Majority Leader, two in-dividuals appointed by the Governor, one who is the attorney gen-eral's designee (the president of the Rhode Island Police ChiefsAssociation), the executive director of the Urban League of RhodeIsland or his or her designee, the executive director of the NationalConference for Community and Justice or his or her designee, theexecutive director of the Rhode Island Commission for Human1. See R.I. Gen. Laws § 31-21.1-1 (1956) (2000 Reenactment).2. See id. § 31-21.1-2.3. Id.4. See id. § 31-21.1-4(a).SURVEY SECTIONRights or his or her designee and a professor of statistics from aRhode Island college or university as appointed by the Governor.5The committee's purpose is to advise the Attorney General withrespect to the study.6The Act provides that the Attorney General, within ninetydays of the passage of the Act, must devise an electronic andprinted form which may be used by officers to record the precedinginformation. 7 Beginning January 15, 2001, and each month there-after, the Rhode Island State Police and each municipal police de-partment are responsible for submitting a monthly report thatcontains all of the forms collected, any complaints made by motor-ists who believe they were a subject of racial profiling and anyother pertinent information.8 The Attorney General shall preparea quarterly summary of data that shall be a public record. 9 Thestudy shall be conducted over a period of not less than two years. 10No later than twenty-eight months after the beginning of data col-lection, the findings and conclusions shall be reported to the Gover-nor and General Assembly. 11No more than ninety days after the passage of the Act, all mu-nicipal police departments and the State Police shall have adoptedwritten policies which provide for the collection of such data, thereporting of the data to the Attorney General and which prohibitthe practice of racial profiling. 12 Copies of these policies must besubmitted to the Attorney General and the Committee and shall bepublic records. 13The Act provides that all data that is collected may be usedonly for the purposes of research and may not be used for any kindof legal or administrative proceeding in order to establish discrimi-nation, unless ordered by the court.' 4 The Act also provides thatany organization established for the purpose of protecting civil lib-erties or opposing discrimination may file a civil action against a5. See id. § 31-21.1-3(a).6. See id. § 31-21.1-3(b).7. See id. § 31-21.1-4(b).8. See id. § 31-21.1-4(c).9. See id. § 31-21.1-4(e).10. See id. § 31-21.1-4(d).11. See id.12. See id. § 31-21.1-5(a).13. See id. § 31-21.1-5(b).14. See id. § 31-21.1-6(a).2001]842 ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 6:593police department not in compliance with the Act, provided thatthe organization gives notice to the Attorney General and AdvisoryCommittee and waits fifteen days to allow the department to comeinto compliance or for the Attorney General to file a civil action.15Ann B. Sheppard15. See id. § 31-21.1-7.

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2000 Survey of Rhode Island Law: Legislation: Motor Vehicles: An Act Relating to Motor Vehicles, An Act Relating to Motor & Other Vehicles

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