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AUGUSTA – Six months after a truck driven by a man with a suspended driver’s license slammed into a car and killed a woman, lawmakers today take up a proposed “Tina’s Law,” aimed at preventing tragedies like the one that took Tina Turcotte’s life.
The bill before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee is named in memory of a 40-year-old Scarborough woman who was driving her car in the northbound lane of the Maine Turnpike on July 29 when a truck driven by Scott Hewitt struck her from the rear.
The collision, which occurred in a construction zone where lanes merged, sandwiched Turcotte’s car between Hewitt’s tractor-trailer and a truck cab in front of her, forcing her car under the front truck. Turcotte, who had worked as a self-employed accountant and survived breast cancer in 2000, died three days afterward in a hospital.
Many were outraged when Hewitt’s driving record – 63 convictions, 23 license suspensions and involvement in a 1994 fatality – became public. Reaction of elected officials was almost immediate.
Gov. John Baldacci mustered a task force representing various state agencies to recommend reforms. Legislators announced their intentions to submit proposals to keep suspended drivers and habitual offenders off the highways.
Co-sponsors of the bill being heard Monday include Sen. Bill Diamond of Windham, a former secretary of state who is intimately familiar with motor vehicle regulations, and Rep. Darlene Curley, who represents the town where Turcotte lived.
“None of us wants our families in the car looking left, looking right, and wondering if those people next to us should be on the road,” said Curley, who knew Tina and her husband, Scott Turcotte. Curley acknowledged that no law can make driving completely safe, but she said the threat from dangerous drivers can be minimized.
Among the major provisions in the bill are impoundment of vehicles of those caught driving after suspension, and upgrading penalties for people who drive after suspension, then get into accidents causing injuries or death. The bill also calls for immediate confiscation of suspended licenses.
If a license is suspended three times for serious traffic violations in three years, it would be revoked for one year. A driver then found operating after suspension would face six months of jail time.
A driver whose license is suspended four to six times in three years would face revocation for six years. If that person is caught driving under suspension, he or she would face two years in jail. Under a graduated system, sentences would increase to up to five years.
The Secretary of State’s Office supports the bill and will offer its help in refining the measure. The Baldacci administration also will speak in favor of the bill, said Col. Craig Poulin, chief of the state police.
Diamond said he is open to changes to address concerns that already have been raised, such as whether the law would fill jails with offenders. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department has suggested using ankle monitors, like those Martha Stewart wore during her house arrest, to keep track of offenders who are not a great public safety risk.
Diamond believes Maine laws have been too lenient up to now.
“What we’ve done is we’ve taught people that in Maine it’s OK to drive with a suspended license,” said Diamond, who has attended some of Hewitt’s court hearings. “We’re concerned about the attitude, the culture of the state, that driving while suspended is not a big deal.”
Hewitt, 33, has been in jail unable to make bail ever since, facing a manslaughter charge and several others related to the case. Appearing in court Friday, Hewitt pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and several other charges.
The Caribou trucker was under suspension for nonpayment of a fine for marijuana possession at the time of the wreck that took Turcotte’s life. At first he expressed shame and remorse, saying he was sorry and “I’d rather be dead than her.” But public indignation was aroused again when, eight days after the crash, Hewitt was arrested in Presque Isle on a charge of driving a pickup truck without a license.
Hewitt became a poster boy for what further analysis has shown to be a significant number of offenders in Maine.
The Secretary of State’s Office said that on Jan. 21, more than 22,000 Mainers had their licenses under suspension for motor vehicle violations and a variety of other reasons, such as nonpayment of fines and child support.
Officials estimate that more than 44,000 of Maine’s 985,000 drivers have had their operating privileges suspended five to nine times. More than 15,000 drivers have had 10 to 14 suspensions, and more than 8,000 have had 15 or more suspensions.
Last year, state troopers charged 1,600 drivers they had stopped with operating after suspension, said spokesman Stephen McCausland of the state Public Safety Department. McCausland noted that the total does not include drivers charged with the same offense by county and local police.
Related problems with keeping repeat offenders off the road have come to light as well.
Soon after the accident that riveted attention on Hewitt’s record, Maine authorities learned he had been pulled over for violations in Nichols, N.Y., and let go the day before the July 29 accident in Maine. They pointed to that as a failure in the system of interstate reciprocity.
Fast Facts
Major provisions of the proposed “Tina’s Law”:
. Suspended licenses would be confiscated immediately by the secretary of state for duration of the suspension.
. Offenders operating after suspension would have their vehicle impounded for the duration of the suspension.
. OAS offenders responsible for an accident resulting in injury would be guilty of a Class C crime; when resulting in death, guilty of a Class B crime. Corresponding operating under the influence penalties would be upgraded from C to B in cases of injury or death.
. If a license is suspended three times (for traffic violations) in three years, it would be revoked for one year. Drivers then found operating after suspension would face six months of jail time.
. If a license is suspended four to six times in three years, it would be revoked for six years. If the driver then is found operating after suspension, he or she would face two years jail time.
. If a license is suspended more than six times in three years, it would be revoked for 10 years; if the driver is found operating after suspension, the penalty would be five years in jail.
The bill is formally called An Act to Safeguard Maine Highways, LD 1906.
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