Bill aligns boat, snowmobile, ORV, road drunk driving laws

June 27, 2007 -

Legislation recently introduced in the state House of Representatives to revise current off-road vehicle (ORV), snowmobile, and boat operation standards has earned wide support from lawmakers and made its way to the Senate.With a vote of 103-5, House Bill (HB) 4789 left the lower chamber for Senate approval, which could make changes effective Jan. 1, 2008.The measure, as it stands by amendment, makes two noteworthy revisions to the current ORV operational codes by aligning those provisions with current automobile operation standards. It prohibits the use of an ORV with a blood alcohol level of .08 grams, lowered from 1.0. It also aligns drunken ORV operation that results in death with the automobile criminal code dealing with homicide, manslaughter and murder.The move essentially makes drinking and ORV operating standards the same as those involving road vehicles.In the House, the bill went through the judiciary committee, on which lakes area state Rep. David Law (R-Commerce, West Bloomfield, Wolverine Lake) serves."I believe this is tying up loose ends," he said. "There were some questions as to snowmobiles, off road vehicles, and things like that. This makes it clear."When the drunk driving standards for road vehicles were recently changed in the state, provisions dealing with ORV operation were left ambiguous. Typically, operation standards are applied across the board, but according to Law, the holes left some gaps that may have allowed offenders to slip away without proper punishment."There was argument on whether the law change from before really dealt with snowmobiles and other ORVs," he said. "So, these provisions make it equal to the automobile change. There should be no questioning now whether it applies to ORVs or not."As a former assistant prosecutor for Oakland County, Law said he hopes this makes it easier for others to make their case against future offenders."I don't think it's right to have different penalties if you kill someone with a car vs. killing them with an ORV," he said. "There were times prosecutors couldn't charge as high a crime as they could have because the law was ambiguous."HB 4789 was received in the Senate and referred to the Judiciary Committee on Thursday, June 14 and awaits a hearing.This bill is tied to several others that specifically address certain types of ORVs. HB 4794 deals with watercraft, HB 4795 with snowmobiles, and HB 4813 provides sentencing guidelines. Those bills also await a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, after also clearing the House floor."Common sense would dictate that if you're driving a motor vehicle of any sort, be it a snowmobile, a car, or motorcycle, or boat, that drinking and driving don't mix," said Sen. Nancy Cassis (R-Commerce, Milford, Highland, White Lake, West Bloomfield, Orchard Lake, Wixom, Walled Lake and Wolverine Lake) . "I'm certainly interested in looking at this legislation. We don't need more people injured or killed in accidents related to (DUI / DWI / Drunk Driving ) alcohol."