A bill filed in the Georgia legislature would require motorists to drive with their hazard lights on while in a school zone.
State Representative Billy Mitchell filed House Bill 207, deemed the Kameron Dunmore Act, on Friday. The bill would add a new code section to the Uniform Rules of the Road in Georgia by creating OCGA 40-6-18 and would be named in memory of Kameron Dunmore, a 7-year-old who was hit and killed by a driver in a school zone back in 2009. The driver was found guilty of vehicular homicide and sentenced to a year in jail in 2010.
Under the new legislation, motorists would be required to “maintain flashing hazard lights on his or her vehicle while operating such vehicle within a school zone.” The proposal further stipulates that the hazard lights would only be required if the school zone is marked with official signage and flashing yellow signals. The flashing signals would have to be active in order for the driver to be required to use the vehicle flashing lights. Additionally, drivers would be permitted to begin using their hazard lights 500 feet before the school zone and 500 feet after the school zone.
Violaters who did not use their flashing lights in the school zone while the signs were activated would be subject to a civil penalty and a $75 fine.
Using hazard lights while driving is illegal in some states, but not Georgia. The states that have barred the use of hazard lights while driving say it eliminates the ability for drivers to use their turn signals while driving and can be dangerous for other vehicles.
Mitchell is a Democrat lawmaker from Stone Mountain. He can be reached by email at billy.mitchell@house.ga.gov
You can read the bill below. (Having trouble opening the PDF, click here)
HB 207_2019
Raymond Block
February 9, 2019 at 9:54 pm
This is absolutely stupid. When traversing the main drag of Glennville my radio alerts me of the impending school zone and I am in mid-town Glennville. The school is near 1/2 mile from downtown and that is just one of the schools.
Henry E Meguess
February 10, 2019 at 8:39 pm
I agree. What a waste of time.
Dee
February 10, 2019 at 9:16 am
Useless bill that will accomplish nothing.
John
February 10, 2019 at 10:49 am
Even before I was a parent, not much got my blood boiling more than videos of drivers speeding past buses picking up or dropping off kids their stop signs engaged. Or the idea that children and parents are playing Frogger in a school parking lot while other parents speed off to work. All that said, this accomplished nothing but one more bit of over reach by government. If you are aware enough to know you’re in a school zone to turn on your hazards, then you should be aware enough to drive the proper speed limit and be on alert for small children. Who is going to enforce this? The school resource officer who is likely handling traffic or other needs of school business? We going to put a police officer at every school in mornings and afternoons? Will a drivers looking down one second to find their hazards be distracted enough to add more troubles to school zones? The loss of young Kameron is tragic and unnecessary. No family should have to worry about the child being killed going into or leaving school. But this isn’t the solution. Frankly, GA needs to do less hazard use and get clowns off road who turn on their hazards everytime it starts raining.
MAbney
February 10, 2019 at 2:41 pm
Fiddling with anything, in a vehicle constitutes distracted driving. This is idiotic. Let’s be fiddling with our lights, and eyes off the road, entering and exiting a school zone. Hopefully, there are others with more sense than to pass this.
Coco
February 10, 2019 at 8:19 pm
You have got to be kidding me, this bill will only cause more distraction, confusion to passersby & padestrians Not knowing which way a driver is going or “Suppose” to be going.. This will solve Nothing!! Where do these people come from & they’re in charge. Lord Help Us All….
Randy Scott
February 10, 2019 at 9:30 pm
What a foolish waste of time…. I can’t believe our elected officials would consider such a bill.
Andrew Cunniff
February 12, 2019 at 5:37 pm
These lawmakers need to spend as much time repealing old bad laws on the books as they do thinking of new garbage to add to the books. This is petty and useless.