Are you kidding me? Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory’s House Bill 151, which allows “cars to drive through red lights after 90 seconds if they reasonably determine the light is not cycling properly,” based on the complaints of one constituent, moved through committee by a substantial vote.
Medicaid expansion and medical marijuana were passed by more than 400,000 votes and were disregarded by the Legislature, despite being the will of the people, but one constituent’s gripe for getting a ticket for running a red light can get legislation proposed that would put all of us at risk.
This is the problem with our legislative leaders; they introduce cockamamie bills that consume a lot of their time and effort and then fail to address the major issues before them.
Why doesn’t someone introduce a bill that would require the demonstration of significant need before it is even reviewed by the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel?
And by the way, if HB151 is opposed by sheriffs, police chiefs, prosecutors, cities, the Highway Patrol and the Utah Department of Transportation, in other words hundreds of people, it should be scrapped immediately.
Lori Gardner, Salt Lake City
