HARTFORD, CT – State Rep. Tom O’Dea, R-New Canaan, is urging lawmakers to crack down on smoking and drinking on Connecticut highways, calling for stricter enforcement of impaired driving laws during a public hearing Wednesday on Senate Bill 1375, a comprehensive road safety bill.

The bill, titled An Act Concerning Highway, Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety, includes several measures to reduce roadway hazards. Among its provisions is a ban on open alcoholic beverage containers in the passenger compartment of motor vehicles, bringing Connecticut in line with federal standards under 23 USC 154. 

Failure to comply has cost the state nearly $189 million in federal funding reallocations since 2001, according to testimony from Transportation Commissioner Garrett T. Eucalitto.

“Connecticut is one of 12 states without an open container law,” Eucalitto said. “Not every crash is tested for blood alcohol level, and if we had more information, we could implement more targeted safety measures.”

While the bill targets alcohol, O’Dea took aim at cannabis users, citing the 2021 law legalizing recreational cannabis while also prohibiting police from using the odor of marijuana as probable cause for a vehicle search. 

“That to me, commissioner, is outrageous,” O’Dea said. “Nobody on planet Earth has ever gotten intoxicated because someone in the passenger seat has drank a beer, but if you’re bellowing out of a car like Cheech and Chong, that secondary smoke is getting you high.”

O’Dea pointed to report from Utah stating that fatalities had increased after state law was changed to lower the maximum legal blood-alcohol content to 0.05%. He said that over the next 16 years there were 35 fatalities involving BAC levels between 0.05% and0.07%. 

“Two-thirds of those fatalities also involved drugs and excessive speed,” O’Dea said.

Eucalitto acknowledged data gaps.

“The presence of drugs doesn’t indicate impairment,” he said. “This is the problem with trying to discuss this issue. We don’t have all the information we need.”

Section 5 of the bill seeks to address those gaps by prohibiting open containers and strengthing enforcement measures. O’Dea remains adamant that cannabis enforcement must also be prioritized.

“Let’s get rid of the pot in the cars. Let’s increase enforcement … Let’s do more things that will stop the problem we have now,” O’Dea said.