by Logan Finney, Idaho Reports
The Idaho Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would carry stricter penalties for reckless driving if an accident results in great bodily harm or permanent disability.
Sen. Linda Wright Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, sponsored Senate Bill 1326.
Idaho law already has a charge for reckless driving. That is defined as operating a vehicle “carelessly and heedlessly or without due caution and circumspection, and at a speed or in a manner as to endanger or be likely to endanger any person or property” and carries a misdemeanor penalty with up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
“The word ‘aggravated’ only means reckless driving plus,” Wright Hartgen said. “The plus is an injury to another person resulting from that reckless driving.”
If passed into law, the aggravated driving while reckless charge would be a felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 days in jail, as well as one to 5 years with suspended driving privileges and surrender of the driver’s license to the court.
“This past few years, Twin Falls has experienced terrible traffic accidents where they have T-boned someone else and caused very large damages to the person. Many of them have been seriously and permanently in disability,” Wright Hartgen said. “No more than a misdemeanor could be given to these people, unlike incidences that happen with a DUI. If the same accident happened with the DUI, it would then become a felony and they would be treated differently in court.”
SB 1326 passed the Senate in a 29-5 vote with no floor debate. It now moves to the House.
“This is something that our state needs,” Wright Hartgen said. “It’s something our law enforcement and prosecutors need to put a halt to some of this driving that’s happening in our state and harming people for the rest of their life.”
Logan Finney | Associate Producer
Logan Finney is a North Idaho native with a passion for media production and boring government meetings. He grew up skiing, hunting and hiking in the mountains of Bonner County and has maintained a lifelong interest in the state’s geography, history and politics. Logan joined the Idaho Reports team in 2020 as a legislative session intern and stayed to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. He was hired as an associate producer in 2021 and they haven’t been able to get rid of him since.