| 17 | 17 | | |
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| 18 | 18 | | |
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| 19 | 19 | | |
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| 20 | 20 | | AN ACT CONCERNING DI STRACTED WALKING. |
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| 21 | 21 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General |
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| 22 | 22 | | Assembly convened: |
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| 23 | 23 | | |
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| 24 | 24 | | Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) For the purposes of 1 |
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| 25 | 25 | | this section, "mobile electronic device" means any hand-held or other 2 |
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| 26 | 26 | | portable electronic equipment capable of providin g data 3 |
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| 27 | 27 | | communication between two or more persons, including, but not 4 |
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| 28 | 28 | | limited to, a mobile telephone, a text messaging device, a paging 5 |
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| 29 | 29 | | device, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, equipment that 6 |
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| 30 | 30 | | is capable of playing a video game or a digital video disk, or 7 |
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| 31 | 31 | | equipment on which digital photographs are taken or transmitted, or 8 |
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| 32 | 32 | | any combination thereof, and "viewing" means looking in the direction 9 |
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| 33 | 33 | | of the screen of a mobile electronic device. 10 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (b) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, no pedestrian 11 |
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| 35 | 35 | | shall cross a highway while viewing a mobile electronic device. 12 |
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| 36 | 36 | | (c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section shall not apply to 13 |
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| 37 | 37 | | (1) the use of a mobile electronic device for the sole purpose of 14 |
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| 38 | 38 | | communicating with any of the following regarding an emergency 15 |
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| 39 | 39 | | situation: An emergency response operator, a hospital, physician's 16 Raised Bill No. 825 |
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| 40 | 40 | | |
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| 41 | 41 | | |
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| 45 | 44 | | |
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| 46 | 45 | | office or health clinic, an ambulance company, a fire department or a 17 |
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| 47 | 46 | | police department, or (2) any of the following persons while in the 18 |
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| 48 | 47 | | performance of their official duties and within the scope of their 19 |
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| 49 | 48 | | employment: A peace officer or firefighter, as those terms are defined 20 |
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| 50 | 49 | | in section 53a-3 of the general statutes, or any emergency medical 21 |
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| 51 | 50 | | responder, emergency medical technician or paramedic, as those terms 22 |
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| 52 | 51 | | are defined in section 19a-175 of the general statutes. 23 |
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| 53 | 52 | | (d) Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall, for 24 |
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| 54 | 53 | | a first violation, receive a warning and, for any subsequent violation, 25 |
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| 55 | 54 | | be fined twenty dollars. 26 |
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| 56 | 55 | | Sec. 2. Section 14-300d of the general statutes is repealed and the 27 |
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| 57 | 56 | | following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 28 |
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| 59 | 58 | | regulations issued thereunder, sections 14-299, 14-300, 14-300b to 14-30 |
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| 60 | 59 | | 300e, inclusive, section 1 of this act, or any local ordinance, [to the 31 |
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| 61 | 60 | | contrary,] each operator of a vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid 32 |
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| 62 | 61 | | colliding with any pedestrian or person propelling a human powered 33 |
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| 63 | 62 | | vehicle and shall give a reasonable warning by sounding a horn or 34 |
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| 64 | 63 | | other lawful noise emitting device to avoid a collision. An operator 35 |
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| 65 | 64 | | who violates any provision of this section shall be fined not more than 36 |
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| 66 | 65 | | five hundred dollars. 37 |
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| 67 | 66 | | This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following |
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| 68 | 67 | | sections: |
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| 69 | 68 | | |
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| 70 | 69 | | Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section |
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| 71 | 70 | | Sec. 2 October 1, 2019 14-300d |
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| 72 | 71 | | |
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