The Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, December 8, 2004 12:00 am
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A car gets pulled over. The driver has been drinking. A passenger is holding an open bottle of beer.
Did the driver break the law by driving with an open container? Law enforcement officers say they just can't tell.
That's why Rep. Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne, who will become a senator in January, and Rep. Jane Warren, D-Laramie, drafted a bill that would strengthen Wyoming's open containers law, bringing it in line with federal standards.
"There's potentially a way for people to get around the (current) law by switching drivers or passing (the drink) to a passenger," Ross said Tuesday.
That's also why the Wyoming Highway Patrol supports the bill. Dave Kingham, spokesman for the Wyoming Department of Transportation, said the current law is just too hard to enforce.
Not only that, but it's costing Wyoming money.
In 1998 the federal government placed restrictions on highway money for states that didn't comply with open-container standards. States still get the money, but must spend it on safety projects, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
But Ross said that's not the main reason he introduced the bill.
"If there are federal dollars attached to this thing, so be it," Ross said. "I think that's just another reason to pass it."
Instead, he's more interested in making it easier for law enforcement to promote highway safety.
Lorrie Pozarik, who works with the Governor's Council on Impaired Driving, said "the law as its currently written truly ineffective" because of the difficulty in determining whether the driver - instead of a passenger - is in possession of the open container. Investigators, now, have little means to determine where a drunken driver did his drinking.
"Was it at the bar, in the car or at home?" Pozarik asked. "We don't know."
Although the bill describes how drivers should transport beer, wine and spirits, it would not apply to recreational vehicles, charter buses or limousines so long as any alcohol being consumed by passengers is beyond the driver's zone of control.
Still, the bill faces an uphill battle. The Legislature considered open-container laws each year from 2001 through 2003, but none of the bills passed. A bill was drafted for the 2004 session, but didn't make it to committee.
Opponents say such restrictions are an invasion of the driver's rights.
But Ross doesn't accept that argument, saying safety is the most important issue.
"Sometimes that just doesn't cut it when it affects someone else's life," Ross said.
If Senate File 8 doesn't pass this year, lawmakers can expect to see another version of the open-container law in the future.
"A bill like this will come back every year until the Legislature passes it," Pozarik said.