Speed Limit Increase Rejected

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) Don't expect the speed limit on I-15 to go up anytime soon. The Utah House today stripped a bill of that provision, and the sponsor says there's no reviving it.

"I think the speed limit's probably dead, we won't be able to do anything there," says Senator Scott Jenkins.

Jenkins had also hoped to give police the ability to slap drivers with an extra citation for driving while distracted. That could mean eating, talking on the phone or attending to passengers. State representatives pulled that part out of the bill.

"Quite frankly if one of your children unbuckle their seatbelt while you're going 70 on the freeway and you reach back to fix it, you might veer over the line and you'll be cited for distracted driving" says Representative Carl Wimmer who is a police officer.

Jenkins says his colleagues are making too much of the careless driving provision, which he came up with after watching a woman swerve in traffic while eating a salad on her lap.

Next step for the bill is a conference committee between the House and Senate where Jenkins hopes to get part of the distracted driving provision to reinstated.

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