Commentary: AAA urges passage of ‘ice missile’ legislation

At AAA, we’ve seen the broken windshields, and we’ve been called to tow the cars that are damaged from crashes caused by what we’ve started calling “ice missiles.” The sad part is that this scenario that plays out every winter is completely avoidable.”

We’ve all seen it — after a winter storm moves through the area, we clear off our car to head to work, school or the grocery store to find ourselves behind that driver who has a big pile of snow and possibly even a sheet of ice on top of their vehicle. Most of us have seen that pile of snow and ice come loose, fly into the air and either break up on the road or hit another vehicle.

At AAA, we’ve seen the broken windshields, and we’ve been called to tow the cars that are damaged from crashes caused by what we’ve started calling “ice missiles.”

The sad part is that this scenario that plays out every winter is completely avoidable.

The frustrating part is that, right now, law enforcement does not have the authority in Delaware to stop a driver with snow and ice covering their vehicle to prevent a possible crash.

Law enforcement in our neighboring states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania have been given this authority through their state laws.

Fortunately, there is a bill that would give Delaware law enforcement officers the authority they need to be able to keep our roads safer following a winter storm.

Senate Bill 64, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, D-Newark, would place a duty on drivers to clean ice and snow off of their vehicles prior to driving. Under this bill, law enforcement would be able to stop vehicles they believe pose a threat to other roadway users with a civil penalty of not less than $25 or more than $75 for each offense. However, if dislodged snow and ice strikes another vehicle or pedestrian, causing injury or property damage, civil penalties increase to not less than $200 or more than $1,000. The penalty for commercial vehicles will not be less than $500 or more than $1,500.

The bill has been passed in the state Senate, along with an amendment that would cause it to only apply on roads where the speed limit is higher than 25 mph. The bill was recently voted unanimously out of the House Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee.

The bill now just needs to be voted on in the House of Representatives and, if passed, signed into law by Gov. John Carney.

AAA believes the passage of this legislation would reduce the number and seriousness of crashes caused by these ice missiles and make our roads safer.

Jana L. Tidwell is the manager of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic.