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New Jersey law inspires federal transportation bill
The New Jersey law that was inspired by the death of Navy Ensign John Elliott five years ago was included in the federal transportation bill that was passed by Congress last week.
President Bush promised to sign the bill into legislation, which would provide federal grants to encourage states to enact John’s Law. The law gives police the authority to impound the vehicles of people arrested for drunken driving.
Elliott died in 2000 after being hit by a drunken driver who had been arrested earlier in the evening, then released. His father lobbied politicians in Trenton, New Jersey to pass two bills named for his son. The first included the law about car impoundment, and the second allowed police to keep drunken drivers in custody until they sobered up.
Elliott and the driver of the car, Michael Pangle, were killed three hours after Pangle was arrested and released to the custody of a friend while still intoxicated. The friend brought Pangle back to his vehicle, and he started driving home in his Chevy Blazer when he clipped a passing trailer and his Elliott’s car head-on. Both Elliot and Pangle were immediately killed.
The new federal legislation would allow states to enact John’s Law to help them meet a set of criteria necessary to win federal drunken-driving prevention and other law enforcement grants. Introduced in Congress by Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.), John’s Law was able to save lives and help law enforcement, according to a statement Corzine released after Congress passed the bill.
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