Lucas Holter

Elm City officials are pushing for landmark legislation to curb “excessive reckless driving” in the state of Connecticut.

H.B. No. 7260, or “An Act Concerning Excessive Reckless Driving,” was introduced in the state legislature last Wednesday by Attorney General William Tong. If approved by the Senate and House of Representatives, the law would herald a slew of penalties for reckless driving that would take effect from Oct. 1, 2025. In Connecticut, any driving over 100 mph is considered reckless. 

“There’s no reason that anyone in the state should be driving over 100 mph,” Mayor Justin Elicker said at an April 1 press conference urging lawmakers to pass the proposed bill. “It’s no joke. It’s dangerous to our community [and] threatens our [residents’] quality of life.”

Elicker invoked the memory of 21-year-old Dajsha Knight and 19-year-old Madison Hilker, who were killed in a fatal crash in July 2024. Just weeks ago, the NHPD arrested and charged the two men allegedly responsible for causing the deadly three-car-collision — a product of reckless driving.

According to data gathered by the Connecticut Crash Data Repository, crashes in New Haven have notably been on the decline. Elm City residents witnessed 5,388 crashes in 2024, a notable decrease from the 6,818 that took place in 2023 and 6,947 that occurred in 2022. 

Elicker pointed to the impact of increased local enforcement and local legislation in stimulating the decline. The Board of Alders, for instance, approved and endorsed a comprehensive 365-page proposal justifying the installation of speed and red-light cameras at traffic violation flashpoints based on crash data in May. The plan, which was submitted to the Department of Transportation in December, is still pending deliberation on the question of speed camera implementation. However, 10 to 12 intersections should soon see the installation of red-light cameras, according to NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson.

Yet, officials emphasised that this legislation is simply not enough. 

“The Judiciary Committee is [often] circumspect about adding penalties,” Senator Gary Winfield said at the press conference. “[To be] at the point where we are talking about adding [them], you know that we are very serious about the issue in front of us. There is a speed problem in this state.”

H.B. No. 7260 would specifically require repeated offenders to have their motor vehicles impounded for 48 hours upon their second violation. To reobtain their property, they would have to assume responsibility for all towing and storage charges.

According to Attorney General Tong, the measure intends to remove reckless drivers from the streets, who have “forfeit[ed their] right to drive on our state’s roadways.”

Defending the increased severity of the penalties, Tong emphasised that city officials are “at [their] wits’ ends.”

At the press conference, city officials concurrently advocated for municipal and state lawmakers to pass two other bills — S.B. 1284 and S.B. 1389 — that target New Haven’s endemic issue of street takeovers. 

Street takeovers refer to the phenomenon of individuals in cars, dirt bikes and ATVs seizing control of a block or intersection at night to engage in reckless driving.

Once again referring to the July 2024 crash, Chief Jacobson highlighted that the individuals apprehended by the NHPD had been present at takeovers earlier in the night, which allowed their identification. He emphasised similar links between such activity and violent crime — takeovers, according to Jacobson, have resulted in two individuals being shot.

Law enforcement have engaged a multi-jurisdictional task force to address the dilemma, seizing 65 vehicles, issuing 32 arrests, and arresting five. 

“In New Haven alone, we only have limited numbers of officers that can respond to a large group of individuals that come through our city and our surrounding cities,” said Elicker in the press conference. “So having a lot more officers [from different jurisdictions] enables us to pick off people as they go through our towns [to] make these apprehensions. But we need more help.”

In an interview with the News, Jacobson added that the NHPD had been granted a reckless driving grant from the city to hire more officers and finance overtime shifts to increase patrols. Nevertheless, he noted that the passage of the bills — addressing loopholes that allow for ATVs, dirt bikes, and apprehended vehicles to be sold back into the community, perpetuating the reckless driving endemic — are most imperative.

According to Elicker, previous attempts to institute similar legislation have failed to pass the House. However, city officials remain optimistic.

“Public safety is not a partisan issue, and so I think when the vote comes down, you will see that the vote reflects that it is bipartisan,” said Winfield.

The present multi-jurisdictional street takeover task force comprises officers from six Connecticut municipalities.