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The latest arrest came on Friday in Vernon.

On Monday, legislators held a public hearing.

The judiciary committee proposed the bill. If a driver is caught driving more than 100 miles per hour, it would allow police to impound the car for 48 hours. The bill also proposed drivers face fines and jail time for the first offense.

“I think Connecticut has an issue with what’s happening on our highways. It’s been part of the discussion both inside of the legislature and outside,” said Sen. Gary Winfield (D-New Haven). “And I think the effort is to try to get at that and reduce that, particularly when it comes to speeding. I think anybody who’s doing 100 miles an hour on the highways of Connecticut is a problem for all of us.”

Attorney General William Tong also expressed his support for the measure.

“From excessive speeding and reckless lane changes to distracted and intoxicated driving, this brazen lawlessness puts all of us at risk and cannot be tolerated. Regardless of day, time, or what lane I am in there are individuals speeding by, often exceeding one-hundred miles-per-hour, with little to no consequence. My family and all Connecticut families deserve to be safe on our roadways without concern that an irresponsible driver will jeopardize their wellbeing. That is why we must do more to protect the safety of our roads, and I believe this bill is a step in the right direction. By requiring the 48-hour impoundment of someone’s motor vehicle after they have been arrested for travelling over one-hundred miles-per-hour will increase accountability for those engaging in this type of reckless behavior and will likely make them think twice before traveling that fast again.”

Road safety and cannabis

Lawmakers are also looking at a separate bill focused on drivers who are under the influence of cannabis.

Right now police cannot stop a vehicle if they observe or detect that a driver is consuming cannabis while operating a vehicle. A bill would remove that prohibition.

Rep. Greg Howard (R-Stonington), who is also a detective, has been pushing to change the law for years.

“We cannot have laws in our state that are unenforceable, first of all,” Howard said before a public hearing Monday. “And second, we cannot tell people of the State of Connecticut you can drive around smoking marijuana.”

The bill also had support from the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association.

“We smell marijuana constantly through the city of Meriden you drive — you could say that for any community,” said Rob Rosado, association president and Meriden’s police chief.

Critics said the change would allow police to use cannabis use as a pretext to stop a driver, even if they can’t confirm the origin of the smell.

“I think that, um, you know it’s in violation of people’s constitutional rights to just pull them over and pull them out of that vehicle and search that vehicle just base on that odor,” CannaWarriors co-founder Christina Capitan said.

Sen. Gary Winfield (D-New Haven) said the purpose of Monday’s public hearing was to hear whether residents feel the state already strikes the right balance.

“The public is here to tell us whether we’ve done that or not and then,” Winfield said.

Some Democrats on the Judiciary Committee said they believe police can utilize a range of existing motor vehicle violations to stop a vehicle if they want to.

The bill would also task the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection to study roadside detection tests, similar to a breathalyzer, for cannabis usage.

The state currently does not allow police to use any chemical or blood roadside test to determine if someone is intoxicated, but the study would examine if any are reliable.

Capitan remains skeptical because cannabis reacts differently in each person and can linger in a body for weeks in some cases, even if a person is no longer under the influence.

“People with higher fat content in their bodies will hold cannabis metabolites much longer. I just don’t think it’s a reliable detection method,” she said.