NASHVILLE – Tennessee motorists would risk getting ticketed for letting pets sit in their laps while driving under a local lawmaker’s bill that passed the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
Rep. Jim Cobb, R-Spring City, said his bill was intended to curb accidents, citing the story of a Nashville traffic fatality related to him by a former legislative secretary.
“One of her best friends was killed and the animal she was with was killed,” Cobb said. “She was trying to maintain the dog while it was crawling around the vehicle.”
Earlier, Cobb had Transportation Committee members amend the bill, which originally would have required any animal riding in the front portion of a vehicle be restrained by a harness, box, crate or passenger.
Cobb called the original version “ridiculous,” saying the bill as drafted went too far.