You could soon receive a fine if an officer sees a pet in your lap while you're driving. Brunswick County Republican Frank Iler has introduced legislation that would let officers issue a $100 fine if they see a driver holding a pet or distracted by children.
The bill was met with bipartisan support Wednesday in the House Transportation Committee. North Carolina has few laws preventing distracted driving. Texting and emailing while driving are banned, as is cellphone use by drivers under 18.
Representative Stephen Ross is an Alamance County Republican. He describes watching a car swerve on the Interstate just this week.
"I thought it was going to be another one of those texting incidents that you see every day, hundreds and thousands of incidents like that. But it turned out it was a, not a German shepherd, but something very close to the size of a German shepherd. I couldn't tell if the dog was driving the car or the driver was driving the car," he said.
The transportation committee voted in favor of the legislation. But some lawmakers want to turn the bill into a broader distracted driving effort before its next committee hearing.