Auto repair shops would have to request crash reports or file a form with authorities before repairing damaged vehicles, under a new bill filed by Florida Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota., according to our partners at News 4 Jacksonville.
Gruters’ proposal comes after the hit-and-run death of 13-year-old Lilly Glaubach just over a year ago.
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Glaubach was riding her bike home from school when she was hit in a crosswalk. She died several days after the crash, just shy of her 14th birthday.
The driver, David Chang, left the scene and took his car to a body shop in Tampa, claiming a tree fell through his windshield. Someone reported the damage before the car was repaired and Chang was eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison.
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Florida lawmakers want to send a clear message that leaving the scene of a crash can carry severe consequences.
That’s why Glaubach’s family is supporting SB 194, also known as the “Lilly Glaubach Act.” If it passes, customers would need to provide auto shops with a written crash report or the shop would need to file a collision repair form that would go directly to law enforcement.
The form would include information on the customer, the vehicle and a description of the damage.
Aaron’s Auto Car Care on Spring Park Road specializes in maintenance services like oil changes and engine checkups — not repairs. But owner Aaron Nelson said he would still feel the impact of the proposed law.
“If you’re starting to have to stop and fill out paperwork etc. and submit that paperwork before you can do any repairs on the car, that could be rough on any industry,” Nelson said. “It would definitely slow it down as far as turnaround time on automobiles and stuff like that, and it would add to the time that it would take in order to complete an automobile.”
Nelson also said he’s caught on his own the type of red flags the bill is designed to catch.
“We’ve had a car come in years ago, I say probably six or eight years ago. A guy bought a used car and he brought it in afterward for a post-inspection of the car, and I’m looking at it and there was actually a woman’s hair wrapped around the drive axle on the left front and it had hair follicles on it,” Nelson said. “For that to be on there, that tells me the person had to be under the car. Sure enough, we found out that’s exactly what happened. Somebody got killed with that car.”
But Nelson said he is still unsure based on his experience if passing the bill is the best idea.
“I don’t know what a good answer for that would be, to be honest with you,” Nelson said. “That’s a slippery slope.”
The Lilly Glaubach Act was just filed last week, so it is still a long way from becoming a reality.
It needs to make it through the committee process first before potentially going to a vote in the spring.
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