Milford Woman Starts Online Petition to Oppose Safe Driving Bill

A Milford woman has started an online petition against the proposed bill that would allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. 

Tina Galstian said she was driven to start the petition after keeping up with developments in regards to the death of Milford resident Matthew Denice, a Framingham State University graduate who was struck and killed in 2011 while riding his motorcycle on Congress Street in Milford. Denice was allegedly struck by Nicolas Guaman, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, and dragged down the road when the driver failed to stop. 

Bill H.3285, dubbed the Safe Driving Bill, would require immigrants to be trained in the rules of the road and pass written and road tests before getting a license, which some supporters say would make drivers safer. A hearing regarding the bill will take place in March. Denice's mother, Maureen Maloney, recently spoke out against the bill as well.

Galstian said she did not know Denice or his family personally, but reading about the incident in the news and hearing of Maloney's stance against the bill recently was enough to prompt her to begin the petition. 

"When people started talking about it, the only thing I could think of was the whole Matthew Denice thing," Galstian said. "I went to the vigil and have been following it as things are updated. That's just how I was involved."

As of Wednesday, Feb. 12, the petition has reached 188 signatures.

"I would love to get more people to sign it," Galstian said. "A lot of people that are illegal [citizens], obviously they don't speak English very well. How are we going to do the testing and the classes? I think pushing this forward is giving completely the wrong message. I think it's going to be a big waste of time and a big waste of money."

To read the petition, click here.