Conn. Civ. Jury Instr. 3.7-2

We have a statute that provides that no person shall operate any motor vehicle upon any public

highway of the state recklessly, having regard to the width, traffic and use of such highway, the

intersection of streets and the weather conditions. A person operates a motor vehicle recklessly

when that person does so knowing or having reason to know of facts that create a high degree of

risk of physical harm to another and deliberately proceeds to act in conscious disregard of, or

with indifference to, that risk. A person may also operate a motor vehicle recklessly when that

person does so knowing or having reason to know of facts that create a high degree of risk,

although a reasonable person in the same circumstances would realize or appreciate that risk.

In addition to this general definition of reckless driving, the statute further describes two specific

forms of reckless operation of a motor vehicle that constitute reckless driving as a matter of law.

The first is the operation of a motor vehicle upon any public highway at such a rate of speed as to

endanger the life of any person other than the operator of the motor vehicle. The second is the

operation of a motor vehicle upon any public highway at a rate of speed greater than eighty-five

miles per hour.

If you find that the defendant violated the reckless driving statute in any of the ways I have

defined for you, then the defendant was negligent.