Virginia outlaws texting for drivers

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has signed into law a ban on text messaging for all drivers. It takes effect July 1.

AAA spokesman John Townsend said the secondary-enforcement status of the new Virginia texting law — meaning police would have to have another, primary reason for pulling over drivers — makes it “tantamount to telling people you can do it.”

Still, the AAA spokesman told the Washington Examiner that approval of HB 1876 was a “moral victory.”

Meanwhile, Kansas has approved its first restrictions on cell phone use behind the wheel: Drivers with permit licenses cannot use cell phones or texting devices as of Jan. 1, 2010.

HB 2143 was signed by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. The Virginia cell phone limits come as part of a larger package concerning young drivers and safety.

Related content: Utah bans text messaging

USA Today botches cell phone report

USA Today’s Money section did a drive-by today on nationwide legislative activity concerning cell phones and driving.

The story doesn’t even mention text messaging, which is the driving force behind most 2009 wireless communications legislation affecting motorists.

In the wake of the L.A. commuter crash, legislatures have rushed to address texting while driving this year. Proposed bans against use of cell phones without hands-free devices are mostly being ignored or defeated, or watered down just to prohibit texting.

Put simply, this is shaping up as a rotten year for those who’d like to see bans on yapping and driving.

Only a few state legislatures are seriously considering handheld cell phone legislation this year, although the USA Today story offers statistics suggesting this is a red-button issue across the land:

“More than 250 bills prohibiting or restricting cellphone use while driving are pending in 42 state legislatures despite disagreement over the risks cellphones pose and the effectiveness of enforcement. … The number is up from about 120 bills in just 18 states 10 months ago, according to an analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.”

Cell phones often are cited in text-messaging laws, because so many people text with them these days. As in text messaging with an iPhone while driving. But most text messaging legislation bans texting on a cell phone, not talking on a cell phone. Some of the texting bills specifically permit drivers to enter phone numbers in order to make a call.

In any case, the numbers are there on cell phone legislation — as they are every year — but that doesn’t make for a trend or translate into much of a likelihood that legislators are actually working on the issue.

You could argue, in fact, that legislatures have embraced anti-texting legislation because those bans are widely approved of by voters in most states. And that activity helps lawmakers dodge the equally important issue of talking on cell phones while behind the wheel.

Oh yeah: Texting has no lobby except angry teens.

Like this blog post? Sign up to get Hands Free Info via email or RSS.

Indiana student dies, texting debate fueled

Good debate on the dangers of texting while driving in the comments section of this Indiana newspaper’s report (update: no longer online). Sadly, it was inspired by a young woman’s death (in August 2009).

Legislation that would ban texting by drivers under 18 is advancing in Indiana’s Legislature. Some of the commenters note that this would not have helped the 21-year-old driver, Brittiany R. Phillips, who had been sending and receiving text messages in the moments before the fatal crash. (She also had not been wearing a seat belt.)

It’s quite possible, however, that under a similar law the college student would have spent her first two years behind the wheel without texting — and developed driving habits that didn’t include this (for her) deadly practice of typing on the road.

You really have to feel for families like Brittiany’s that have to deal with unimaginable grief and the weird sidebar of their dead loved ones becoming part of a state and nationwide debate.

Cleveland councilman: Let them text

Cleveland looks ready to ban text messaging for city drivers. The plan, aired in a safety committee this week, now has the endorsement of Mayor Frank Jackson’s administration.

Ohio’s legislators appear to have no interest in the issues of text messaging and cell phone gabbing while driving. Lawmakers in almost every other state in the nation are debating possible bans on the activities.

Right in line with the dozing state reps is Cleveland Councilman Michael Polensek (pictured), the Plain Dealer reported:

“I would be happy if the hoodlums were texting each other rather than robbing people out in the streets,” Polensek said

Utah bans text messaging

The first text messaging law of the legislative season comes from Utah, whose governor signed HB 290 on March 25. The Utah ban on texting while driving goes into effect July 1.

Meanwhile, Gov. Timothy Kaine signed Virginia’s text messaging legislation into law on March 30.

Utah and Virginia will be the eighth and ninth states with laws that restrict text messaging while driving. California joined the club Jan. 1.

Mississippi’s Legislature OK’d a ban on text messaging by young motorists this week. It has been sent to Gov. Haley Barbour.

Under the legislation signed by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., text messaging infractions begin as class C misdemeanors, but become class B misdemeanors if the driver has been convicted of texting while driving in the past three years. The class B infraction also applies if the texting is linked to a serious injury.

Virginia’s texting ban can only result in an infraction if the driver is pulled over for some other reason. Fines start at $20 and peak at $50.

Numerous other state bills regarding texting and driving remain alive for 2009. Almost all limits on cell phone use by drivers are dead or dying.

Legislatures this year gave serious consideration to text messaging bans for drivers, but little to handheld cell phone sanctions.

The art of identifying text messagers

Law enforcement departments across the country seem to find it almost impossible to tell when a driver is text messaging instead of watching the road. At least, those law agencies that oppose bans on texting while driving.

Here’s help for those cops and deputies suffering from blindness to texting motorists:

Ontario County (N.Y.) Sheriff Philip Povero told a safety committee on Monday that “officers that are trained in highway traffic enforcement can look at vehicles that are down the road and they can see certain body language and other signs that could indicate that a driver is texting.”

Those text messaging behaviors include looking down, looking away from the road and using one hand while steering.

Funny how everyone else on the road sees drivers who are text messaging left and right.

Philly stake out: Cell driving ban near

The city of Philadelphia moved closer to a local ban on use of handheld phones on Wednesday as Councilman Bill Green’s plan sailed through committee. First offense will run drivers $150 while subsequent fines will be $300.

(Update: The City Council approved the ban on drivers using handheld cell phones April 16 and Mayor Michael Nutter has promised to sign it into law. The vote was unanimous.)

Pennsylvania’s legislature has several cell phone and texting bills to consider, but none appear to have any heat. A spokesman for the Philly cops said he hopes the local ordinance’s passage would “send a strong message to Harrisburg that the time has come.”

New York’s swarm of local legislation against text messaging while driving and the use of handheld phones usually is credited to a similar lack of urgency in Albany. At least something happened today: Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky’s call for police to report on cell phone-related accidents cleared the Senate and is now in the House Transportation Committee.