Chicago eyes distracted bicyclists

Bicyclists in California narrowly escaped having distracted driving prohibitions placed on them recently, when the governor inexplicably vetoed SB 28.

Bicyclists squawked up a storm when state Sen. Joe Simitian included them for the first time in his plan for tougher penalties for distracted driving violations. The lobby backed off, but no doubt the two-wheelers’ protests helped kill the senator’s life-saving plan.

Now, distracted bicyclists are under the microscope in Chicago, where the head of the City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety proposes a ban on handheld cell phone use and texting while riding.

Alderman Marge Laurino (pictured) told the Council: “I’ve witnessed bicyclists texting while they’re in traffic. I’ve seen them talking on the phone. I’ve seen the same thing with motorists and pedestrians.”

Laurino’s plan would allow for hands-free operation, with fines of $100 up to $500 for violations.

Another councilman pointed out that the city’s laws against distracted driving (handheld cell phones, texting) are “rarely enforced.” The plan has not yet been considered in committee.

Two years ago, Laurino led a 3-mile ride to open one of the Chicago area’s many off-road bicycle trails. The downtown area is teeming with cyclists on a normal business day.

Similar limits on electronic device use by pedestrians and bicyclists have been proposed in New York, Arkansas, Virginia and Oregon. Philadelphia’s distracted driving ban applies to bicyclists, pedestrians and skateboarders.

NTSB: Put brakes on DD truckers

All cell phone use by all commercial drivers should be prohibited, the NTSB has recommended.

National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Deborah Hersman called tractor-trailer rigs “80,000-pound unguided missiles” when their drivers are distracted by cell phone use.

The U.S. Department of Transportation already is working on a plan to prohibit interstate commercial truck and bus drivers from using hand-held cell phones. Text messaging by interstate truckers already is prohibited.

The NTSB pointed to a horrific 2010 crash near Munfordville, Ky., in which the driver of an 18-wheeler crossed the highway median and slammed into a passenger van. Eleven people died, including the truck driver, who apparently was talking on his cell phone at the time of the accident.

The NTSB stated:

Investigators determined that the driver used his mobile phone for calls and text messages a total of 69 times while driving in the 24-hour period prior to the accident. The driver made four calls in the minutes leading up to the crash, making the last call at 5:14 a.m. CDT, coinciding with the time that the truck departed the highway.

“Distracted driving is becoming increasingly prevalent, exacerbating the danger we encounter daily on our roadways,” the NTSB’s Hersman said. “It can be especially lethal when the distracted driver is at the wheel of a vehicle that weighs 40 tons and travels at highway speeds.”

Under the plan, truck drivers would only be allowed to make mobile phone calls in emergencies.

The NTSB recommendations were made to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and “to the 50 states and the District of Columbia.” The board itself cannot make regulations.

Many large interstate carrier companies already prohibit their drivers from using cell phones and text messaging.

SB 28 vetoed in California

California’s governor has vetoed a plan to double fines for distracted driving violations, saying he was not interested in “ratcheting up the penalties as prescribed by this bill.”

The legislation was Senate Bill 28, approved by the state House and Senate, and sent to Gov. Jerry Brown on Aug. 15.

The bill’s author, Sen. Joe Simitian, said the veto resulted in “a lost opportunity to save more lives.”

Brown wrote in his veto message: “For people of ordinary means, current fines and penalty assessments should be sufficient deterrent.”

Under the Simitian plan, fines for using handheld cell phones or text messaging while driving would have increased to $50 (first offense) and $100.

In addition, a point would have been charged against the driver’s license on second and subsequent offenses. A first offense would have cost violators about $310 after court costs. Repeat offenses would have hit $528, plus the point.

The distracted driving law revisions also would have extended prohibitions against hands-free electronic device use to bicyclists.

Simitian, D-Palo Alto, said he would “review the governor’s veto message to see if there is any room for compromise in the coming year (2012).” No wiggle room was apparent in Brown’s short rejection of SB 28.

Simitian’s SB 28 was a reprise of his 2010 plan to more than double fines for distracted driving violations. That plan failed to cleared the Legislature, and the senator rewrote the legislation. The points provision also was watered down during SB 28′s journey through the 2011 Legislature in order to make it more palatable to lawmakers.

“I’m disappointed,” Simitian said in a post-veto press release, “but the governor gets the last word. I understand and accept that. My job now is to figure out where do we go from here.”

Simitian has been the point person on California’s distracted driving laws, among the earliest and most comprehensive in the nation.

Of his attempts to toughen the laws, Simitian said: “While the numbers show that compliance is good and that California’s hands-free law is working, we can do better and save even more lives,” said Simitian, following the bill’s passage.

Brown said: “I certainly support discouraging cell phone use while driving a car, but not ratcheting up the penalties as prescribed by this bill.”

• View the California distracted driving law page.
• View the governor’s veto message.
• View Sen. Simitian’s press release following SB 28 veto.
• Read the SB 28 passage press release.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s SB 28 veto message