Alabama: Cell phone laws, legislation

Latest driver safety legislation news: The Alabama Legislature adjourned without passing distracted driving legislation in 2010. A bill passed by the House would have banned texting while driving, but the measure died in the Senate after committee members rewrote it to favor plaintiffs in crash lawsuits. The bill had broad support in the Legislature.

The state hosted the nation’s first statewide summit on distracted driving in December.

Alabama is is second only to Mississippi in the number of teenage driving fatalities. The state Department of Public Health launched a campaign on Aug. 26 to warn about the potentially fatal consequences of distracted driving for teens.

Current prohibitions:

• None statewide.
• Birmingham, Jacksonville, Vestavia Hills, Gadsden, Roanoke and at least seven other communities have banned texting while driving. Montgomery’s ban on texting and handheld cell phone use begins Sept. 12. Huntsville’s ban goes into effect Sept. 20.

2010 cell phone, texting legislation:
Alabama House Bill 35: Would ban text messaging and use of handheld GPS devices while driving on Alabama’s highways and roads. Fines of $25 (first offense) then $50 and $75, plus court costs and a point. Calls for primary enforcement, meaning police and deputies may pull over drivers when a violation of the law is suspected. Approved Jan. 13 by the public safety committee. Approved by the Alabama House on Jan. 19 (95-3 vote). Blocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee in a disagreement over language that made text messaging while in a crash a presumption of negligence. (McClendon)

SB 196: Would outlaw drivers’ use of text messaging devices and mobile GPS units. Primary enforcement. Fines $25/$50/$75. Appears dead in Senate Judiciary Committee. (Waggoner)

2010 legislation notes:
Rep. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, saw his HB 35 approved by the full House in a 95-3 vote. It was sent to the Senate, but did not advance there. He plans to return with the bill in 2011.

Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, attempted to sub McClendon’s bill for his own during debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the chairman set aside the plan due to member disagreements over the primary status for enforcement. “I don’t understand anybody being against it,” Waggoner said. “To me, it is a no-brainer.”

The text messaging bill couldn’t get out of committee in the Senate due to the actions of President Pro Tem Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, and Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville. The texting-while-driving measure was rewritten by Bedford and other Senate attorneys to insert language that a text-messager was presumed at fault in an accident. They refused to let the bill advance without that language. A major state insurer had objected to that provision.

Days after the bill died, the Huntsville Times editorialized: “Opponents of this ban should be ashamed of themselves for killing this life-saving bill. … Bedford, Alfa (insurance group) and whoever else torpedoed the text ban law are wrong on this one. … (Their) excuses, frankly, don’t make sense.”

Smitherman said primary enforcement invites racial profiling by law officers.

McClendon had texting and handheld cell phone bills debated in the House and Senate in 2009. His HB 157 was approved in the House but failed in the Senate. “Fatalities on our highways are simple enough to prevent,” McClendon said. “If you don’t use seat belts, you put yourself at risk. When you text message, you put everybody at risk.”

Huntsville’s ban on texting while driving goes into effect Sept. 20. Mayor Tommy Battle is the sponsor. Fines will be $100 (first offense) and then up to $500 plus possible jail time. Enforcement is to begin 60 days after the July 22 vote, which was unanimous.

The Associated Press polled Alabama state legislators and found that 84 percent of House members approved the bill, and 79% of senators wanted to see it pass (most but not all legislators responded to the pollsters). The same poll taken last year produced similar numbers (below).

A coalition of state and federal transportation officials had vowed to see through Alabama legislation banning drivers’ use of cell phones and texting devices. They gathered at the Alabama Distracted Driving Summit in Birmingham on Dec. 4, 2009. The summit was co-sponsored by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s University Transportation Center and the University Transportation Center for Alabama.

Ray LaHood, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, delivered the Distracted Driving Summit keynote. “There are proven strategies we can use to help combat this epidemic, but it will also take leadership and coordination to protect our communities and the traveling public. … (This summit) — the first of its kind outside Washington — helps continue the national conversation on distracted driving and will put more good ideas on the table to prevent needless deaths. I hope other states will follow its lead.”

“Secretary LaHood issued a challenge to the states to move quickly to address the issues of distracted driving,” said Russ Fine, director of the UAB Transportation Center. “Alabama’s response has been gratifying, as this summit has brought together leaders in state government, transportation safety, science, law enforcement and public policy to begin that process and provide a safer driving environment for all Alabamians.”

The new group Alabamians Against Distracted Driving had about 2,000 members as of June 2010, organizer Dee Fine says.

City & country distracted driving laws:
Montgomery has outlawed text messaging and the use of handheld cell phones by motorists. Fines will be $50 (first), then $100/$500 with the possibility of jail time. Enforcement will be secondary, meaning police cannot pull over violators for that reason alone. City Council Vice President Tracy Larkin was the sponsor. Enforcement of Montgomery’s distracted driving law begins Sept. 12, following the (6-1) City Council vote of Aug. 4.

Birmingham has banned texting while driving, setting a fine of $100. The unanimous vote came July 13.
The city, ironically, is home to Sen. Rodger Smitherman, who derailed a statewide texting law in 2010 by inserting language into the bill that was seen as pork for attorneys (above).

Florence’s City Council rejected a plan to ban handheld electronic devices for drivers, although the vote was a tie. Councilman Andy Betterton said he may try again.

Decatur is considering a citywide ban on text messaging while driving. Councilman Ronny Russell is the sponsor.

Gadsden banned text messaging in city limits on June 22. Fines $25 (first), then $50/$75. “I think eventually there will be some kind of state guidelines,” the mayor said.

2009 legislation:
HB 157 would ban drivers from text messaging. Approved by House.

HB 282 seeks to restrict young drivers from using any “audio” hands-free or hand-held device that is not required for operation of the vehicle. Applies to drivers 16 years old or younger, or 17 years old who have been driving for less than six months.

2008-09 legislation notes:
Rep. Jim McClendon saw his text messaging bill clear the House in February 2009 but run into opposition in the Senate from Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, who wanted to water down the bill. “(The legislation) prohibits, writing, sending or reading text message while operating motor vehicle,” McClendon said in late April. “She wants to delete those words.”

McClendon’s bill to ban handheld cell phone use by drivers, HB 158, was defeated on a 5-3 vote. McClendon said he was pleased to get one of the driving safety bills through committee.

McClendon’s text messaging bill sought penalties starting at $25 and three points up to a 60-day suspension of the driver’s license after a fourth conviction.

Texting poll: An Associated Press poll taken during January shows that Alabama legislators are solidly in favor of a text-messaging law:

81 percent of House members responding said they would support a ban on text messaging while driving, while just 1 percent were opposed and 18 percent said they were undecided. In the Senate, 77 percent of respondents said they would support the bill, while 10 percent were opposed and 13 percent undecided.

Rep. McClendon, who heads a state safety committee, introduced HB 17, the 2008 bill banning drivers under 18 from using cell phones. * McClendon told Hands-Free Info that the legislative session ended with the bill stuck in committee, “blocked by chairman of rules Ken Guin, D-Walker County.” Greenhill said of the teen-targeted legislation: “The bill should address everyone or no one.”

HB 17 was endorsed by the Birmingham News: “Alabama legislators should place more restrictions on teen drivers, including a ban on their use of cell phones while behind the wheel. … No, it’s not good for any of us to be gabbing on cell phones when we’re steering a deadly weapon. But it’s certainly not good for inexperienced drivers to be doing so or, worse, to be sending text messages.”