California: Cell phone laws, legislation
Last updated: August 22, 2010 · Print this report
Distracted driving update: After the success of his cell phone and text messaging legislation, State Sen. Joe Simitian returned in 2010 with a plan to more than double fines for distracted driving violations. The legislation died in an Assembly committee in August, although the Senate had approved the bill June 3. Simitian indicated he would try again to toughen California’s distracted driving laws.
Bay Area law enforcement agencies and the California Highway Patrol ran a zero-tolerance sweep on distracted drivers during August. Drivers talking talking on their cell phones or text messaging are in for tickets. The crackdown began Aug. 10, with CHP issuing 348 cell phone violations and two for texting. On Aug. 18, the numbers were 703 and 55.
Current prohibitions:
- Adult drivers (18 and older) banned from using cell phones unless they employ hands-free devices.
- Drivers may not use wireless devices to “to write, send, or read a text-based communication” — as in text messaging.
- Minors are prohibited from using wireless phones while driving — with or without hands-free accessories
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- School bus operators and transit bus drivers prohibited from using cell phones while driving.
Cell phone and text-messaging fines: First offense $20. Other convictions, $50. “With court costs and penalties, the true costs of those tickets are $76 and $190, respectively,” the Los Angeles Times reports. A plan to more than double these fines has been approved by the state Senate and is advancing in the Assembly (see SB 1475 below).
2010 cell phone, texting legislation:
Senate Bill 1475: Would have increased fines for using handheld cell phones or text messaging while driving to $50 (first offense) and $100. (Current fines are $20/$50.) Would mandate a drivers license point for each offense following the first. Bicyclists would be included in the cell phone and texting prohibitions, but fines would be $20/$50 with no points (per amendment of April 6). Allows police to pull over teen drivers suspected of using cell phones. The measure provides $10 of each fine to education programs about the dangers of distracted driving.
SB 1475 legislative history: Amended and approved by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee (April 6, 5-1 vote). Cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee (May 10, 6-3 vote). The full Senate approved the bill on June 3 in a 21-16 vote. Cleared the Assembly Committee on Transportation June 22 in 8-6 vote. Failed to advance in the Appropriations Committee.
Latest action on SB 1475: Dead for the year. (Simitian)
2010 notes:
State Sen. Joe Simitian said he “was at a loss” to explain his SB 1475′s death in committee. “The problem hasn’t gone away and we’ll take a look at it at some point in the future,” he told the Napa Valley Register.
As the session began, Simitian said he’d “heard repeatedly that the current fines are too modest. They wouldn’t be anymore” under his SB 1475. The senator did back down a bit on the new fines for bicyclists due to protests from riders groups.
Simitian’s law banning drivers’ use of handheld cell phones has resulted in “at least 700 fewer fatalities and 75,000 to 100,000 fewer collisions each year.” He said Feb. 17 that California Highway Patrol data show “an immediate drop” of 40 percent to 50 percent in accidents linked to cell phone use.
“We’ve been able to reduce the number of deaths and crashes even as we’ve seen more drivers and more cell phones out on the highway,” said Simitian, D-Palo Alto.
The California Highway Patrol says it has issued more than 244,000 tickets for use of handheld cell phones (as of June 2010). The California cell phone law went into effect July 1, 2008, and enforcement of the texting ban began Jan. 1, 2009.
The CHP reported June 30, 2010: “Cell phones are the leading, identifiable, contributing factor to inattentive driver crashes in California. … “There have been more than 1,200 collisions throughout the state where a contributing factor was inattention by the driver due to cell phone usage. Those same collisions resulted in 16 fatalities and more than 850 victims injured.”
The CHP writes about two-thirds of the distracted driving tickets issued statewide, at a rate of 12,000 to 14,000 a month.
The Assembly Committee on Appropriations estimates increased distracted driving fines under Senate Bill 1475 would bring in another $32 million annually.
In Monterey County, the CHP issued more than 2,800 tickets for handheld cell phone use through May 2010.
Previous cell phone legislation notes:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB 33, the hands-free cell phone bill, into law in September 2006.
State Sen. Joe Simitian had been trying to pass the bill for six years. He was resisted by all of the major cell phone providers except Verizon, although in the end only Sprint protested the action. After SB 33 passed, the senator later succeeded with SB 1613, which places the cell phone and texting limits on teen drivers.
Then Simitian added the ban on text-messaging while driving to the state’s lawbooks in late September 2008, when Schwarzenegger signed the legislation. SB 28 was approved and sent to the governor on Aug. 21, 2008. It took effect Jan. 1, 2009.
View the posts:
Simitian: Hike Calif. distracted driving fines
Simitian defends California cell phone ban
California spikes drivers’ text messaging
California’s hands-free law now in effect
Is there a web site or call in number where a citizen can report cell phone use while driving, something like the 1-800-EXHAUST for cell phones????
Stanley … Haven’t heard of one, and I doubt the cops would have the time or inclination to chase after tips. In a perfect world, there would be a service that would send a letter to the violators once someone reports them, like the smog line. Thanks for the question.
Well, with the way things are going here in San Francisco, anything is possible… MUNI, our City transit service, is apparently now fitted with a couple different cameras in strategic positions on the exterior of some vehicles and is snapping pictures of cars – and their license plates – that are parked in red-zoned bus stops when a bus pulls up and is unable to pull into the zone because a car is parked in it. People are shocked to receive their photo and a citation later in the mail – the citations run about $300 I believe. A little offtopic, but just demonstration of that anything is possible.