Maryland: Cell phone laws, legislation
Last updated: May 20, 2010 · Print this report
Cell/texting update: Maryland’s governor has signed into law a ban on cell phone use while driving unless a hands-free device is employed. The law calls for “secondary enforcement” and fines between $40 and $100. The ban goes into effect Oct. 1.
Maryland’s 2009 law outlawed the writing of text messages while driving, but not the reading of text messages. 2010 legislation that would close this loophole died on the last day of the session even though it was passed by the House and Senate.
Maryland’s law against text messaging and driving went into effect Oct. 1, 2009. Fines up to $500. Enforcement is “primary,” meaning police can pull over drivers for that reason alone.
Current prohibitions:
- Text messaging is prohibited for all drivers.
- Handheld cell phone use banned for all drivers (effective Oct. 1, 2010).
- Drivers under the age of 18 and drivers with learner’s permits or intermediate licenses are prohibited from using cell phones.
2010 legislation:
SB 321: Would ban use of handheld cell phones by all drivers. Prohibits use of cell phones by school bus drivers and those with learner’s permits. Secondary enforcement. $40 fine (first offense), then $100. (Original bill’s fines were $100/$250). Known as the Delegate John Arnick Electronic Communications Traffic Safety Act. Approved by the Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 15 and then in amended form by the Maryland Senate (24-23 vote) on March 24. Sent to the House, where it won approval from the House Environmental Matters Committee on April 7. Approved by the House on April 9 (125-14 vote) and sent to Gov. Martin O’Malley, who signed it into law May 20. It goes into effect Oct. 1, 2010. (Stone)
HB 192: Prohibits reading of text messages while driving on Maryland’s roads and highways. Seeks to close loophole in 2009 texting law. Fine of up to $500. Approved by the House (135-2, March 11). The Senate voted for the bill on April 12 but sought to water down the texting law to apply only to vehicles that are in motion. This last-minute move put the bill back into play as the session ended. Dead for the year. (Malone)
HB 934: Would prohibit all drivers from use of handheld cell phones. Fine could be waived if driver shows proof of buying hands-free equipment. Also seeks to ban drivers over the age of 18 with learner’s permits or intermediate licenses from using all cell phones. Would prohibit cell phone use by school bus drivers. Primary enforcement. Fine $50 (first offense)/$100. No points on first offense unless an accident results. Calls for drivers-license test questions about wireless communications devices. (McIntosh)
SB 19: Similar to HB 934 (above). Primary enforcement. Voted down in the Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 15. (Lenett)
HB 385: Would outlaw a variety of wireless communications-related activities for drivers of motor vehicles, subway trains and light rail vehicles. Cites text messaging, web surfing, video games, video viewing. (Ali)
HB 299: A general distracted-driving bill that calls for secondary enforcement, meaning a violator cannot be pulled over for this reason alone. Appears identical to HB 236. (Malone)
SB 294: Same as HB 299 (above). Cross-filed. Rejected by the Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 15. (Glassman)
HB 190: Would outlaw video display screens that are visible to the driver. Allows for video equipment that is used as envisioned by the vehicle manufacturer. (Malone)
SB 322: Seeks to ban video display screens (such as TVs) that are visible to the driver. Same as HB 190 (above). Cross-filed. Approved by the Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 15. (Stone)
2010 legislation notes:
The successful handheld cell phone ban SB 321 was aliased as the Delegate John Arnick Electronic Communications Traffic Safety Act, in memory of the late lawmaker who started pushing for cell phone driving regulation back in 1999. His friend Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr., D-Dundalk, is the sponsor.
The parents of a Harford County girl whose death was blamed on a texting trucker attended the cell phone legislation signing and took home the pen used by the governor to enact it into law.
Jennifer Smith, founding director of the survivors group Focus Driven, attended a Senate panel session on distracted driving Feb. 17. She asked lawmakers if “anyone’s life (is) worth a few minutes on the phone?” She lost her mother to a cell phoning driver.
The 2010 session ended April 12 without closing the loophole in Maryland’s texting ban.
2009 legislation:
SB 98: Prohibits text messaging while driving on Maryland’s roads and highways. Given final approval by the full Senate and amended by the House to exempt reading of text messages. Sent to Gov. Martin O’Malley, who signed it April 7. Took effect Oct. 1.
HB 72: Would prohibit text messaging while driving. Approved by the House on a 133-2 vote and sent to the Senate on March 28, 2009. (See above)
SB 143: Prohibits drivers from using cell phones and other wireless communications devices with their hands. Would ban school bus drivers from using wireless devices. Would prohibit drivers with learner’s permits or intermediate licenses from using wireless devices. Appears dead in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, with an “unfavorable ruling” of March 10, 2009.
SB 103: Same as SB 143 but apparently limited to handheld cell phones. “Unfavorable ruling” from Judicial Committee on March 10, 2009.
HB 323: Would outlaw drivers’ use of wireless devices for texting. Given “unfavorable report” in the Environmental Matters Committee.
Legislation notes:
No mystery: Gov. Martin O’Malley had indicated that he’d sign legislation banning text messaging while driving when it emerges from the Maryland House of Delegates.
SB 98, the successful text-messaging bill, faced Republican resistance over its maximum $500 penalty, but an amendment that would have removed the fine was rejected in the Senate by a 16-31 vote. Also rejected was an attempt to require police to pull over drivers for another offense before citing for text messaging. The texting legislation received preliminary approval from the Senate on March 13 and then full Senate approval on March 17. The final Senate vote on the text-messaging bill was 43-4.
The sponsor is Sen. Norman Stone, D-Baltimore County. During the Senate debate, he said of text messaging and driving: “We’re trying to prevent accidents. We’re trying to prevent injuries. We’re trying to prevent deaths. There’s no question that this is a dangerous, dangerous practice.”
“This was the very least we could do to advance public safety,” said SB 98 co-sponsor Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Takoma Park, who also supports a ban on use of handheld cell phones while driving. “We didn’t get to the end zone, but we’ve moved the ball to the 50-yard line.”
SB 98, the texting legislation, is called the Delegate John Arnick Electronic Communications Traffic Safety Act. Arnick tried for eight years to get cell phone safety legislation through the Maryland General Assembly. He died in 2006.
Ragina Averella of AAA Mid-Atlantic on text messaging and driving: “Although there are numerous distractions facing motorists, this is an extreme distraction and one which poses increased safety risks by the very nature of the activity.”
Sen. Michael G. Lenett, D-Montgomery, sponsor of SB 143, says Gov. Martin O’Malley has vowed to sign the bill. “We are only fighting legislators at this point,” Lenett told the Baltimore Sun. Lenett’s has been backed by the Maryland State Police and the highway safety unit of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The bill appears dead for the 2009 session.
The Baltimore Sun has endorsed a ban on text messaging while driving.
Gov. Martin O’Malley has used his executive powers to ban use of handheld cell phones by Maryland state employees driving Maryland’s vehicles.
After a hearing in which legislators heard from a man whose daughter was killed in a texting-related crash, Sen. Brian E. Frosh, chairman of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, said: “If we can’t get a strong cell phone bill, then maybe we can get a strong texting-while-driving prohibition.”
During the 2008 session, Sen. Lenett, who had been pushing for limits on drivers’ use of cell phones and texting devices, pushed SB 2 through the full Senate in March, the first time a hand-held proposal was approved by a legislative body in Maryland. It was killed March 27 in a close vote in the state’s House Environmental Matters Committee committee.
“No one has convinced me that cellphones are as dangerous as people say,” a delegate who voted against the handheld phone ban said. Another opponent said, “We’re lacking data.”
“Very disappointing (but) we made more progress this year with this legislation than has ever been made before,” said Lenett, who’ll be reviving the cell phone driving proposal for ’09.
SB 461, which would have made the cell phone limits on teens a primary offense, also was rejected in March 2008.
Maryland’s Legislature has been debating cell phone driving bills since 1999.
Not enough data?! Are you kidding me?! Look at ALL the drivers with their necks IMMOBILIZED due to holding a cell phone. How on earth can they be expected to give 100% attention to ANYTHING around them!! Driving while on a cell phone is asking for an accident to happen. We need intelligent representation for our families to become safe in Maryland!!
To the representative who NEEDS her cell phone to call her daughter or 911, USE HANDSFREE if you MUST!!
I sent a letter of concern back in 2008 to Govenor Martin O’Malley regarding cell phones and driving at the same time. The response given, I was not happy with. Now I am grateful that something is finally being done about this.
[...] Posted by dn0121 Maryland cell phones & texting laws | Hands Free Info You should read that, it will probably tell you the law goes into effect October [...]
That is better for safety of driving. If any of you are driving and
get some messages, best way to do is pull over off the
highway to do texting. Remember not on soft shoulder of
the highway, it can happens on shoulder and get car accident.
On the safe side is to park at Rest Area Park or at gas
station or any where out of highway and also out of way
of the streets, too! Best way to obey the laws! Don’t get
ticket if you can’t afford! BE WISE TO DO BY OBEY!
we have a state where people fail to use turn signals, have no idea what a solid white line means, use improved shoulders as driving lanes, change lanes in turns at intersections, can not keep a car between the lane lines and cell phone use is still allowed. the whole state should be required to take a functional driving test every four years at their expense.
This is over-legislated. We already have strong laws against driving dangerously. Some people can use a cell-phone, shaving and eat breakfast while driving – all at the same time – without being dangerous. Others can’t even change the station on the radio without getting into an accident. Also, how are the police going to know you were texting? As far as they know, you were searching for a contact to make a phone call.
Bottom line is this – if you’re driving perfectly safely it shouldn’t matter what else you’re doing. If you’re driving like an idiot, you should get pulled over anyway. This is just another example of the “nanny state” thinking it knows what’s best for everyone.
When I see someone texting in my neighborhood, i key their car.
Last year an insurance group, I forget which one but I read about it in the newspaper, up North did a survey in States where cell phone ban was in effect and they were amazed that there was no decrease in the number of accidents. Maryland legislators who are anti-business and anti-farmer are killing the Maryland economy and jobs. We do not need you nanny state laws, we do not need you telling us how to live. We need you to get out of our lives, and get businesses moving into Maryland. We will see you come election.
I VOTED FOR MARTIN O MALLY
IT,S GRAATE HE PASSED THE NOT TEXING AND KNOT USEING THE CELL FHONE WHEN THE CAR IS IN MOSHION
Cel-phone drivers show a wanton disregard for the rights and safety of others. They are potential killers who don’t care. The law allows me to defend myself if I feel my life is in danger. I intend to.
The only problem with this law is that when you use a bluetooth device your attention is still focused on the conversation and not driving. This law doesnt fix anything, it only helps the state get money from ticketing people.