Idaho outlaws texting while driving

Text messaging while behind the wheel will no longer be permitted in Idaho as of July 1.

Gov. Butch Otter signed the Legislature’s distracted driving measure April 5. The distracted driving law will receive primary enforcement — police can stop and cite offenders for that reason alone — but offenses are not moving violations. Also, there are no points assessed against the driver’s license.

The fine for texting & driving in Idaho will be $85.

Idaho became the 37th state to outlaw text messaging while driving, following West Virginia by only two days.

West Virginia also banned use of handheld cell phones while driving, but in Idaho a similar plan (from the Senate) was ignored during the legislative session, which officially ended March 29.

A few legislators pointed out that the new law did not adequately cover current technologies.

The successful Senate Bill 1274 focused on texting alone — reading, writing, transmitting — without mention of the many potentially distracted computer functions offered by smartphones such as the iPhone.

House sponsor Rep. Judy Ellsworth, R-Boise, replied during debate: “I do know that teenagers know what texting is, and I believe that this bill will send that message to them.”

Idaho’s Legislature had rejected all distracted driving legislation until now — with infringements on personal liberties often cited — but lawmakers acknowledged that public sentiment has changed.

The death of an 18-year-old Caldwell woman early in the year weighed on the debate. She was texting extensively before rear-ending a semi-trailer truck, and also receiving Facebook communications, police reported. Taylor Sauer’s parents became distracted driving activists.

A AAA Idaho survey of state voters found 87 percent in support of a statewide ban on texting while driving.

Also in 2012, state Sen. Les Bock proposed a prohibition on use of handheld cell phones by all drivers, but that bill failed to advance.

Read the Idaho distracted driving news page.

West Va. bans texting, cell phones

“I want West Virginians to remain free from distracted drivers,” Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin told lawmakers back in January. They listened.

The governor’s advocacy proved to be the key to breaking the state’s long deadlock over distracted driving, with the Legislature approving his plan to outlaw text messaging and the use of handheld cell phones for those operating motor vehicles.

(Update: Tombin signed the West Virginia distracted driving legislation into law on April 3. This article originally posted March 10, 2012.)

As time expired on the legislative session late March 10, the House and Senate reached a compromise on their dueling versions of Tomblin’s bill. The Mountain State’s distracted driving law takes effect July 1.

West Virginia becomes the 36th state to ban texting & driving, once Tomblin signs his own legislation. (View the West Virginia distracted driving news page.)

Fines are $100 (first offense), then $200, then $300. Three points will be assessed against driver’s license on third and subsequent violations.

The House and Senate rewrites of Tomblin’s bill differed primarily on the matter of enforcement. The House wanted primary enforcement for both texting & handheld cell phone use, in order to help police carry out the law. The Senate version, however, had texting as a primary offense and handheld cell phone use as a secondary one.

In the end, they compromised by delaying primary enforcement of the cell phone law for a year.

And so police in West Virginia can stop and cite drivers who text as of this July 1. Handheld cell phone users cannot be stopped solely for that violation until July 1, 2013, but they can be cited in connection with other offenses, such as speeding or crossing center lines.

Legislators have gone back and forth on a handheld cell phone ban since at least 2008.

Tomblin, pictured, first proposed the plan that became Senate Bill 211 in his State of the State address in January. His measure called for secondary enforcement of both offenses, but his office signaled support for tougher enforcement throughout the legislative process.

“The texting part really takes your eyes off the road,” Tomblin told the Charleston Gazette. “That was more important, but I’m fine with what they worked out.”

A late amendment requires the state Department of Transportation to post advisory signs on highways at the state’s borders.

Outlawed activities include using smartphones to access the Internet and to play games.

Comedy of errors in Arizona’s House

Long resistant to distracted driving laws, Arizona’s House appeared to have a sudden change of heart.

Representatives approved a statewide ban on text messaging while driving. For a few minutes, anyway.

An outbreak of common sense? An awakening to the deadly toll of electronic distracted driving? Hardly.

Turns out the reps were just doing their Keystone Cops imitation.

A swarm of legislators weren’t paying attention days earlier when Rep. Steve Urie added his texting ban language to HB 2125, an unrelated bill concerning accident reporting.

After approving the texting/accident reporting bill in a 45-15 vote, as many as 19 lawmakers were surprised to learn they’d backed a texting ban. A reconsideration was approved, and the bill lost narrowly, 28-31.

Urie pushed through his amendments Friday, when many members of the House played hookey and bailed for the weekend. Urie had inserted the wording of his own texting plan, HB 2321, which is stuck in committee.

Rep. Nancy McLain, who voted against the plan both times, noted that her fellow lawmakers would have known the wording was in the amended bill had they attended the Friday session or simply paid attention to what they were voting on, according to the AP.

The state of Arizona has only one distracted driving law, which bans use of cell phones by school bus drivers. Its House and Senate are controlled by Republicans.

Text messaging tickets soar in N.Y.

New York state has seen text messaging ticketing take a sharp rise since since tougher enforcement of electronic distracted driving laws went into effect in July 2011.

Overall, law enforcement officers wrote almost 120,000 electronic distracted driving tickets in the seven months from July 12, 2011, to Feb. 7, 2012.

Text messaging violations saw the most significant increase, to 7,495 tickets. A new state law made text messaging subject to primary enforcement, while a DMV policy added a third point against the driver’s license of electronic distracted driving violators.

The bulk of the citations since July — 111,262 — were for handheld cell phone use (and to a minor extent other non-texting uses of wireless devices). That infraction already was subject to primary enforcement.

“These tickets should send a resounding message to all drivers: Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who pushed through the state’s tougher distracted driving rules last summer.

New York’s distracted driving law rewrite (resulting from bills S5643 and A8106) did not increase penalties for violators — just increased the chances of their being pulled over and cited. The fine for violations remains at $150.

The state promoted the hike in texting tickets, which made sense but wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. (The numbers were worked up in connection with a distracted driving hearing in Albany earlier this week.)

In the 6 1/2 months before the new New York rules took effect, 2,691 tickets were issued for texting vs. the 7,495 tickets in the seven months after the get-tough actions. For the full year 2010, 3,248 tickets were issued.

Handheld cell phone ticketing appeared to be down, although the state did not compare those figures. The 111,262-ticket mark since July 2011 is not on track to top the 332,000 citations of 2010.

In New York City, 69,211 cell phone tickets were handed out since July 12. Text messaging tickets totaled 3,509. The most tickets were written in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Of the counties, Suffolk had the biggest share of cell phone tickets since July (5,355) while Erie had the most texting tickets (662).

Alaska texting law gets a rewrite

A pair of state representatives have submitted to the Legislature a new version of Alaska’s text messaging law to ensure its intent is clear to the courts.

Reps. Les Gara and Bill Thomas on Jan. 6 filed the bipartisan legislation House Bill 255, which would remove any doubt that texting and driving is illegal in Alaska.

The ambiguous wording of Alaska’s 2008 prohibition on texting & driving came back to haunt legislators when a magistrate in tiny Kenai ruled that the state needed to be more precise with the distracted driving law. The magistrate noted correctly that its wording never actually refers to “text messaging.”

Instead, Alaska Statute Section 28.35.161 created “the crime of driving with a screen device operating” under which cell phone users are exempt for purposes of “verbal communication.”

Magistrate Jennifer Wells dismissed a texting & driving case in December 2011, saying: “If the Alaska legislature wanted to prohibit texting, then it should have, and could have, clearly said so.” The state of Alaska is appealing Wells’ decision.

Magistrates in Fairbanks received instructions from a supervising judge not to enforce the law as well.

Rep. Gara, D-Anchorage, said Jan. 4: “Rather than wait for appeals, we want to send a clear message to the public, now, that texting, and typing on personal and computer devices can cause death and serious injury. The current uncertainty in the law sends a weak safety message to the public.”

Separately, Gara told the Alaska Dispatch: “We think the current law is OK, we agree with the judges that have been enforcing it. There’s a good faith disagreement among the judges (that would be resolved by clear wording).”

Several legislators from both parties will be signing on sponsors, said Gara and Thomas, R-Haines. Rep. Max Gruenberg, D-Anchorage, and at least one other House Republican will be prime sponsors, they said.

Several distracted driving bills are pending in the Alaska 2011-2012 legislative session, but they’re given little chance of succeeding. The Gara-Thomas legislation is deliberately distanced from those bills — some include cell phone provisions — to ensure quick passage, the sponsors said.

(originally posted Jan. 5 and updated with the bill filing Jan. 6)

View the Alaska distracted driving news page.

Distracted driving year in review

The debate over distracted driving burned hotter than ever as 2011 ended, thanks to a controversial call for a total ban of cell phone use while behind the wheel.

The year saw significant progress in the legislative war on against distracted driving.

While some state laws prohibiting use of handheld cell phones took effect, most of the success came with bans of text messaging while driving.

Here’s a recap of the big distracted driving stories of 2011:

New year, new laws (Jan. 1-2): Three states — Delaware, Kentucky and Kansas — see their new distracted driving laws take full effect as 2011 arrives.

Remembering Heather (Jan. 5): A stretch of Florida’s U.S. 27 is named in the memory of texting & driving driving victim Heather Hurd. State lawmakers then spend the rest of the year ignoring “Heather’s Law” and related distracted driving legislation. The Department of Transportation features Hurd and other victims in a its new Faces of Distracted Driving series.

Multimedia cars on parade (Jan. 8): The big Consumer Electronics Show confirms that automakers are quickening the pace toward making vehicles hubs of electronic information and entertainment. Toyota and Hyundai unveiled new wireless communications and data systems. Ford rolled out an electric car, with “wireless-connected vehicle services.” GM’s OnStar plugged its app that reads text messages and checks for Facebook updates.

N.Y. makes 2 points (Feb. 11): New York’s DMV assesses 2 points against the driver’s license of handheld cell phone violators. The points already were being charged against text messaging drivers. The governor thinks that’s still not enough of a deterrent and takes action in the summer.

April’s the month: Distracted Driving Awareness Month debuts with the support of safety advocates, law enforcement agencies and the U.S. DOT. Former U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey helped make the designation official last year.

Distracted summit sequel (April 21): “I can’t think of another safety issue in American history that’s gained so much traction in such a short period of time,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood tells the Illinois Distracted Driving Summit. LaHood, left, cites “tremendous grassroots groundswell against distracted driving.”

No. 31, North Dakota (April 26): Gov. Jack Dalrymple approves legislation that bans all texting while driving. He also OKs a ban on electronic communications device use by teen drivers. North Dakota became the 31st state to ban text messaging while behind the wheel.

No. 32, Indiana (May 11): Gov. Mitch Daniels enacts a law banning text messaging while driving, with fines up to $500. The new law essentially expands the state statute against teen texting to all drivers, with primary enforcement. Indiana became the 32nd state to outlaw texting & driving.

Ticket swarm in Golden State (April): In California, what is called the nation’s largest campaign against distracted driving results in more than 53,000 citations during April. The “zero tolerance” sweep involves 103 CHP offices, and more than 280 local and regional law enforcement agencies.

No. 33, Maine (June 3): Gov. Paul LePage OKs safety legislation that specifically bans texting while driving as a primary offense. A general distracted driving law went into effect in 2009, but its author Sen. Bill Diamond returned with the new texting measure that “deals better with the cause of the problem.” Maine became the 33rd state to ban texting while driving.

“Intrusion” in Texas (June 17): Gov. Rick Perry vetoes safety legislation that would have banned texting while driving in Texas. He calls House Bill 242 an “intrusion” and a “government effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.” A month later, the Republican announces he’s running for president.

No. 34, Nevada: Gov. Brian Sandoval signs off on legislation banning handheld cell phone use and text messaging for all drivers. Fines are $50 then $100 and then $250. Maine became the 34th state to ban texting & driving.

N.Y. gets tougher (July 12): Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs into law a plan to make texting while driving a primary offense. He immediately follows up the action by ordering the DMV to assess a third point against the drivers licenses of texting and handheld cell phone violators. Use of handheld cell phones already carried primary status in New York.

Smith exits (July 13): Jennifer Smith, the high-profile president of FocusDriven, steps down from her post at the the distracted driving victims advocacy group. She’s no longer listed as a board member.

Brown-out (Sept. 6): California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes a plan to double fines for distracted driving violations, saying he was not interested in overburdening “people of ordinary means.” Senate Bill 28 also would have applied the ban on hands-free electronic device use to bicyclists. State Sen. Joe Simitian says the veto of his bill results in “a lost opportunity to save more lives.”

No. 35, Pennsylvania (Nov. 9): Gov. Tom Corbett signs off on legislation that bans texting while behind the wheel. The original Senate bill called for a ban on handheld cell phone use as well, but the provision was removed by House Republican leaders. Pennsylvania became the 35th state to outlaw texting while behind the wheel. The law takes effect in March 2012. Enforcement is primary, with $50 fines.

Two-handed truckers (Nov. 23): Interstate truck drivers who use handheld cell phones face fines of up to $2,750 under a final rule issued by the DOT. After two violations of the rule, drivers would lose their licenses at the state level. The handheld device ban also applies to bus drivers. The ban affects about 4 million commercial drivers.

“Distraction-affected crashes” (Dec. 8): The NHTSA changes its way of tracking distracted driving accidents, resulting in a significantly lower number of deaths reported for 2010. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration dubs the revamped category “distraction-affected crashes,” with the focus on cell phone use and text messaging. The result: 3,092 people died in distracted driving incidents, down significantly from 2009′s 5,474 fatalities. The DOT says the lower number doesn’t indicate progress: “All of our evidence suggests that the problem may actually be getting worse.”

NTSB seeks total ban (Dec. 13-21): Saying, “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving,” the National Transportation Safety Board calls for a nationwide ban on drivers’ use of portable handheld electronic devices. A week later, DOT chief Ray LaHood publicly distances himself from the NTSB plan, saying, “The problem is not hands-free (use of electronic devices).” The year ends with massive media coverage of the issue.

Read the full stories in Hands Free Info’s Distracted Driving News section.

Copyright 2011 Glenn Abel.

Pennsylvania texting law breakdown

Specifics of the ban on text messaging that was approved by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett on Nov. 9, 2011:

• Prohibits as a primary offense all drivers from using an Interactive Wireless Communication Device (IWCD) to send, read or write a text-based message.
• Defines an IWCD as a wireless phone, personal digital assistant, smart phone, portable or mobile computer or similar devices that can be used for texting, instant messaging, emailing or browsing the Internet.
• Defines a text-based message as a text message, instant message, email or other written communication composed or received on an IWCD.
• Institutes a $50 fine for convictions under this section.
• Makes clear that this law supersedes and preempts any local ordinances
  restricting the use of interactive wireless devices by drivers.

The law takes effect in early March 2012.

Source: Pennsylvania Office of the Governor

Pennsylvania bans texting & driving

Pennsylvania drivers will no longer be able to text message as of early March. Gov. Tom Corbett signed off on legislation Nov. 9 that bans texting while behind the wheel.

Fines will be $50. Enforcement is primary, which allows police to pull over drivers for that infraction alone.

“No text message is worth a human life,” Corbett said during the bill-signing event. “The message of this legislation is drive now and text later.”

(This content first posted on Nov. 1 and updated on Nov. 9.)

Pennsylvania has become the 35th state to outlaw texting while behind the wheel. The state’s long-running drama over distracted driving legislation will continue, however.

A provision in Senate Bill 314 that would have banned use of handheld cell phones while driving was removed by the House’s Republican leadership and the Senate went along, in order to get some kind of distracted driving law on the books.

The Senate voted Nov. 1 to approve the bill, a day after the House voted in favor of the measure.

The Senate already approved the bill earlier in the year, when it included a ban on use of handheld cell phones while driving. The House removed the mobile phone provision in mid-October and the Senate signed off on that change Nov. 1.

SB 314 sponsor Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, R-Bucks (pictured), said after the vote against texting & driving: “It’s one of the most important things we can do to prevent needless tragedies. Texting is one of the most dangerous distracted driving activities that motorists engage in. … The consequences can be deadly.”

House majority leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, indicated that legislation that would ban the cell phones remained under consideration. That’s good news for police, who under the new law will have to determine if a driver is texting or simply punching in a phone number.

Numerous distracted driving measures were submitted for the 2011 legislative session, as in past years.

• Read the Pennsylvania texting law’s specifics
• Read the Pennsylvania distracted driving news page

Sen. Allan Kittleman, class clown

When Maryland legislators approved a texting and driving bill last year, they screwed up. The law banned writing and sending of text messages while driving, but not the reading of texts.

Drivers also were free to text away at red lights, with their motors running and transmissions in drive.

The well-intentioned legislators behind the Maryland texting law struggled with proper wording of a texting and driving bill, as have many other lawmakers nationwide. You’d think legislation designed to close these loopholes would sail through the General Assembly, but not this year.

Meet state Sen. Allan Kittleman, former minority whip and current class clown of the Maryland Senate.

As SB 424 neared a preliminary approval in the Senate, Kittleman decided to tack on an amendment that would have made it illegal to read a newspaper while driving. It was immediately rejected. Then he tried an amendment that have criminalized eating and drinking while driving. Another quick rejection.

“You can’t tell me it is more safe to hold some French fries and a Big Mac and Coke than it is to look down and read some text messages,” Kittleman said.

SB 424′s sponsor, Sen. James Brochin, responded, dryly: “Eating is not a cerebral event,” he said. “You just do it.”

Kittleman later explained that he’d filed the amendments in order to make a point about the folly of legislating distracted driving behaviors since they were too numerous.

He wasn’t really serious, he said.

Perhaps Kittleman would like to try out his comedy routine before the families of more than 380 people killed by distracted driving in Maine over the past five years.

Tough crowd, we hear.

Wyoming: Cell phone & texting laws, bills

Distracted driving update: Wyoming was the 20th state to ban text messaging while driving, but there appears to be little momentum toward a handheld cell phone law. The texting & driving law took effect in July 2010.

The 2013 session of the Wyoming Leglslature will convene Jan. 8. The 2012 session addressed budget issues.

Current prohibitions:

• Text messaging prohibited for all drivers.

Read the Wyoming text messaging law.

2011 distracted driving legislation:
None.

2010 cell phone/texting legislation:
SF 20: Bans text messaging devices by all drivers on Wyoming’s roads and highways. Primary enforcement with a fine of $75. Backed by the House transportation committee on Feb. 8. Preliminary approval by full Senate on a voice vote, Feb. 10. Approved by the House on March 3 (third reading). Sent to governor Gov. Dave Freudenthal, who signed it a week later. The ban on driving and texting went into effect on July 1, 2010. (Esquibel)

2010 legislative notes:
An effort to water down the (now approved) text messaging bill SF 20 was defeated in the House on March 2, in a 24-30 vote. Rep. Roy Cohee, R-Casper, said the amendment that would have limited enforcement to secondary status — meaning police would need another reason to stop violators — was an attempt to gut the bill.

SF 20 sponsor state Sen. Floyd Esquibel, D-Cheyenne, said that while his newly minted law banning text messaging does apply to all drivers, it is aimed at the generation hooked on texting. The new law is “primarily for an age group that is already at high risk simply because of age,” he said after the measure was approved.

Rep. Debbie Hammons, D-Worland, sponsored the successful text messaging legislation in the House. She told the Casper Star-Tribune that passage of SF 20 won’t translate into a handheld cell phone ban: “I think they’ve never been able to get anywhere with a cell phone ban.”

The City of Green River’s ban on text messaging and using handheld cell phones is expected to take effect in March 2010. Fines will be $65 for the first violation, then $210. The measure passed a second reading on Feb. 2.

2009 cell/texting legislation:
SF 63 would ban the use of text messaging devices for drivers.

SF 64 would prohibit drivers’ use of cell phones unless a hands-free accessory is employed. Also would ban use of the cell phone for text messaging. Exemption for CB radios. (Legislation removed from active status.)

SF 65 would restrict holders of learners/restricted driver’s licenses from using cell phones without a hands-free device. Includes use of the cell phone for texting. (Legislation removed from active status, “indefinitely postponed.”)

HB 256 would outlaw use of cell phones while driving unless a hands-free accessory or dial-free “push to talk” feature is employed. Also would prohibit use of the cell phone for text messaging. (Legislation removed from active status.)

2009 legislative notes:

SF 63 and SF 65 were approved in the Transportation and Highways committee on Jan. 23.

The transportation committee chairman, Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, said SF 64 was not ready for consideration.

All three Senate bills were authored by Sen. Floyd Esquibel, D-Laramie. (Note: SF stands for Senate file.)

HB 256 was sponsored by Rep. Del McOmie, R-Fremont, a previous member of the transportation committee.

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