Virginia: Cell phone laws, legislation

Cell phone, text messaging news: The 2010 General Assembly session will debate several bills that seek to upgrade the current text messaging law to “primary enforcement” status, meaning law officers need no other reason to halt and cite drivers. Several bills add a ban on handheld cell phones to the texting law, enacted last summer.

Current prohibitions:
All drivers are banned from text messaging.

Drivers under the age of 18 are prohibited from using cell phones or text messaging.

School bus drivers are prohibited from using cell phones or text messaging

2010 legislation
Virginia House Bill 22: Would outlaw the use of any handheld personal communications device while operating a motor vehicle, bicycle, moped, etc. Fines from $20-$50. This legislation would make text messaging and related activities a primary offense, meaning law officers could pull over a driver for that reason alone (current law calls for secondary enforcement). Assigned to public safety committee. (Howell)

HB 58: Would add use of handheld cell phones to current law prohibiting text message. Drivers would be prohibited from using mobile phones unless a hands-free device is employed. Fines from $20-$50. Secondary enforcement. Referred to the House public safety committee (Dance)

HB 212: Would remove current text messaging law from secondary enforcement status. (Bulova)

HB 221: Would make drivers using handheld cell phones guilty of careless driving if they commit another offense at the time. (Watts)

HB 783: Would extend current text messaging law to include use of handheld cell phones. Retains secondary enforcement. If accident results, violation would be a Class 3 misdemeanor. (LeMunyon)

Virginia Senate Bill 10: Would extend current sanctions on drivers’ use of wireless devices to include handheld cell phones. Secondary enforcement would remain. (Blevins)

SB 517: Adds use of handheld cell phones to existing texting law and upgrades enforcement to primary status. Fines from $100 to $200. (Norment)

SB 574: Would extend ban on on drivers’ use of wireless devices to include handheld cell phones. Retains secondary enforcement. (Ticer)

Virginia cell phone, texting legislation notes:
Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax, who introduced HB 212, says this about distracted driving enforcement: “It really does send mixed signals about whether we’re serious about enforcing this if you make it a secondary offense.” The current text messaging law “does hamstring our police officers.”

The 2010 Virginia legislative session began Jan. 13.

HB 58, SB 10 and a few other bills are identical. They change the wording in the current law from “handheld communications device” to “wireless telecommunications device,” basically adding cell phones to the texting law. Both would continue the secondary enforcement status of the law, meaning police could not stop or arrest motorists unless another violation was suspected.

2009 legislation:

HB 1876: Prohibits text messaging while operating a motor vehicle. Took effect July 1. Approved by the House and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Tim Kaine on March 30.

SB 1227: Would ban drivers with provisional licenses from talking or texting on cell phones, regardless of whether a hands-free device is employed. Makes violations a primary offense. Tabled by a House subcommitee on Feb. 19 after being approved by the full Senate on Feb. 9.

SB 874 — Would require that drivers use hands-free accessories when making cell phone calls. Passed by the Senate Transportation Committee on Jan. 22, 2009, in amended form, but then defeated in the Courts of Justice on a tight vote. Incorporated SB 996.

HB 1615 — Delegate Algie Howell, D-Norfolk, has prefiled legislation to the 2009 General Assembly that would ban text messaging while driving. The ban would extend to bicycles and mopeds. Incorporated into HB 1876, above.

HB 1659 — Would prohibit use of wireless telecommunications devices while operating a motor vehicle, including bicycles and mopeds, whether handheld or not. Also from Howell. Died in committee on Feb. 10.

HB 1955: Would outlaw motorists’ use of handheld phones. Tabled in committee.

HB 1769: Drivers would be banned from using cell phones unless a hands-free device is employed. Tabled in committee.

Pre-2010 Virginia cell phone, texting legislation notes:
Delegate John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, is the author of the text messaging legislation HB 1876. Fines for those who drive and text will be $20 and then $50 for subsequent offenses. It assumes negligence on the part of violators if an accident occurs.

A spokesman for AAA told the Examiner that the secondary status of the new texting law — meaning police would have to have another, primary reason for pulling over drivers — makes it “tantamount to telling people you can do it.” Still, he called it a “moral victory.”

Sen. Patricia Ticer, D-Alexandria, saw her cell phone legislation clear committee on a 9-6 vote before losing in the Courts of Justice on a 7-6 vote. Ticer’s bill was combined with SB 966 from Sen. Harry B. Blevins, R-Chesapeake.

Delegate Bobby Mathieson, D-Virginia Beach, a veteran of the cell phone wars, saw his HB 1955 die in committee on Feb. 10, 2009. His past efforts included HB 904.

The 2009 Regular Session convened Jan. 14, 2009. The short session ends the next month.

The younger-driver prohibitions went into effect in 2007. The prohibitions on school bus drivers became effective July 1, 2008.

“I believe this is a common-sense restriction on those new drivers who may be tempted to pay more attention to phone calls and text messages than the road, endangering themselves and other drivers,” Gov. Tim Kaine said of the 2007 law.

Virginia’s school bus cell phone/ texting law results in a primary offense; the teen driver law is a secondary offense.

The local AAA backed the 2007 legislation; some conservatives opposed the teen driving plan, saying parents should make the rules for their kids.