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Lawmakers ponder how to tackle texting and driving
Jun 01, 2010 (The Times-Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
A state House bill passed last year would have forbidden the state's youngest drivers from talking or sending text messages on a cell phone and allowed police who spot violators to issue traffic citations.
The Senate had other ideas, voting 33 to 14 last week to amend the bill to allow police to cite violators only if they are pulled over for another violation.
"Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of teenage deaths, and we have seen too many fatal crashes caused by young drivers who are distracted," said a statement by Rep. Joseph Markosek, D-25, Allegheny, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, who wrote the bill.
"My legislation would allow law enforcement to be proactive and stop these drivers before an accident occurs. Unfortunately, the Senate saw fit to amend it so nothing can be done until after the fact."
Senators in Northeast Pennsylvania who voted for the amendment included Lisa Baker, R-20, Lehman Twp., Lisa Boscola, D-18, Bethlehem Twp., John Gordner, R-27, Berwick, Raphael Musto, D-14, Pittston Twp., and Gene Yaw, R-23, Loyalsock Twp.
Voting against were Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow of Peckville and David Argall, R-29, Rush Twp.
The difference between the original House bill and the Senate amendment centers on whether an offense is considered primary or secondary. A primary offense gives a police officer the authority to stop and cite someone for that violation. A secondary offense requires a driver to be cited with a primary offense before he is cited for the second infraction.
Mr. Markosek's bill would prohibit drivers with learner's permits or junior licenses from using any "interactive wireless communication devices such as text-messaging devices, personal digital assistants and laptop computers while driving, except when reporting an emergency or accident."
The bill also generally would forbid junior drivers from transporting more than one passenger younger than 18 other than siblings or relatives for the first six months after getting a license and up to only three passengers younger than 18 for the rest of the junior license. The law would not apply to someone driving with a parent or guardian.
The bill also would make it a primary offense to skip wearing a seat belt for drivers and front-seat passengers under 18 or to fail to secure a child from 4 to 8 years old in a booster seat.
Under state law, all seat belt violations are secondary offenses.
The state General Assembly has a tradition of resisting regulation of vehicle travel, refusing to make seat belt violations primary offenses and repealing the motorcycle helmet law.
Mr. Gordner said he would favor a ban on texting for all drivers, but that was not the bill before the Senate.
A bill that distinguishes by age unfairly puts the onus on police to determine a driver's age in a primary offense, he said. He challenged anyone to line up teens between 16 and 19 years old and tell who is 16 or 17 years old, the ages of most drivers with learner's permits or junior licenses.
"I don't think any of us would disagree that you should not be texting while driving," he said.
A secondary offense allows a police officer to determine age by permitting the officer to check a driver's license after the primary offense occurs.
A new survey released Thursday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed only eight states -- including New York and New Jersey -- have banned hand-held cell phone use for all drivers. Four others have restrictions rather than outright bans on hand-held phones. Twenty-six states have banned all cell phone use by at least some drivers younger than 18.
Texting is banned for all drivers in 25 states, including New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia.
The insurance industry and AAA are strong advocates of banning cell phone use and texting while driving.
Mr. Gordner argues that Pennsylvania's classification of seat-belt violations as secondary offenses has left the state in the top 25 percent of states for compliance with its seat-belt law.
But William L. Windsor Jr., associate vice president of safety for Nationwide Insurance, said research has shown secondary-offense laws are less effective.
"They really take away some of the ability of law enforcement to enforce the laws that you have," he said.
Data do not existing for texting, but federal data show states with primary-offense seat-belt laws have compliance rates 10 to 15 percentage points higher than states with secondary-offense laws, Mr. Windsor said.
"You lose some of the impact of deterrence (with secondary-offense laws) because people aren't as afraid that they're going to get caught by a police officer. With a secondary law, with the texting thing, they can go by a police officer with their phone right in the center of the steering wheel. And as long as they're not going over the speed limit or swerving or anything like that, the police officer can't stop them."
Texting encompasses all three of the major distractions while driving, he said.
"You're basically taking your hands off the wheel, you're taking your eyes off the road and you also have Ac EUR your mind off your driving," he said. "In the distraction world, it's kind of the trifecta. Ac EUR We really don't need a lot of research or data to know that that's dangerous."
Mr. Windsor said many states have passenger or nighttime driving restrictions for junior drivers so the debate on how police can recognize someone's age is hardly new.
"Even though there's been all that debate, in state after state that have passed (junior-driver) laws, they have been very effective in reducing teen crashes," Mr. Windsor said. "One of the theories behind that is while law enforcement has some difficult with enforcing it, parents have kind of stepped in and been some of the enforcers as well."
Several states are trying different ways to help police identify younger drivers.
New Jersey, for example, implemented a sticker on license plates that identifies a driver as a novice, he said.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com
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