Politics & Government
State Tackles Texting While Driving
The Assembly approved a bill banning texting while driving and the Attorney General joins with other states in a public service campaign.
On Monday, Pennsylvania General Assembly members approved a bill to ban texting while driving. The bill was approved on final passage, 188-7.
The bill now heads back to the Senate for approval.
On June 8, legislation banning handheld cell phone use while driving passed the state Senate. The bill, S.B. 314, was sponsored by Sen. Robert “Tommy” Tomlinson -- a Republican representing the 6th District, which covers Lower Bucks County communities.
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“Texting while driving is distracting, dangerous and sometimes deadly," Tomlinson said in a release. "Distracted driving is a major cause of accidents, especially among young people. When people are behind the wheel they should be concentrating on the road and other drivers, not texting or talking on cell phones."
The bill would make it a primary offense for any driver to send or receive text messages from a wireless communication device while an automobile is in motion. Anyone who is found texting while driving will be charged with a summary offense and a $50 fine.
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Tomlinson said 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving.
According to a release, legislation banning texting while driving has already been enacted in 32 states.
In related news, Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly recently joined with her colleagues from all 50 states, along with Consumer Protection agencies, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Ad Council to launch a new national public service campaign urging young drivers to stop texting while driving.
Kelly said the nationwide education campaign about the dangers of distracted driving would feature television, radio, outdoor and digital public service announcements, along with online messages using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
"Distracted driving is the number one killer of American teens, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and texting can dramatically increase those risks," Kelly said. "In a new national survey, more than 80 percent of drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 admit to reading a text message while driving - an act that makes those drivers 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash than non-texting motorists."
