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Politics & Government

Talking, Texting While Driving May Soon Cost Drivers In Pa.

Stricter distracted driver legislation sponsored by Senator Tommy Tomlinson of Bucks County passes Senate.

For proponents of distracted driving legislation, Wednesday’s move by the Pennsylvania Senate couldn’t have come soon enough.

On June 8, legislation banning handheld cell phone use while driving passed the state Senate. The bill, S.B. 314, was sponsored by Senator Tommy Tomlinson, a Republican representing the 6th District in Bucks County.

The bill, which also sets new guidelines for junior drivers, was supported by Senator John Rafferty, a Montgomery County Republican who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee.

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The bill makes it a primary offense to text, e-mail, browse the internet or “instant message” while driving. Police can pull drivers over for primary offenses.

Talking via handheld cell phone, while outlawed with this legislation, would only be a secondary offense, however, meaning officers would have to pull over a driver for another infraction before citing them for cell phone use.

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"Distracted driving is a major cause of accidents, especially among young people." Sen. Tomlinson said in a news release on his website. "When people are behind the wheel they should be concentrating on the road and other drivers, not texting or talking on cell phones.”

Pennsylvania has long been viewed as a holdout among states that have made using a cell phone while driving illegal.

Rep. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat from Abington Township in Montgomery County, has been fighting for more than a half-decade for such legislation.

Shapiro had pushed through similar legislation in the state House twice, but it failed to advance both times. Now, thanks to the companion bill in the Senate, it looks as though distracted driving laws in Pennsylvania will finally get tougher.

“We’re on important step closer to making this law,” Shapiro said on his Facebook page in response to constituent praise of the move.  

The Senate bill advances to the full House of Representatives. This is the closest a driving-while-talking ban has gotten to the governor’s desk in the commonwealth.

Sen. Tomlinson’s bill also significantly changes the law with regard to teenage driving. The bill prohibits junior motorists who are within their first six months of driving from transporting more than one passenger under the age of 18 who is not a family member unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. 

Tomlinson maintains the bill was needed since young drivers are statistically more likely to become involved in auto accidents. According to his press release, 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 years of age involved in fatal vehicle crashes were exhibiting some signs of distracted driving while behind the wheel.

In his own news release last month, after S.B. 314 advanced out of the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. Rafferty praised the change in law that would crack down on distracted motorists.

"Talking on a cell phone and texting while driving is distracting and leads to accidents," Rafferty said in the May 10 release. "Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves, and they put others at risk too.”

The Senate bill does have exceptions built into it. Drivers can still use a handheld cell phone while making emergency 911 calls or 511 service calls, and when a vehicle is stopped due to traffic obstruction or is placed in park or neutral gear. Also exempt under the law are amateur radio operators and operators of emergency vehicles who talk on handheld devices while acting in their official duties.  

According to the website of the Governors Highway Safety Association, neighboring Pennsylvania states already have strict cell phone bans on the books.

New Jersey has a complete ban on using a handheld cell phone to talk and text while driving; both are primary offenses in the Garden State. New York state has a ban on handheld cell phone use while driving, which is also a primary offense; there’s also a ban on texting, although it’s a secondary offense in the Empire State.

And the state of Delaware has complete bans on talking and texting while driving, both being primary offenses.

The City of Philadelphia passed an ordinance outlawing driving while talking on a handheld cell phone back in April 2009. At the time, city officials signaled the city's ban, which is handled administratively, and not treated as a motor vehicle violation, may be revoked as moot if, and when the state passed its own such restrictions.  

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