Texting, talking bans popular this year

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Nov. 13, 2009 – Measures banning motorists from text-messaging and using cell phones are becoming one of the hottest topics this fall for Florida lawmakers intent on making a U-turn on legislation that formerly went nowhere.

Some kind of hand-held communication ban on has been proposed each of the past seven years; though the few bills filed last spring failed to draw even a committee hearing.

But as cell phone applications become more sophisticated and kids and adults appear increasingly tethered to keypads, a dozen bills have been filed in the House and Senate leading into the 2010 session of the Florida Legislature.

The measures spring from both Democrats and Republicans, with the latest two added to the pile earlier this month. Three of the bills’ sponsors are candidates for statewide office: Sens. Carey Baker and Paula Dockery, Republican contenders for agriculture commissioner and governor, respectively, and Sen. Dan Gelber, a Democratic candidate for attorney general.

“I would certainly hope that with the number of people interested in this legislation now, that we might at least get a hearing on these bills,” says Rep. Janet Long, D-Seminole, whose measure banning driving while texting (HB 323) recently came out of House bill-drafting. “But if we don’t, I think it’ll show how powerful the cell-phone lobby is.”

An industry spokesman, though, said cell-phone companies generally support such bans.

“We know that when people text while driving, you’ve got a recipe for serious disaster,” says Verizon spokesman Chuck Hamby. “A motorist’s first responsibility is to drive safely – that’s our position.”

Baker, R-Eustis, was an early advocate of banning texting while driving, introducing legislation two years ago. Legislation prohibiting cell-phone use without a headset was first proposed in Florida in 2002.

“It’s slowly been building,” Baker says of support for taking steps against hand-held devices behind the wheel. “But I think this year, something’s going to pass.”

Baker has two bills already filed (SB 324,326) that prohibit texting while driving, and he plans to come back with a repeat of earlier legislation that would ban motorists younger than 18 from using any kind of electronic wireless communications while driving – meaning no cell phones, laptops or handhelds. Baker doesn’t want young drivers to legally use headsets either.

By contrast, Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, has legislation (SB 244) that requires headsets for all drivers using cell phones and prohibits texting. She’s sponsoring the measure dubbed Heather’s Law, named after Heather Hurd, a 26-year-old woman killed in Polk County in 2008 when a texting driver’s tractor-trailer truck plowed into her vehicle at a stoplight.

Talking or listening on a cell phone is among the most frequently cited distractions affecting drivers involved in a serious auto accident, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ 14 states and Washington, D.C., have passed legislation banning texting while driving, while others have banned it for drivers with learner’s permits. Six states and the District of Columbia have banned hand-held phones while driving.

Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said he’s already spoken with some sponsors of hand-held legislation in the Senate about trying to converge on one bill addressing distracted driving.

Gardiner says he’d be willing to have the measure heard in his committee.

“I think if we can get together and work out one bill, we should at least have a vote on it,” Gardiner says.

Source: News Service of Florida