Cell Phone Bill with Text Message Ban Now Law
In Washington if you don’t hang up you’re now going to pay up. With the new bill signed into law using your hands to talk on your phone or type out your text message while you’re behind the wheel of a car is soon to be illegal.
Governor Gregoire signed the measures into law this past Friday. He was flanked by many children that had suffered very serious injuries after that had been hit by preoccupied drivers.
Under these new laws any driver who reads and/or writes a text or uses their cell phone without using a hands free device could be looking at a ticket of $101 dollars. The ban will take effect on January 1st, 2011 while the cell phone law has been enforced since July of 2008.
There are some exemptions though with one of these being emergencies and neither offense is going to be enough to get the driver pulled over by the cops. The parents of the children that have been injured in collisions though with those drivers still said that the law is a major improvement.
A boy named Billy and his mom was among the people that were there when the bill was signed. Billy, who is 12, has suffered a brain injury while going to the bus four years ago. The people that witnessed the crash stated that the driver was talking on their cell phone at the time. Behind this bill there are many faces, faces like Billy’s.
United States Senate
The United States Senate is working on a revised version of the S. 1938. This is something that could create a state grant program which would reward those states that enact laws that ban texting while driving. The goal of the bill is to provide monetary incentives for the states that will choose to ban texting and the use of hand held devices while they are driving.
This is something that would act like other laws regarding things like, motorcycle helmet use, drinking age restrictions, max speed limits, etc… The states that pass the legislation would then gain access to more federal money. This money has yet to be defined. There are many states that have already enacted such bans and there are others that have proposed legislation.
The month of June is National Safe Driving Month. The one hope would be that there are more laws that will enact laws like Washington with or without the Senates proposed legislation.
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- MTA Sends a Cell Phone Message, Zero Tolerance Crackdowns
- Distracted Driving Bills on the Front of the Arizona Capital
- Cell Phones, Text Messaging, and Car Accident Information for All Drivers
- Does Voice activated Dialing Encourage Driving and Cell Phone Use?
- Facts About Distracted Driving
- “Death By Cell Phone” and Other Distracted Driving Terms Coined by the Anti-Text Messaging while Driving Movement
- Distracted Driving, The NPRM Calls for a Complete Cell Phone Use Ban
- The Common Signs of Text Message Scams and the Steps to Take If You Get Hit
- Virginia Study Reveals the Dangers of Texting While Driving: Pennsylvania Statistics Are Staggering
Tags: cell phone-laws, Cell Phones, driving and cell phone use, texting while driving