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Measure Filed To Ban Texting And Driving In Florida
November 21, 2012
Drivers would be banned from manually typing or reading texts, emails or other electronic messages while operating a car under legislation filed in the Senate Tuesday.
The measure (SB 52), filed by Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, calls for the offense to be what is known as a “secondary offense,” meaning officers could only ticket people for texting while driving if they’ve stopped them for some other traffic violation. That is, if a police officer sees someone texting they wouldn’t be able to pull them over – but if they see someone speeding and texting, they could tack on extra charges for texting in addition to the speeding penalty.
Drivers would still be able to read navigational devices or electronic maps without incurring a penalty under the proposal. Reading weather alerts or other safety-related information would also be exempt, as would using a hands-free voice-recognition application.
Texting while driving would be a nonmoving violation, punishable by a $30 fine, under the bill.
Lawmakers will be in full session in March, but bills can be filed now and committee meetings on proposed legislation start Dec. 3. Detert’s was among the first measures in the Senate to emerge from bill drafting for the coming year.
The National Transportation Safety Board has urged Florida and other states to ban the use of cell phones for texting or talking while driving. The NTSB said last year that distracted driving, some of it due to cell phone use, contributed to nearly 4,000 highway deaths a year, citing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. About a quarter of American drivers admit they sometimes text and drive. The issue is on the NTSB’s “most wanted” list for changes in transportation safety nationwide.
According to the National Conference on State Legislatures, Florida is one of only five states without some sort of ban on texting while driving. The others are Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, and South Carolina.
Detert has sponsored the proposal in at least the past two previous years with no success, despite generally bipartisan support.
The idea has generally been met with opposition from Libertarian-leaning lawmakers from rural areas who have a philosophical aversion to government imposing additional safety laws. It has also been opposed by some minority legislators, who fear giving police additional reasons to target drivers because of concerns about racial profiling – though Detert’s bill wouldn’t allow police to proactively pull drivers over just for texting.
Two legislators who in the past have held the legislation up in committee – former Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff in the Senate and former Rep. Brad Drake in the House – are no longer in the Legislature.
Ten states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia — and the District of Columbia have banned hand-held phone use by all drivers.
Several other states, including Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Florida’s neighboring states of Alabama and Georgia, have a primary enforcement ban on texting while driving. Some states, such as Texas, have a texting ban just for younger drivers.
Detert’s bill is yet to be referred to committee.
By David Royse, The News Service of Florida
Comments
12 Responses to “Measure Filed To Ban Texting And Driving In Florida”
So if this is all the legislatures can do, they may as well go home! With all the technology in this world, they could make a phone that would not text in a moving vehicle.
$30.00 will not deter anything—–teenagers spend more than that for popcorn and a movie.
Let common sense prevail.
CONSIDERING:
“$30 fine. What a joke.”
Oh, I don’t know….
Most people wouldn’t send a text message while driving if they thought it would cost them $30.
The idea is not to break them but to break them from bad and dangerous behavior. Part of that is spelling out what is considered bad.
David for knowing
$30 fine. What a joke.
Make it $500 first time, $1000 second, then maybe.
I was almost hit by a texting idiot a few years ago.
I see some lawyers advertising to help recover from texting drivers
causing accidents.
Reckless driving is already crime, so whats the point of this?
really, if your car did all the driving, you could text to your heart’s content and probably be safer too unless it hit something which DOES NOT COMPUTE
How is it that in this age of technology they can’t make vehicles with some type of anti texting device built into the car. We can talk to our cars, they can drive themselves,stop themselves etc. etc. But you cant stop the texting ??
What gives?
oh well, an easy $30 for the state
David for non offenders
If this bill encourages one person to not text while driving, that could potentially save a life. Or, it could encourage someone to not text while sitting at a stop light in front of me.
Texting while driving is dumb and dangerous.
Here’s an idea, using a cell phone while driving and loose your license for 6 months first a year second and permanent on the third offence due to it being obvious you are too stupid to safely operate a motor vehicle. Driving is not a rite it is a privilege, and should not be a secondary function when behind the wheel. Remember your family wants you home safely and the person you may send to the morgue wants them home safely too. Well thats my rant for now hope everyone has a safe and happy thanksgiving!
niknak – excellent text, hope you weren’t driving. Just joking, which is what the $30 fine is, a joke! Some kids these days think life is just a video game and they don’t wake up, until they plough into someone. I don’t know how we can reach some of these kids and unfortunately when Murphy’s law comes into play; it’s usually someone else, who gets hurt in the crash.
@niknak50 I feel you summed that up very well.
This law will have about as much effect as a law prohibiting sex between unmarried couples. Texting while driving…this horse left the barn a long time ago and it is too late now to try and educate a generation that is too stupid to do anything in their own best interest. In the last two years alone, this website has featured an astromomical number of singe car accidents resulting in deaths, sadly. Espescially in this end of the county. Accidents in which vehicles left the road for no apparent reason, and under good road and weather conditions. Go figure.
The proposed ban as reported says you won’t be pulled over if an officer sees you texting but not commiting any other violatiion, for example. So by this wording do the legislators think texting is dangerous or not? A “secondary” offense with $30 fine?
That right there tells you nobody is serious about this.
So lets see, officer sees person texting but not speeding or anything, 2 miles down the road same person (still texting) rear-ends somebody stopped for school bus killing the occupant. NOW the officer can ticket driver with “secondary” offense and a whopping $30.