3.10.10
Texting ban gets moving in House

Committee passes proposal to create driving violation
By: Jim Siegel - www.Dispatch.com
ne week ago, state Rep. Linda Bolon was doing her best to avoid a texting driver on I-71 north of Columbus. Yesterday, her committee took a key step toward banning texting while behind the wheel.

A young man was in the center lane, driving far slower than the 65-mph speed limit. "I thought, what is going on?" said Bolan, an East Palestine Democrat and chairwoman of the House Public Safety Committee. "I looked, and he was texting.

"Well, that's not going to happen much longer. It definitely put this particular bill in perspective for me."

The committee voted unanimously to approve House Bill 415, which creates the offense of texting while driving, subject to a maximum $150 fine. It would be a primary offense, meaning law enforcement can stop someone only for texting.

The bill needs approval from the full House and the Senate. Ohio would join 19 other states that have passed some form of ban on texting while driving.

"I am so excited. It's the first time in 12 years that a bill like this has gotten out of committee," said Sharon Montgomery of Gahanna, an activist on the issue since her husband was killed in 2000 by a driver using a cell phone in Licking County.

The bill includes a number of exemptions, taken from model texting legislation developed last month by a coalition of safety organizations brought together by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Exemptions include use of a navigation device, entering a name or phone number to make a call, or mobile data terminals for commercial truckers.

"The bottom line is we're trying to not have people texting while they're driving," said Rep. Nancy Garland, D-New Albany, a sponsor of the bill. "I think (navigation) devices make you a safer driver."

Lawmakers acknowledge that people do a number of distracting things while driving, such as eating or talking on a cell phone. But a recent study by the University of Utah found that drivers who texted while in a simulator had more crashes, responded more slowly to brake lights and displayed less control than drivers who talked on a cell phone.

Researchers found that people talking on cell phones can try to divide their attention between driving and conversing, while texting requires switching from one task to the other.

Another study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who texted were 23 times more at risk of a crash than an average undistracted driver.

"It's really dangerous," Garland said. "If they know it's against the law to do it, it's going to stop a lot of people."

In Columbus last night, Councilman Andrew J. Ginther held a hearing on a proposed city ordinance to ban texting, e-mailing or using the Internet while driving. He hopes for a council vote on April 5, which would make a ban effective in early May.

A majority of council members support or lean toward enacting a ban, and Mayor Michael B. Coleman supports the idea as well.

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