News Room: SB 28: Texting while Driving Prohibition

Today, the California State Senate passed Senate Bill 1310, a bill by State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) which would strengthen California’s hands-free and no texting laws for motorists. The vote was 24-9. read more ...

In an editorial, the San Jose Mercury News said:

Death and injuries from traffic accidents have plummeted in California, a trend tied to the 2008 law that bans gabbing on handheld cellphones while driving. Memo to all those drivers still yakking away: Wake up. Distracted driving can kill.

The number of deaths caused by driving while chattering on handheld cellphones dropped by half in the two years after the law took effect compared with the two years before, according to a study released by the state Office of Traffic Safety. That dramatic improvement should persuade 41 other states to enact similar laws. The rest already have.

State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, take a bow. He pushed the bill until his reluctant colleagues agreed to pass it. Credit also goes to the California Highway Patrol and local police throughout the state for aggressively enforcing the ban. They seem to have wholeheartedly embraced it, probably because they have to deal with the heartbreak of fatal accidents.

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According to a study announced Monday by the state Office of Traffic Safety, since a state law forbidding the use of handheld phones on the road went into effect in 2008, the number of traffic deaths in California declined by 22 percent. With fewer drivers yakking into handheld phones, the death-by-cellphone rate dropped an even more stunning 47 percent.

“Those are huge numbers,” said Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, author of the bill whose outcome the study tracked, while taking a (hands-free) victory lap after the announcement.
During a two-year period after the law was implemented, there were 53 deaths caused by drivers holding cellphones, compared with 100 in the two years before the law took effect. This came as total accidents and fatalities were down overall for reasons as varied as more cars having air bags.

“The drop in collisions was the biggest, single, year-to-year drop in the history of the state since the CHP began keeping the data,” Simitian said.

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State Senator Joe Simitian of California, who succeeded in getting a law passed in 2006 that bans drivers there from talking on a hand-held phone, called the board’s recommendation “a wake-up call about the dangers of distracted driving.”

Yet, he also said he doubted it would achieve the desired result because it was unlikely that legislators in California or elsewhere would be able to pass such a ban. Mr. Simitian noted that he spent five years trying to push a ban on hand-held devices, and faced intense opposition from the phone industry.

“It’s a political nonstarter,” he said, adding that he would not attempt to propose a total ban on drivers using their devices. “I don’t believe you’ll see such a ban in my lifetime.” For all his skepticism, though, he acknowledged that political winds could shift. “A decade ago, people didn’t think we’d have a hands-free law in California. Only time will tell.”

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... A bill working its way through Sacramento could sharply increase the penalties for driving while using a handheld cellphone, fines that some say are already deceptively higher than had been expected.

The ban was instituted in July 2008, and six months later, texting while driving was similarly prohibited. Only hands-free talking is now allowed.

Senator Joe Simitian, Democrat of Palo Alto, wrote both bills, which include modest fines of $20 for a first offense and $50 for the second. ...

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State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) announced today the introduction of Senate Bill 1475 which strengthens the state’s hands-free and anti-texting laws for motorists. read more ...

Recently released collision and fatality data from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) confirms that California’s streets and highways are safer following the implementation of California’s “hands-free” cell phone law. read more ...

California recorded a 20 percent drop in the number of collisions since the state in 2008 passed a law banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, but the effects of the ban on texting while driving have been less clear, in part because it is much harder to enforce, lawmakers said. read more ...

Motorists in California are strongly encouraged not to use cell phones at all while driving. If they choose to do so, however, it must be hands-free. read more ...

State Sen. Joe Simitian -- the lawmaker responsible for California's "hands-free" cell phone law -- is one of about 200 people participating in a summit on distracted driving today (Sept. 30) in Washington, D.C. read more ...

Sacramento – State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) will be participating in U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s Distracted Driving Summit this week in Washington, D.C. The Department of Transportation has invited 200 participants from around the country to determine the best ways to reduce the number of crashes and deaths due to distracted driving. read more ...

It turns out texting while driving is even more dangerous than experts thought. A new study shows texting is the most dangerous distraction you can face while driving. read more ...

Some states have overcome opposition to pass restrictions. Joe Simitian, a state senator in California, managed to get his hands-free legislation, an effort he began in 2001, passed in 2006. read more ...

The message is clear today: Put your cell phone down while driving. Beginning today, text messaging while driving is against the law and carries with it a $20 to $50 fine. The new law, authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, closes the technology loophole left after the hands-free cell phone law went into effect last year. The new law is just one of the 834 bills signed into law in 2008 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. New federal, state and local laws that take effect Jan. 1, 2009 range from the naming of Devil’s Slide tunnel to the second consecutive year of minimum wage increases. A few of those laws were ideas suggested to state Simitian through his annual “There Oughta Be A Law” contest. Simitian passed 14 bills, including ones that regulate deceptive sweepstakes practices and expands the small business loan program. read more ...

Palo Alto – As Californians usher in the New Year, they will find new protections for many including victims of sexual abuse, veterans and seniors. The protections will come from laws that State Senator Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) authored and will take effect on January 1, 2009. The following are among the 14 bills that Simitian received signatures on this fall from the Governor. read more ...

AMID THE 900 BILLS before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is one that is sure to save lives. It's a ban on text messaging and e-mailing while driving, which he enthusiastically signed. As of July 1, it became illegal to use hand-held cell phones while driving, thanks to the passage of a bill by state Sen. Joe Simitian. D-Palo Alto. read more ...

Sacramento – State Senator Joe Simitian’s legislation (Senate Bill 28) to prohibit text messaging while driving was signed into law today by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The measure takes effect January 1, 2009. read more ...

The effort to discourage California motorists from using mobile devices in moving cars took another step forward Thursday when the state Senate passed a bill to outlaw adults from text messaging while driving. This is the second of a one-two punch by Palo Alto Democratic Sen. Joe Simitian, the man behind a law that went into effect in July making it illegal to hold a cell phone to your ear while behind the wheel. read more ...

The state lawmaker who wrote the hands-free cell phone law that goes into effect July 1 is going after people who text-message while driving. State Senator Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, introduced SB 28 Thursday which would ban drivers from typing text messages and e-mails while driving. read more ...