News Room: Public Safety

More rigorous rules for installing red-light cameras at Inland-area intersections could be on the way, as a state senator combats what he feels is lax oversight of the operations and the reality that some cities are more interested in the revenue than road safety. But supporters of the status quo say the new rules will put the brakes on the cameras altogether by making them cost prohibitive.

As cameras go up around the state, officials would face more scrutiny and stricter standards when they propose them.  . . . Frustration over the fines and the cameras are what led Sen. Joe Simitian, D- Palo Alto, to propose a bill expanding the requirements for police and cities interested in the cameras.

Fatal accidents involving cell use while driving have taken their toll in California, and state legislators have reacted by adopting three laws restricting using cells while operating vehicles. But state Sen. Joe Simitian, author of those laws, says too many motorists are still fumbling with cell phones and pecking at tiny keyboards. Simitian has a bill that would increase first-time base fines from $20 to $50 for breaking existing cell laws and from $50 to $100 for subsequent offenses.

If you watch Oprah with any regularity, you know she is on a crusade to get people to stop texting and talking on the phone while driving. In California, the cell phone law may be about to get a lot tougher.

Refusing to use a hands-free device could get more expensive. A Senate committee agreed to make violators pay more. [...]

“The notion here is a somewhat more significant fine, we’d have a greater deterrent and save more lives. It’s really just that simple,” says Simitian.

The California Highway Patrol says traffic collisions and fatalities dropped 20 percent from the previous five-year average before California’s hands-free law took effect, but that point on a driving record worries commercial truckers, who could lose their jobs.

... 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. ...

If you’re driving, you’re better off not chatting on the phone. If you must talk, use a hands-free device—it’s the law.

And please, no texting while you drive—it’s a no-brainer.

To that end, we’re thankful for the actions of state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who has introduced a bill to raise the fines for drivers caught talking without a hands-free device, and texting. [...]

David Lazarus interviews Joe on the need for strengthening California’s hands-free and no texting laws for drivers.

Drivers who love to text or chat on a cell phone, you might want to reconsider your illegal ways.

The cost of a ticket for these offenses could go way up — to $455 for texting and $255 and up, from about $145 — for not using a hands-free device if a bill introduced Monday by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, becomes law. [...]

“I’ve heard repeatedly that the current fines are too modest,” said Simitian, who has led the charge for tougher laws on these forms of distracted driving for nearly a decade. “They wouldn’t be anymore.”

Ronn Owens interviews Joe about hands-free cell phone use while driving and new statistics revealing the percentage of accidents caused by mobile phone use.

Click here to listen to the interview (MP3)

This week KLIV’s Jason Bennert is profiling people who made a significant local impact in Santa Clara County during the 2000s.

Convinced that gripping a cell phone while driving would become illegal Sunday, a customer walked into Jacob Peykar’s wireless store to beat the deadline.

Peykar said Thursday that he tried to tell his persistent customer that the hands-free law was still a year away, but to no avail. The man spent $300 at the Woodland Hills shop to deck out his wife, kids and mother with blinking blue earpieces.

“He was so convinced, I almost believed him, too,” Peykar said.

But Peykar’s customer and lots of other Californians are wrong. The law will take effect July 1 — of 2008.

Full Story on LA Daily News Website

The bill that would ban teen drivers under age 18 from chatting on cell phones or text messaging is motoring ahead at the Capitol, with approval from key committees in both houses.

SB 33, co-authored by Sen. Joe Simitian, a Bay Area Democrat, and GOP Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, from Riverside County, aims to pry distractions from teen drivers’ hands so they can focus on the road.

Is the Legislature picking on teens?

Simitian said he tells them: “Look, you’re crashing at five times the rate of your 18-year-old friends. We’re not picking on anybody. We’re trying to save lives.”

Full story on Sacramento Bee website

It’s time for California’s teen-aged drivers to put down their cell phones, pagers and PDAs, and pay attention to their driving.

Year after year, car crashes are the number one cause of death among teenagers. In fact, the fatality rate for drivers 16-19 years old is four times that of older drivers in the 25-69 year-old age range. Across the country, more than 6,000 teen-aged drivers a year are killed on our nation’s streets and highways.

Among the culprits: cell phones, pagers and PDAs. The young drivers who are using these devices while driving are putting not only themselves at risk, but all of us as well.

That’s why we authored Senate Bill 33, which prohibits new drivers under the age of 18 from driving while using a cell phone or pager, or while text messaging. For ease of administration, the new law would take effect on July 1st, 2008, when other drivers, 18 and older, will be required to drive “hands-free” if they’re using a cell phone.

Full story on San Mateo Daily Journal website