News Room: SB 1475: Cell Phones and Texting While Driving

Today the California State Senate passed State Senator Joe Simitian’s (D-Palo Alto) Senate Bill 1475 by a vote of 21-16. The bill would strengthen California’s hands-free and no-texting laws for motorists. SB 1475 now moves to the State Assembly for consideration. read more ...

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.

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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.

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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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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. [...]

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

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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.”

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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 ...