SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Cell phones are causing fewer accidents since California outlawed the use of handheld devices behind the wheel, but the senator behind the law says too many people are still driving distracted.
A bill by Sen. Joe Simitian would create a bigger deterrent to keep drivers from texting or using a cell phone without a hands-free device.
“While I think compliance is pretty good, there’s room to save even more lives and avoid even more collisions,” said Simitian, D-Palo Alto.
His bill, scheduled for a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Public Safety Committee, would increase the fine for holding a cell phone from $20 to $50 for a first offense, and from $50 to $100 for repeat offenders. Texting while driving would draw a $100 fine, up from the current $20 for first offenders and $50 for repeated violators.
Court costs and fees drive up the actual cost beyond the fines themselves. Simitian’s bill would also add a “point” on motorists’ driving records for violations. The bill would devote $10 from each fine to a public awareness program. Simitian’s bill also would extend both laws to bicyclists.
The prohibitions already in place seem to be reducing distracted driving, statistics show.
The California Highway Patrol blamed 612 accidents on handheld cell phone use in the six months before the hands-free law took effect on July 1, 2008. It recorded 315 such accidents in the first six months after the law took effect, a nearly 50 percent reduction.
On the other hand, accidents blamed on drivers distracted by their hands-free devices increased from 40 in the six months before the law to 69 in the six months thereafter. Simitian said the jump reflects the increase in hands-free calling.
Collisions and fatalities dropped about 20 percent from the previous five-year average after California’s hands-free law took effect. The ban on texting while driving took effect Jan. 1, 2009, and as of July 1, 2008, it was illegal for drivers under age 18 to use a cell phone even with a hands-free device.
“It means that somewhere in California, a couple of people are going to sit down with their families tonight who wouldn’t have without this law. To me that’s very satisfying,” Simitian said.
The CHP issued nearly 234,000 tickets through 2009 for violating the three laws.
Nationally, the nonprofit National Safety Council blames 28 percent of traffic accidents annually on motorists talking or texting while driving.
“Driving a car is not the time to be multitasking,” said CHP spokeswoman Fran Clader.
The patrol has not taken a position on the bill, she said.
There was little organized opposition to Simitian’s previous bills, though the cell phone industry and some lawmakers noted that tuning the radio, eating or attending to children or pets can be at least as distracting. All are listed in the CHP statistics, but none approach the number of accidents blamed on cell phones.
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