Newspaper Page Text
T
Drivers can’t be on
cellphones under
bill that passed
House committee
State House will debate bill next
From The Associated Press
ATLANTA — With
Georgia having experi
enced a spike in both fatal
crashes and nutol insur
ance premiums, legisla-.
tors advanced a p;péosd
to make it illegal to hold a
cellphone while driving,
By a non-unanimous
voice vote, a House com
mittee on Wednesday
voted in favor of House
Bill 673 by Rep. John
Carson, R-Marietta, to
crack down on distracted
driving. It now awaits
House debate. ,
~ln Georgia, it is illegal
to text behind the wheel,
but drivers are currently
allowed to dial and hold
their phone. Law enforce
ment officers have testi
fied that they often cannot
tell whether a driver is
texting or merely dialing,
making it difficult to
enforce the law.
“We just did a distract
ed driving detail (earlier
this week) because that's
one of our leading con
tributing factors to crash
es here in the cities,” said
Sgt. Kevin Holbrook,
apokemun for the
ainesville Police
Many distracted-driv
ing crashes in the city are
fender benders, bus
Holbrook noted that when
investigating single-vehi
cle crashes with fatalities
officers often find a
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mobile phone lodged in
the dashboard or in a
footwell.
* And at the moment,
law enforcement has a
difficult time stopping
people from using their
phones while driving. =~
“Right now, the texting
and-driving law, almost
everybody acknowledges,
is essentially unenforce
able,” said Rep. Bert
Reeves, R-Marietta, “I
believe this (bill) will be
enforceable.” '
~ The new law would be
clear: Holding a phone in
the hand while driving is
illegal unless the driver is
an on-duty law enforce
ment officer, a public util
ity employee or contrac
tor responding to an
emergency or a member
of the public calling 911.
Under Carson’s mea
sure; drivers would still
be allowed to use GPS
navigation and talk via a
hands-free device.
‘Violators would be fined
at least S3OO. .
“It would definitely
help clear things up for us
in law enforcement,”
Holbrook said. “When we
do stop an individual, as
of right now they can
have their phone in their
hand. They can be doing
multiple things, from
their GPS to changing a
song. It's very difficult
for us to enforce texting
while-driving (laws).”
Using a hand-held cell
g:oo:e while driving has
| banned in 15 states,
as well as the District of
Columbia.
According to the
National Safety Council,
more than 1,500 people
died in auto crashes in
Georgia in 2016, a 34.5
percent rise from 2014.
Based on the significant
decrease in traffic fatali
ties that other states have
experienced after passing
similar hands-free laws,
Carson told the commit
tee that his proposal
could save around 300
lives each year,
Carson said the issue
caught his attention when
he found out that auto
insurance rates had been
rapidly rising across the
state, in conjunction with
an increasing number of
fatal crashes. In 2016,
Georgia personal auto
insurance rates went up
an average of 12 percent,
the most in the nation,
Carson said. Drivers who
are texting, surfing the
internet or using social
media apps behind the
wheel, are largely to
blame for the rise in acci
dents, Carson believes.
Rep. Ed Setzler,
R-Acworth, is against the
bill. He said those who
text while driving should
be punished, but those
who are holding a cell
phone against their ear
should not be penalized.
If the bill becomes law,
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Harris Blackwood of the
Governor’s Office of
Highway Safety said his
office would help put in
place an aggressive pub
lic ‘service campaign so
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that drivers would be
aware of the law change.
“What we want to do
here is not just pass a law,
pass a regulation: We
want to start a culture
change,” Carson said.
“This is the DUI issue of
.our generation.”
Times reporter Nick
Bowman contributed to
this report.
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