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New charge: teen texting while driving?Tue, 11/25/2008 - 5:28pm
By: The Citizen
The wired generation may soon have the plug pulled on them, at least while they’re driving, if a proposal is approved by the Georgia Legislature next year. Fayette state Rep. Matt Ramsey is proposing to make it illegal for teenagers under 18 to talk, text, or use email and instant messaging on their cellphones while driving. If approved by the Georgia legislature, violators would face up to a $175 fine on the first offense and a $500 fine on the second and subsequent offenses. Anyone under 18 who gets into an auto crash while using a cellphone, if they are determined to be at fault, will face a doubling of that fine. Such offenders will also receive a 90-day license suspension on the first offense and a six-month license suspension for a second offense. Ramsey himself almost had a run-in, literally, with a teen on a cellphone nearly two months ago, he said. Ramsey was traveling down Peachtree Parkway just past Booth Middle School nearly two months ago when a teenage driver on a cellphone forced him to take evasive action and drive into the median. While no one was hurt, Ramsey said it sure got his attention as to the dangers of cell phone use while driving. “It was a jarring enough event,” Ramsey said, that he went back to his office and researched the issue, finding some troubling data on teen drivers and cell phone use. The bill proposed by Ramsey includes several exceptions under which someone under 18 could use a cell phone while driving, including: • To report illegal activity; • To summon medical or emergency help; • To prevent injury to a person or property; or • To navigate using a global positioning system. Talking or texting while driving will lead to a 1-point assessment against a driver’s points leading towards license suspension, according to the proposed legislation. The law would exempt devices such as citizen band (CB) radios, commercial two-way radios or electronic devices with a “push to talk” function. Ramsey said the reason for the age restrictions comes from data he has discovered during research for the bill. He cited a study commissioned by Ford Motor Company which took 100 teens and 100 adults in a driving simulator while operating a cell phone. The teens were four and a half times likely to have problems reacting to a dangerous situation on the simulator while operating the phone, Ramsey said. In one recent year there were about 5,000 teen fatalities related to distracted drivers, and cell phone use was “far and away the number one distraction,” Ramsey said. Ramsey also cited a recent study that revealed half of teenage students send text messages while driving. “Unless you’re really good, that takes both hands and a good bit of attention,” Ramsey said. He acknowledged that it will be difficult to enforce the law, but at the same time “putting it on the books as a deterrent will help.” Ramsey said he truly believes the law would save lives. Bouncing the idea for the law off two local teens recently, Ramsey said they endorsed the concept because they are worried about what their classmates do behind the wheel. Now Ramsey has to sell it to his fellow legislators. He has some powerful support in those who are cosponsoring the legislation: Tom Rice, the chairman of the House motor vehicle committee to which the bill will be assigned and Edward Lindsey, vice chairman of the judiciary committee which may also take a crack at the bill. Similar bills have been proposed in the past but were seen as too lenient, Ramsey said. login to post comments
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