By GINA KINSLOW
GLASGOW — The Kentucky General Assembly’s regular session gets under way Tuesday, and one piece of legislation lawmakers will consider prohibits the use of cell phones to text while driving.
The bill was pre-filed by Rep. Jody Richards (D-Bowling Green), which states any person found to be in violation of the law could face a fine between $20 and $2,000, or imprisonment of up to a year. The charge would be deemed a Class B misdemeanor.
If there is a wreck in which someone suffers serious physical injury or dies, the violator could face a Class D felony charge, which is punishable with up to five years in prison.
“This whole issue of distracted driving is really important with a lot of people and I’ve had students from four different schools across the state to contact me about this issue and all four want to come and testify about the dangers of texting while driving,” said Richards, who pre-filed the bill after speaking with constituents who expressed a desire for such a law.
There are exceptions to the proposed legislation. The law does not apply to the following: “The use of global positioning system feature of a personal communication device; the reading, selecting or entering of a telephone number or name in a personal communication device for the purpose of making a phone call; the operator of an emergency or public safety vehicle while acting in an official capacity; or the operator of a motor vehicle who writes a text message on a personal communication device to report illegal activity, summon medical help, summon a law enforcement or public safety agency, or prevent injury to a person or property.”
Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton said it is a piece of legislation he would support.
Eaton admitted he doesn’t like cell phones.
“I don’t like them, but then I don’t know what I would do without mine,” he said. “We really need to educate these kids on cell phone usage. I think the
driver’s education programs are doing a good job of that.”
Eaton and his deputies are often invited to speak to students, and cell phone usage is something they try to discuss with the students.
The Barren County Sheriff’s Department has not investigated a lot of wrecks where cell phone usage was the cause, but Eaton said he wouldn’t say it couldn’t have been a contributing factor in some of the collisions.
Metcalfe County Sheriff Rondal Shirley said he, too, would support the bill.
“I would definitely support that legislation. We’ve dealt with a lot of people who are either texting or answering the phone when they’ve had a wreck or run off the road,” he said.
Trooper Charles Swiney with the Kentucky State Police’s Bowling Green Post said he couldn’t speak for the Kentucky State Police, but that he personally would support the bill.
“I see people texting all the time,” he said.
According to Kentucky State Police statistics for 2008, the use of cell phones were a contributing factor in 962 collisions statewide, seven of which were fatal.
Those statistics are a bit misleading due to the fact that not every law enforcement agency in the state reports to the state police’s crash data base.
Lt. David Jude, commander of Kentucky State Police Media Relations Branch in Frankfort, said it would be difficult to determine exactly how many collisions statewide occurred due to texting or cell phone use because those numbers would be lumped into the broader category of driver inattention.
“Driver inattention is somewhere around the 40 percent mark of all collisions,” he said, adding that cell phone use would be a difficult thing to prove. “There are currently laws on the books right now that law enforcement can use to enforce texting while driving.”
One of those laws is KRS 189.290, which is referred to as the reckless driving/careless driving law.
“With the law as it is now law enforcement does have the tool to enforce those types of laws,” Jude said.
Whether there should be a law banning the use of cell phones as a whole, Jude said, he doesn’t think such a law is “grasping the bigger picture of distracted driving.”
“There is a bigger issue in front of us beyond the use of cell phones, and before any legislation is proposed, we need to make sure the bigger picture is covered,” Jude said.
The General Assembly reconvenes Tuesday. The 60-day session is set to end April 13.
Legislative Session
Legislators already have several pieces of legislation to consider when they reconvene this week.
The pre-filed bills cover a wide range of topics including health care, centralized voting centers, school attendance and the use of personal communication devices for people younger than 18 while driving. This is one in a six-part series that examines some of those pre-filed bills.
