W.Va. Lawmakers Working to Ban Texting While Driving
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Posted: 8:13 PM Feb 9, 2010
W.Va. Lawmakers Working to Ban Texting While Driving
West Virginia lawmakers are working to stop you from texting behind the wheel.
Reporter: Brooks Jarosz
Email Address: brooks.jarosz@wsaz.com
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- West Virginia lawmakers are working to stop you from texting behind the wheel.

A senate committee amended a bill Tuesday to put the brakes on distracted driving.

Almost everyone's guilty of using a cell phone while driving or attempting to drive. A bill that's been in the works for a while could eventually change that.

"There is a huge public safety risk by not policing ourselves," Kanawha County Delegate Nancy Guthrie said.

Both houses have been trying to do that for over a year.

In 2009, a bill passed to outlaw texting and talking on a cell phone while driving, but it died in the Joint Conference Committee.

"The cell phone raises more questions," West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Joe Miller said. "It can be questioned by more people and, as a result, complicate the issue and reduce the probability of passage."

It is an issue that was reduced on Tuesday by amendments to only include texting, making talking on the phone legal while driving.

"Texting is by far in a way the largest cause of accidents between the two between texting and the use of cell phones," Miller said.

Some lawmakers disagree, especially now that texting would be a primary offense.

"My sense is there's really not much of a distinction to be made as far as the danger of either using your cell phone or of texting," Guthrie said.

"If a police officer drives by someone and they just happen to be looking down, well then that actually under this bill gives them probable cause -- because this is a primary offense to stop someone," Republican Senator Clarke Barnes said.

Even if officers stop someone, it's still difficult to prove.

"There doesn't seem to be any teeth in it that give us any real statistics to know how well it works because we are at the mercy of an investigating officer at an accident scene," Barnes said.

The bill was approved and will now go before the Finance Committee. If it is approved there, it will then be brought to the Senate floor.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Jerry on Feb 14, 2010 at 06:22 PM

I am one of those drivers who happens to think that if you really need to talk on a cell phone then the driver should pull off of the road and use his or her cell phone (NOT WHILE DRIVING). Just this past on my way to work in downtown Charleston. I was almost hit by three drivers who were talking on their cell phones. Yes I do have a cell phone and I only use it if I xcan pull off of the road and noone can ever accuse me of running them off of the road because of using my cell phone. If everyone who drives in the state of West Virginia would do an indiviual survey about how many people that you see talking on thhe phone while driving and were to truly be honest with their results I believ that most drivers would say that driving a vehicle and talking is a disaster waiting too happen. One day you or one of your family members may be killed or maimed because of a stupid driver using a cell phone while driving when any driver could simply pull off of the road to use their phone.
Posted by: Sarah on Feb 10, 2010 at 03:02 PM

A law is only effective if it deters people from the behavior.This is a waste of taxpayer money.People will continue to do it.How about forcing 80 year old blind people to retake a drivers test?!...if what our state is wanting fewer accidents.
Posted by: Ashley on Feb 10, 2010 at 09:10 AM

I think it's a sad, sad day when we need a law for some of us to stop doing something that has proven time and time again to be deadly and 4X more dangerous than drunk driving. I mean REALLY! Many of us shutter and scorn those who get caught driving drunk, but are all to willing to text while driving. I'm serious people, it takes someone texting while driving FOUR TIMES as long to stop a vehicle as it does someone who is legally intoxicated. FOUR TIMES!!!!
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