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Fairfax senator wants to keep teens off cell phones while driving Date published: 2/6/2007
By CHELYEN DAVIS RICHMOND --In July 2005, Melissa Starnes was riding in a car driven by her teenage friend, who was talking on the cell phone to her boyfriend.Distracted, Starnes' friend pulled out in front of a dump truck. Starnes says she doesn't remember much about 2005, because of her injuries. Her friend was killed. Now 16, the Suffolk teenager is advocating a proposed law to keep teens off their cell phones while driving. She came to Richmond yesterday for a press conference with AAA Mid-Atlantic and Sen. Jay O'Brien, R-Fairfax. O'Brien has introduced legislation that would bar teens with provisional drivers' licenses from talking on their cell phones while they're driving. His bill has passed the Senate, but it has passed that chamber for the past three years, and died in the House of Delegates. O'Brien is pressing House members to support it this year. "We want teens to gain miles and miles of driving experience without an incident and without distraction," O'Brien said. "It needs to be the policy of the commonwealth." O'Brien was a chief sponsor of the legislation a few years ago that created graduated driving requirements for teens. He said he would have included a ban on talking on the phone in that bill if he'd thought of it at the time. Now, he has four teenagers of his own, and says he can see what a distraction talking on the phone is. A new poll from AAA backs him up. According to a recent poll done by AAA, 70 percent of respondents said cell phones were more distracting to drivers than anything else. Eighty-eight said they supported a ban on teen drivers using cell phones. AAA spokeswoman Martha Meade also cited statistics showing that crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers, and that 16-year-olds have a fatality rate, per miles driven, that's twice that of even 19-year-olds. Young teens, Meade said, need time to learn to drive and react to hazards on the road without the distraction of cell phones and text messages. "Practice does matter," Meade said. "Teenagers believe they are invincible. We must protect them." O'Brien's bill would prohibit anyone under age 18 with a provisional driver's license from using a wireless communications device while driving, even if the device is hands-free. It does contain an exemption for emergencies. Violations would be a traffic infraction and could result, on the second offense, in the teen losing his or her license for six months. The Senate passed O'Brien's bill unanimously. He said he has talked to House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, about the bill, but doesn't know yet to which House committee Howell will refer it. It would be heard by the House sometime in the next three weeks, before the legislature adjourns Feb. 24. The bill is too late for Starnes' friend, but Starnes said she hopes other teens will realize that driving and talking on the phone don't mix. "It's your mind being on two things at once," she said. "A lot of people think they can do it, but they can't do it Let it ring, answer it later. It's not that important." Chelyen Davis: 804/782-Email: 9362cdavis@freelancestar.com
If you can ban even hands-free cell phone use while driving, then radios should be taken out of car, no smoking or eating while driving and definitely no passengers,especially small children. They all create a distraction. Lawmaker thinking: Uh-oh, somebody died, better pass a law!
I'd say this guy is out of touch...or doesn't want to get caught himself. Maybe he needs a little email to voice our concerns. And...while were at it, how about writing to all the members of the House of Delegates and Senators that represent us in Richmond.
I thought talking on cell phones was illegal pretty much everywhere. Studies show drivers are more impaired while talking on the phone than having .10 BAC. Talisman has a good point about picking on non-voters.
All drivers who use their cell phones while driving are effectively impaired in their ability to react to ever changing driving situations. Anytime your mind is on something other than the road ahead your driving abilities are diminished.
While experience does allow for automatic evasive reactions, teens are not experienced & therefore do not have the recall from that experience & are unable to react with the automatic response of an experienced driver. Everyone needs to Hang up & drive!
Teens are not EXPERIENCED drivers! Just listening to music is a 20-30% distraction; jamming, singing, having a conversation with passengers, how much attention is left to DRIVING? It is a tested fact that teens-25 year old have a reaction time that is 18% longer than that of a 70-year old.
The memory (if still alive) of being responsible for the death of others will be forever; the loss a family will experience is forever; the conversation can wait! NO CELL PHONE USE, especially for teens driving! PLEASE.
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