RICHMOND--A House committee has approved a bill that would ban teenagers from using cell phones while driving, but it still faces a challenge from a House that killed a similar measure earlier this session.
The House Transportation Committee yesterday passed Sen. Jay O'Brien's bill, which says that drivers under age 18 who are still on a provisional driver's license cannot use a cell phone or other wireless device while they're driving. The bill has an exception for emergency situations.
O'Brien, who brought his own 16-year-old son, Brenan, to the meeting as a "prop," said statistics show the rate of accidents involving teen drivers has been rising every year. He said teenagers need time to focus on learning to drive, without the distraction of talking on the phone or--worse, in O'Brien's mind--texting.
"That's a critical driver training time for the new driver. They have zero experience behind the wheel," O'Brien said of 16- and 17-year-old drivers. "They're taking their concentration off the road, and they're giving it to conversation, during a period where they have zero driver experience."
However, the full House rejected a similar bill earlier, and O'Brien is worried that his bill could be amended to allow teens to use hands-free phone devices. If that happens, he said, he'll strike his own bill.
This is the third year O'Brien has proposed restricting cell phones for teen drivers. In years past, his legislation would have made it a primary offense, meaning that police could pull over and ticket the teen driver just for using a phone while driving.
This year's legislation would make it a secondary offense, meaning the police would have to pull over the driver for another offense. The bill would make it a $50 fine for teens cited for using cell phones while driving.
Not everyone on the Transportation Committee approved of the bill. Del. Jack Welch, R-Virginia Beach, tried to amend the bill to say that teens also could not eat, smoke, apply makeup or interact with pets while driving.
But other lawmakers protested that Welch's proposal was out of order, and O'Brien said it "trivializes my bill."
Del. Leo Wardrup, R-Virginia Beach, the committee chairman, said he also didn't like the legislature "superimposing ourselves on what are really parental responsibilities," although he ended up voting for the bill.
But O'Brien said he has gained some support from lawmakers who opposed the bill in the past--mostly, he thinks, because there have been more reports of tragic accidents involving teen drivers.
Del. Ed Scott, R-Culpeper, said he is in favor of O'Brien's bill now, although he opposed it in years past because he worried that government was usurping parental authority.
Now, though, Scott said, "there's some serious research backing his bill this year, and that changes the equation for me."
O'Brien said statistics show about 300 accidents involving 16- and 17-year-old drivers in 2004 and 2005 were related to the driver using a cell phone, and he thinks there are many more accidents that could be blamed on phone use that aren't reported that way.
O'Brien's bill will be up for a vote in the full House next week.
Chelyen Davis: 804/782-
Email: 9362cdavis@freelancestar.com