By unanimous vote, on March 7th the Florida State Senate approved Senate Bill 52. This bill imposes a ban statewide on texting when driving. Unfortunately, there have been bills like this one that have passed the Florida Senate, but went on to fail the House of Representatives. Out if 50 states, there are 39 that already have bans on texting when driving and this includes the District of Columbia.
In a 9 to 0 vote the Florida Senate Communications Committee was in favor of SB 52 for banning texting when driving for everyone except emergency vehicles. This would cause texting to be secondary to another violation, which means police can only charge a driver for texting only after being pulled over for another violation, like a blown tail light, or speeding.
Initially, violation of SB 52 would result in the driver being charged a $30 fine. Additionally, if the driver’s texting caused a traffic accident, said driver’s license would have 6 points taken off their license. Courtney Heidelberg, who is a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles said the records for Florida highway safety shows out of 171,538 accident reports filed between January and October 2011, as many as 149 happened due to the driver texting when the accident happened. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a recent study that showed there is concern about distracted driving, but it was still a common practice.
The Traffic Safety Index is what the study is called and was based on information gathered from surveys conducted of 3,896 American residents over 16 years of age. The study found that a lot of Americans place a high value on safe driving and do support the laws regarding unsafe driving, like speeding, however they still tend to practice these unsafe driving themselves. According to further findings, as many as 88.5 percent of motorist think that using a cell phone when driving is unsafe, whereas 67 percent thought distracted driving has become a bigger safety hazard that is used to be only 3 years ago.
The people that were surveyed did have concerns about the hazards of distracted driving, however they also had a double standard in regards to supporting a bill to ban such behavior. As much as two thirds of those surveyed confessed that they had used a cell phone when driving at least one time within 30 days. Thirty one percent confessed to using a cell phone regularly, but Fifty seven percent of those surveyed felt like using a cell phone when driving was a safety hazard and sixty six percent felt the practice of using a cell phone when driving “unacceptable.” According to these figures, distracted driving is an American problem that is growing.
Even though it is always good to be watching for distracted drivers, it is even more important today because of the increase in electronic devices. If you or a family member or friend has been in an accident that included injuries, you will probably need legal representation so that your right to compensation is protected.
