State senate bill seeks to crack down on distracted driving

May 10—HARRISBURG — Distracted driving kills nine people daily nationwide, according to federal estimates, and a Pennsylvania lawmaker hopes her proposed bill will force motorists to keep their hands on the steering wheel and off of their mobile devices.

The Senate Transportation Committee voted 13-1 on Wednesday to advance Senate Bill 37, titled "Paul Miller's Law" in memory of a 21-year-old Scranton man killed in 2010 by a distracted driver.

The measure proposes an amendment to the state Vehicle Code to ban the use of handheld mobile devices including smartphones for text-based communication while driving and enhance penalties for texting while driving.

The bill advances to the chamber floor for further consideration by the full Senate.

"We know the reality is that we are not going to get rid of the phone in the car. It's not going to happen," Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-Lackawanna/Monroe/Wayne, said during Wednesday's committee meeting. "If we are going to take advantage of the technology, at the very least put it down, use the hands-free, and have two hands on the wheel, two eyes on the road and your mind on the task as much as possible."

Miller's parents, Eileen and Paul Sr., have pressed state legislators for action in the years since their son's death. Brown said she's worked with the family on proposed bills for the past 10 years when the first-term state senator was a member of Pennsylvania's House of Representatives.

Texting while driving is already illegal in Pennsylvania, however, the law doesn't ban motorists from using a handheld phone to place or take a call.

Under the proposal, most interactive uses beyond exclusive use of navigation would be specifically prohibited including recording video and using social media. Drivers couldn't handle a device while the vehicle is on a roadway and also couldn't support devices on their bodies like between their legs or on their laps.

Using a phone to place or accept a phone call would still be permitted, too, but the motorist's interaction with the device would be limited only to pressing a single button to answer or terminate a call.

The law wouldn't apply to dashboard systems or prevent motorists from charging a device, it wouldn't impact emergency responders or situations where motorists need to contact emergency personnel, and it wouldn't prevent certain uses by commercial drivers such as fleet management systems or dispatching devices.

Violations carry fines ranging from $150 to $500, with third and subsequent violations netting a motorist two points onto their driving record and a 60-day suspension of their license. Law enforcement would issue only warnings for the first 12 months, should the bill become law.

Fines for texting while driving under existing state law would double to $100.

While Senate Bill 37 advanced with just one vote in opposition, several senators opposed an extensive amendment — which did pass, too — that made technical changes to the bill and also removed a reporting requirement for traffic stop data concerning alleged violations of the proposed law.

Sen. Marty Flynn, D-Lackawanna/Luzerne, the committee's minority chair, didn't agree with removing the requirement which would have applied only to police departments with at least 100 officers.

Brown said she agreed that such data should be collected but that it should be applied more broadly, and in different legislation, for all traffic stops.