Distracted driving: House of wimps

THE Washington House of Representatives sort of, kind of wants to make state roadways safe from distracted driving, but this gutless group failed to approve meaningful legislation to combat this dangerous practice.

Current cellphone rules are halfhearted because they make texting and talking on a handheld phone while driving a secondary offense. That means an officer has to have an additional reason to make a stop, such as weaving or a busted taillight. Many motorists flagrantly violate the law because they know the officer is unlikely to pull them over.

The Senate, led by Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, tried to improve the law, passing legislation that makes texting and talking on a handheld phone a primary offense. Simple, clear-cut rules of the road.

Along comes a House amendment, offered by Rep. Dan Roach, R-Bonney Lake, who took the Libertarian live-and-let-live mantra too far.

One free-spirited motorist's right to drive and talk on a handheld phone smashes into another individual's right to drive on a highway with the expectation that motorists are paying attention.

The House and Senate approved language that bans texting while driving for all drivers, a no-brainer as experts say texting and driving is as dangerous or more so than drinking and driving.

The House and Senate nibbled at the edges of the handheld-cellphone problem by barring 16- and 17-year-old drivers from using any cellphone in a car — handheld or hands-free.

But when it came to putting force into the law on driving with a handheld phone — for drivers of all ages — the House ran out of nerve.

The debate is not over. The Senate should reject the House wording because it doesn't go far enough and insist on passage of the original bill. National safety experts are increasingly convinced that driving with a cellphone, especially a handheld device, is dangerous.

Make the roadways safer by passing a law that actually persuades motorists to alter their dangerous, distracted driving.