Weak cellphone law puts drivers off the hook

Washington motorists are too busy yakking on the phone to observe the law against driving with a handheld cellphone. Scofflaws are everywhere — at the red light, the stop sign and in the lane next to you on every road in the state.

State lawmakers who passed this halfhearted law have themselves to blame for the increasingly halfhearted response.

When lawmakers addressed the issue, they amassed sufficient votes only for a law that made talking on a handheld cellphone a secondary offense. If it were a primary offense, an officer could stop a violator on the spot for using a cellphone.

But in our state, officers can stop an offender only for another reason, such as a busted taillight, weaving or following too close. During the stop, they can write an additional ticket for cellphone misbehavior. A weak-willed law beget weak respect.

Of several states with cellphone bans, including California, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, only Washington opted to make it secondary offense. Drivers sense that state officials care about this form of distracted driving, but only to a point.

While many drivers were more diligent about using headsets when the law first took effect last July, six months later, they are increasingly ignoring the law. The state patrol believes about one-third of drivers regularly ignore the law.

The number of collisions dropped 11 percent since the law took effect, but there is no way to know if the drop is attributed to the cellphone ban, high gas prices or less travel.

If lawmakers want to beef up the law, they should collect enough votes to make it a stricter rule. Otherwise, the cellphone ban remains more of a strong suggestion than a hard and fast law.