State House cellphone legislation targets teen drivers

OLYMPIA — The House approved a ban on texting and cellphone use by teen drivers Wednesday, watering down the Senate's plan to tighten restrictions on motorists of all ages.

In a 86-12 vote, the House approved a measure barring 16- and 17-year-old drivers from texting or using any cellphone — handheld or hands-free. Members did take some action concerning adults, making texting while driving a primary offense for everyone.

Talking and texting teens could be pulled over and ticketed $124, as could adult motorists caught texting.

The House rejected the Senate's effort to change the current law for adult cellphone use from a secondary to a primary offense.

"I don't like the government being in all aspects of our business," said Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla.

"The libertarian in me comes out with these types of issues," said Rep. Dan Roach, R-Bonney Lake, who offered the amendment that changed the Senate bill.

For legislation to go to Gov. Chris Gregoire, the House and Senate will now need to reach agreement.

Since July 2008, using a handheld device while driving has been a secondary offense, meaning police must see another violation before making the traffic stop and writing a ticket for the cellphone violation.

Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, has been working for 10 years to get Washington motorists to put down their phones. She was not happy with the change by the House, which was made in part because House Republicans and some Democrats refused to support the original bill — which had managed to grab a few conservative votes in the Senate, where it passed 33-15.

"That is unreasonable and uncalled for," said Eide about the lack of support from House Republicans. "People need to wake up. I'm disappointed in the House of Representatives at this time."

Eide said Wednesday evening she was not sure what position she would take on the amended version.

House Democrats and Republicans said it was a happy medium.

"It's a good compromise," said Roach. "It's not a Democrat and Republican issue. It's a personal-choice issue."

Roach said his colleagues found the Senate bill vague. He noted that the measure would have made it illegal to hold the phone to your ear but that holding it 10 inches from your face would be fine.

Just as it is now, it would be legal for adults to use a hands-free device.

Nationally, the debate is heating up over whether there is much difference between holding a cellphone and using a Bluetooth — or whether the focus should be on the bigger issue of distracted driving.

In 2009 the State Patrol caught 5,141 drivers using their handheld cellphone when they were stopped for other offenses. Of those drivers, 1,607 were given a ticket for the violation, and the rest received a warning in addition to a fine for their primary infraction.

Sgt. Freddy Williams of the State Patrol said that often troopers don't like to hit a driver with two tickets during one stop.

A new study by Pemco Insurance suggests that Washington motorists have largely ignored the state's current ban. The poll shows that 41 percent of drivers admit to using their cellphone while behind the wheel.

That is more than double the 17 percent of Washingtonians who fessed up when Pemco asked the same question in 2007.

Those who say they text while driving shot from 3 percent to 20 percent. The poll also reveals that hands-free use has doubled.

Other states that ban handhelds and texting have seen declines in the numbers of drivers using the devices, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Immediately after New York made it a secondary offense in 2001, nearly half of its drivers put down their phones, the institute reports. Seven years later the number of New York motorists using handheld cellphones was 24 percent lower than would have been expected without the law.

Connecticut, which made it a primary offense, has seen much more compliance; handheld-cellphone usage by drivers there is 65 percent lower.

Support for these laws has been fueled by the general notion that chatting and texting on the cellphone while driving increases the risk of crashing. Oprah Winfrey has launched a crusade against the practice, dubbing it "America's New Deadly Obsession," and is asking her audience, staff and guests to sign a pledge to make their cars a "No Phone Zone."

Last year the National Safety Council called for lawmakers to ban the use of cellphones — including the hands-free kind — by drivers, citing the statistic that the risk of being in an auto accident grows fourfold when the driver is using a cellphone.

There is no shortage of studies that speak to this danger. The University of Utah has likened it to drunken driving. The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis was less dramatic about it but agreed that the increased risk is there.

However, a study by the Highway Loss Data Institute of jurisdictions with the bans and those without found that there was not a decrease in auto accidents after anti-cellphone laws went into effect.

"There is a lot of reasons why people get distracted," said state Sen. Joe Zarelli, R-Ridgefield. The senator voted against the bill, he said, because law enforcement already has the ability to stop people who are driving recklessly, whether it is because they are talking on their phone or eating lunch.

"Distracted driving is a contributory factor in many of our collisions," Williams of the State Patrol said in support of making cellphone use a primary offense. "Anything that the Washington State Patrol can do to reduce the number of collisions we are in favor of."

Lillian Tucker: 360-236-8266 or ltucker@seattletimes.com