WA Legislature toughens cell phone driving law

The Washington state Legislature has approved a measure that makes it easier for police to ticket people who are driving while either texting or talking on a cellphone without a headset.

On a 60-37 vote Thursday, the House passed a bill that makes it a primary offense to be caught holding a cellphone to your ear while driving, or to be reading, writing or sending text messages. That strengthens the state's current secondary offense law for both, which only slaps drivers with an extra fine if they are pulled over for another infraction, such as speeding.

“Maybe now people will pay attention to their driving instead of their conversations,” Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, and sponsor of the bill, said in a prepared statement after the vote.

“Our roads will be safer and I believe lives will be saved as a result of this law.”

The House initially had watered down the bill to make only texting a primary offense. But they receded from that position on Thursday and passed the bill in the form it had passed out of the Senate last month.

The measure now goes to Gov. Chris Gregoire for her signature.

“Distracted driving is a very serious, real deal problem,” said Rep. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle. “There's a public safety element to this that is very real.”

Under the bill, police could immediately pull over someone for texting or talking without a headset and give them a $124 ticket.

A ticket will not become part of a driver's record and dialing a phone is not considered text messaging. The measure exempts transit and emergency vehicle personnel, as well as anyone who is text messaging or calling and not using a headset to report illegal activity or summon emergency help. People who are using a hearing aid or operating a tow truck are also exempt.

The bill also outlaws any cellphone use by a driver with a learner's permit or an intermediate license, which is given to drivers under 18 years old.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has said that Washington is one of six states and the District of Columbia that have passed laws regulating cellphone use by drivers, but is the only one that considers the use of a phone without a handsfree device a secondary offense.