New laws involving use of cell phones effective August 15

New driver prohibitions will go into effect on August 15th dealing with the use of cell phones. That is when a new law passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Bobby Jindal becomes effective.

If you’re driving and sending or reading a text, you can expect to get stopped by police. And if your under-18 sons and daughters are texting or talking on cell phones while driving, expect a ticket.

Texting and driving by any age driver and cell phone use by drivers under age 18 have been against the law for the past year.

However, after law enforcement officers complained they had no authority to pull over drivers violating the laws and could only write tickets after their distracting activity resulted in a crash, state lawmakers this year made it a primary offense.

“If you’re texting using both hands and your eyes, there’s nobody behind the wheel while you’re barreling along down the highway,” said Sgt. Markus Smith, Louisiana State Police communications officer.

“I had to have another reason to stop you,” Smith said. “You might have run off the road into a ditch or into some other car. Otherwise, you could just keep texting along.”

Armed with the new provisions starting August 15, Smith said police will be watching and stopping drivers before they hit someone else.

“Now it’s a pro-active approach instead of a reactive one,” he said.

Making both actions primary offenses are in Senate Bill 9, now Act 203 by Sen. Dudley “Butch” Gautreaux of Morgan City, who argued that it was ridiculous to make police sit by and watch while people were violating laws that are intended to make highways safer.

The provision affecting younger drivers prohibits people 17 years of age or younger from operating a motor vehicle while using any “wireless telecommunications device” to engage in a call or write, send or read a text-based communication.

Distracted driving, which includes such things as texting and cell phone use, putting on makeup, fussing at kids in the back seat or eating while driving, was responsible for 28 percent of the fatalities in the United States in 2009, Smith said.

A Louisiana study found that 57 of the 814 fatalities in 2009 were the result of some kind of distraction, said Jamie Ainsworth of the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission. A high number of non-fatal crashes also were the result of drivers being distracted.

“The No. 1 distraction is the use of hand-held devices,” either talking on phones or texting, Smith said.

Ainsworth said studies in New York and California, where hand-held pones have been banned, show there’s not much difference between the crash rate involving drivers using hand-held or handsfree phones.

“It’s the conversation that’s the distraction, not the hand-held phone,” she said.

The Legislature has repeatedly defeated attempts to totally ban cell phone use by drivers or even require handsfree phones.

State Police say it’s difficult to determine how many single-car fatalities result from cell phone use. If a phone is found in the car, officers can check the call and text history.

Cell phone use has skyrocketed in recent years. In 1995, according to an industry report, 33.5 million cell phone contracts were signed in the United States. By 2000, the number jumped to 109.5 million and in 2009, to 285.6 million – enough for 91 percent of the people in the U.S. to have one.

“Cell phones and other hand-held devices are amazing tools,” Ainswroth said. “However, driving is a cognitive skill and cognitive skills should be focused on driving and not a text message about what groceries to bring home for dinner.”

This is part of the July 28, 2010 online edition of The Jena Times.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you. Click here.