The following is my column that will appear in the Mt. Vernon Gazette, the Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch in the week of December 19, 2012.
Why Del. Cline and I Are
Propose to Restrict Phones While Driving
At 10:30 p.m. on Sunday,
May 15, 2011, 18-year-old Kyle Rowley was driving home from his summer job down
Route 7 near the Fairfax County line when his car ran out of gas. He pulled his
car into the right-hand lane, turned on his flashers and got out to push his
car off the road.
Behind him, Jason Gage approached
from the west. About 20 feet from a
break in the curb, Gage’s car struck Rowley and his car from behind, throwing
Rowley to the middle of the road where another car ran him over. Both cars
flipped and rolled. Gage was rendered unconscious, had no recollection of what
occurred. No one witnessed the collision.
Gage had 2,000 feet of
straight, level pavement on a lit road to see Kyle’s vehicle. There were no
skid marks. A forensic analysis of his mobile phone revealed that he sent or
received text messages within fifteen seconds of the time stamp on the 911 call
reporting the collision.
I represented Kyle
Rowley’s family in his wrongful death action.
A Fairfax County General
District Court Judge found Gage not guilty of reckless driving after noting
that the Commonwealth could not prove any driving behavior beyond a reasonable
doubt, except for possibly the texting on a hand-held electronic device. Because the maximum punishment for texting
while driving under Virginia law is a secondary non-reckless infraction, the judge
dismissed the charge, as required under Virginia Law. Jason Gage has never been punished by the
state for the death of Kyle Rowley and cannot be under our current laws.
Del. Cline and I believe
that Virginia’s laws should be changed and we are introducing a bill in the
General Assembly next month.
Texting Is Especially
Dangerous
In 2009, a Virginia Tech
Transportation Institute study found that texting while driving takes a
driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.67 seconds. At 65 miles per
hour, that’s equal to driving with your eyes closed for 1.5 football fields.
The same study found
that texting while driving increases the chances of a safety-critical driving event
by 23.24 or 2,300%. By comparison, eating while driving increases the chances
by 1.01, smoking 0.97, talking on a phone hands-free 0.44 and talking on a
handheld phone 1.04. In other words, while many behaviors while driving are
unsafe, texting while driving is exponentially riskier than other behaviors.
Last year, the American
Safety Council found that cellphone use was involved in 28 percent of all
collisions. Other studies have shown that a majority of Americans under age 30
admit to texting while driving on a regular basis.
In Virginia today, the
maximum penalty for texting while driving is $25 for a first offense and $50
for a second offense. No one can be stopped solely because an officer sees him
or her using a phone.
Delegate Ben Cline and I
are proposing changes. Delegate Cline is a Republican from Lexington, a
prosecutor and Chairman of the Conservative Caucus. Some say we are a political
odd couple, but as legislators and attorneys we have been discussing the
problems with the existing law for the last six months. We each understand the
current law’s deficiencies from different points of view, and believe that
there is a need to change current law to make our roads safer. Two weeks ago, the
approach in our bill was endorsed by the Virginia Crime Commission.
We have several
objectives. First, using a phone for anything other than a phone call should be
a primary traffic offense. Second, if such use of a phone is a proximate cause
of an accident or injury to person or property, it should be classified as reckless
driving. Third, Virginia needs to send a clear message that use of a phone for
anything other than a voice call while driving is dangerous behavior that needs
to stop.
This legislation will no
doubt be modified as the General Assembly works its will. We have already
received requests to create exceptions for global position systems (GPS)
functions, playing music and law enforcement. We are both hopeful that
something will finally happen this year.
As the mother of the 16-year old victim of the November 30th Telegraph Road hit and run, I am surprised to learn that Virginia doesn't classify distracted driving, especially when it results in bodily harm, as reckless driving. While I have no idea whether texting and driving or some other form of distracted driving was the cause of the accident given that my son was half way across Telegraph Road in a well marked, well lit cross walk, the driver was distracted or so self-absorbed that he or she was not driving recklessly.
ReplyDeleteGood! Not only should texting while driving be outlawed, but so should being on the phone while driving, except in emergencies.
ReplyDeletePixie Bell