A Massachusetts bill against texting and driving is moving forward on Beacon Hill. The bill, released yesterday, will need to be approved by House and Senate before it is passed on to Gov. Deval Patrick.
According to the newly released bill, all motorists in Massachusetts, including the police, would be barred from texting while driving. Additionally, drivers under 18 are completely barred from using cell phones while driving, and senior drivers will be required to undergo vision tests every five years. The bill also requires the Registrar of Motor Vehicles (RMV) to come up with a list of impairments that could help determine a driver’s skills, WPRI reported.
Texting&Driving violators will be fined $100 and will face the possibility of driver’s license(or learner’s permit) suspension for the first offense, and $500 for a third offense.
If the bill is approved, Massachusetts would join 28 other states and the District of Columbia which are currently banning texting and driving. Other New England states, like, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have already adopted texting bans, some of which enacted the bans earlier this year.
Under the bill, police who notice drivers texting and operating their vehicles will be able to pull them over.
The bill also includes two other measures.
1. To bar bus drivers, subway operators and others who drive public transportation vehicles from using cell phones or face a $500 fine, and
2. The RMV to take a second look at any driver involved in three or more traffic violations to determine whether they can continue to safely operate a car.
The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that a quarter of the 1.4 million crashes in the US involve some kind of cell phone use, while 6,000 of all the accident-related fatalities in a year are caused by distracted driving. NSC estimates that in more than 1 out of every 4 motor vehicle crashes in the US, the use of cell phone was involved.
