Ban on text messaging while driving advances

OLYMPIA – The Washington state House has voted to outlaw text-messaging while driving.

For years, lawmakers have considered a ban on the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, but this was the first big vote on the practice of trying to compose or read electronic messages via Blackberry devices or cell phones at the wheel.

The measure, adopted on a 73-23 vote, goes next to the Senate, which recently approved a ban on hand-held cell phone use by drivers. The House has not voted on that bill.

Rep. Joyce McDonald, R-Puyallup, said the text-messaging bill was prompted by a recent collision involving three vehicles and a bus on I-5. The driver of one vehicle was text-messaging, she said.

“Text-messaging and driving are a lethal combination,” McDonald said. “Text-messaging takes a higher level of consciousness to compose, edit, and send a message than to just have a conversation on the phone. It takes the eye off the road every time you punch in a word.”

Rep. Dawn Morrell, D-Puyallup, said many teens heavily use text-messaging to keep in constant touch with friends, even though they’re inexperienced drivers and need to keep their undivided attention on the road.

State Traffic Safety Commission officials told the Legislature about a quarter of the teen drivers who were surveyed said they text-messaged while driving.

Current law doesn’t explicitly address the situation, and troopers pull someone over only if they see weaving or other dangerous road behavior. The legislation says the officer can stop a driver who is spotted text-messaging or reading the device.

The offense would be a traffic infraction, typically carrying a $101 fine.

No one spoke against the bill.

The House also approved:

A measure to require body-piercing standards, such as the state has for tattoo parlors.

“Although the vast majority of body-piercing shops run clean operations, teens and others have no way of knowing for sure whether they will be safe,” said Rep. Sherry Appleton, D-Poulsbo, the prime sponsor. “Lax sanitation can result in hepatitis or worse.

Authority for the governor to negotiate compacts for taxing gasoline sales at tribal service stations. The tribes could keep 75 percent or more of the taxes for transportation projects. The House passed the measure 81-15 after rejecting an amendment by Republicans to ban campaign contributions from tribes to the governor during compact negotiations. The bill goes to the Senate.

A “fair share” bill that directs the Department of Corrections to equitably spread its facilities, including work-release, rather than concentrating them in a few counties. The bill passed 75-21 and headed to the Senate.