Guest column	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. Matthew H. Smith D-Allegheny www.pahouse.com/MSmith

It's time to tackle distracted driving

It seems there are endless accounts in the media about distracted drivers causing accidents, sometimes with heart-wrenching results.

Consider the accident last year near Rochester, N.Y. Five young women died in a collision with a tractor trailer just a week after graduating high school. Police determined the teenage driver had been texting moments before the crash.

I think Pennsylvania lawmakers can take steps to reduce the number of tragedies like the one in New York by getting tough on distracted drivers. We need to enact legislation that bans texting while driving. We also need to enact legislation that bans the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.

I co-sponsored H.B. 538, which would ban the use of hand-held cell phones by adults while driving. Adults could utilize hands-free technology to communicate in a motor vehicle. The bill would ban holders of learner's permits and junior licenses from using any interactive wireless communication device while driving, including cell phones.

Exceptions would be provided for law enforcement officers, drivers of mass transit vehicles, operators of emergency vehicles when on duty, and motorists who are reporting a traffic accident or are making a 511 or 911 emergency call. 

There's a small mountain of evidence about the dangers of hand-held cell phone use. Studies by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Utah have shown that drivers who talk on their cell phones are three to four times more likely to be involved in a crash. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, hand-held cell phones contributed to 1,245 crashes on Pennsylvania roadways in 2007. There were 56 crashes on the state’s roadways attributed to hands-free cell phones during the same year. A California study found that states that enacted hand-held cell phone bans while driving saw traffic fatalities decrease between 9 percent and 21 percent after the ban went into effect.

There also have been some jaw-dropping studies about the danger of texting while driving. A July 2009 study released by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that truck drivers face a 23 times greater risk of a crash or near crash when texting. A University of Utah study using a driving simulator found that college students faced an eight times greater crash risk when texting.

There are bans on texting while driving in 14 states, and Pennsylvania should join them. In Pennsylvania, H.B. 137 and S.B. 143 would ban texting while driving. Both are both currently in the House Transportation Committee.

I believe we can save lives by banning both texting while driving and the use of hand-held cell phones while driving.