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Memphis Bill would make cellular phone use by teen drivers illegal |
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December 23, 2000 Sen. Steve Cohen of Memphis will introduce in the upcoming legislative session a proposed law making it illegal for any driver younger than 18 to operate a motor vehicle while using either a hand-held or hands-free cellular phone. Under one version of the bill, the violation would be a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $100. The other version would apply only to those drivers who possess a learner’s permit or intermediate driver’s license. In addition to paying the $100 fine, the young drivers would have to wait an additional 90 days to move up the ladder toward an unrestricted license. Use of cell phones by motorists is a growing national issue. At least 37 states have considered legislation to deal with some aspect of the practice, but no state has imposed an outright ban. At least 14 countries, including England, Spain, Switzerland and Japan, prohibit or restrict the use of car phones, the Boston Herald reported last month. In the United States, eight cities in Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have passed some restrictions. Proponents of a ban cite a 1997 report in the New England Journal of Medicine that a driver on a cell phone is four times as likely to have an accident as a driver who is not distracted. Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says no national figures are available on the number of crashes, fatalities and injuries resulting from the distractions of cellular phones, the agency says the problem is only going to get worse: There are now 107 million cellular phones in use in the United States, and use is expected to go up by as much as 34% a year in the near future. "Everybody and his brother out here has a cell phone, no question about it," says Brentwood Police Chief Ricky Watson. "It causes them to lose attention to their driving. You will notice them sitting longer at stoplights because they are not paying attention. You will notice them disregarding stoplights because they are involved in the conversation they are having." The Tennessee Association of Police Chiefs is likely to endorse a ban on cell-phone use while driving at its next meeting, in February, said association president J. D. Sanders, who is police chief in Martin. "We know how dangerous it is and that a driver who is distracted by a cell phone is just as dangerous as a drunk driver behind the wheel," Sanders said. Tennessee is finally getting some information on the extent of the problem because state troopers began including in their accident reports last year whether a cell phone was involved. According to the state Safety Department, 48 of the 30,994 crashes the Tennessee Highway Patrol investigated in 1999 involved use of a cell phone or a two-way radio. Safety Department spokeswoman Dana Keeton said city police and county sheriff’s departments across the state will begin keeping tabs on cell-phone-related accidents next year. Cohen said the cellular phone legislation is just another attempt to make teens safer drivers. Making it also apply to adults simply is not politically feasible at this time, he said, adding that it is going to be tough enough to pass the teen-only legislation because of influence the wireless industry has in the Legislature. Cohen said he had been contacted by Gary Andreza, a lobbyist for AT&T. "The industry has already contacted me, and the industry is not even in favor of this (teen-only bill), which really came as a shock to me." Efforts to contact Andreza and Dennis Wagner, a lobbyist for Sprint, on Friday were unsuccessful. Andreza did not respond to messages left on his voice mail. Wagner’s office said he was unavailable. |
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