A measure to ban texting and driving for all drivers in Missouri was touted Monday night at the House Committee of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
House Bill 450, sponsored by Rep. Keith English, I-Florissant, is identical to a bill recently signed into law in Illinois, English said.
"Currently we have a law that is 21 years of age or younger would be in trouble, or get a ticket, if they are caught or seen texting while driving," English said. "I believe we should not have an age discrimination on something that is known and proven to save lives. ... Just like the seat belt law, we don't have an age discrimination on seat belts. I believe we should have texting ban on everyone across the board, not just 21 and under."
Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma are the only three states that ban novice drivers from texting while driving, while most other states ban all drivers from the act, according to information from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute. Only Montana and Arizona have no ban at all.
There are four bills that deal with texting drivers of all ages in this legislative session, including HB 450.
House Bill 161 bans all ages from texting and driving, but also increases the punishment of getting caught by adding eight points initially and 12 every time thereafter to the offender's license. House Bill 27 limits the persons banned to drivers of noncommercial vehicles and specifically mentions hands-free texting devices.
English said his draft differs from the rest because it is the same legislation from other states and it has withstood court challenges. Also, both English and Verizon lobbyist Scott Swain agreed HB 450 allowed the use of hands-free texting devices.
Swain, who started advocating for texting and driving laws in 2000, testified in favor of English's bill at the meeting.
Jay Wunderlich, director of governmental relations for the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), was also there to testify for informational purposes.
Wunderlich said the bill is very timely for MoDOT because this is the time of year that MoDOT begins striping the roads and every year there is an accident with injury and damage to MoDOT vehicles.
"Every year we find out that some of those drivers are not paying attention to the road and in some cases may be texting and driving," Wunderlich said. "The Missouri Highway and Transportation Department Commission takes driving very serious and they support any legislative proposal that helps reduce distracted driving on the Missouri roadways."
Rep. Kathie Conway, R-St. Charles, questioned the legislation stating that she is against texting and driving, but she thinks the existing laws cover the issue already.
"I understand the importance of this bill and I think anyone who wants to text and drive is just really not very smart," Conway said.
"My concern, as always, is with enforcement. How are we going to establish that is what is going on?
"I will have a hard time supporting this."
She later said there are other issues with police searching drivers' phones that come into question. She also asked if she were texting and driving without passing into other lanes, speeding or breaking any other laws then what damage is she causing.