A bill banning texting while driving now awaits Gov. Phil Bryant’s signature after lawmakers approved the measure Monday.
State senators almost unanimously approved an amended version of HB 389, one of numerous pieces of legislation filed this term banning what lawmakers deem a driving impairment.
As approved, the bill prohibits drivers “from writing, sending or reading a text message” and from using social networks while operating a moving vehicle.
A $25 fine accompanies each civil violation until July 1, 2016. The amount then increases to $100 per charge. No state assessments, the bill states, will be imposed or collected.
Once signed by the governor, the law goes into effect July 1; however, a repealing clause is present that would erase the measure in 2018 barring action by legislators.
The bill, authored by state Rep. Bill Denny, R-Jackson, was one of many pieces of legislation introduced in both the Miss. House and Senate this term that targeted texting while driving.
State Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus, originally authored a bill that mirrored Denny’s. The Golden Triangle representative’s filing marked his third attempt in three years to push forward such ban.
“(A law against) texting while driving is going to pass this year, no ifs, ands or buts about it,” he said earlier this term. “We have laws against drunk driving and other impairments. Texting is as great of an impairment as drunk driving. It’s a major public safety hazard that more and more people are guilty of.”
Cities like Starkville — college towns with a high number of younger, inexperienced drivers — could see benefits from a texting-while-driving ban, he said.
“It’s clear we have to do something to help control the issue,” Chism said earlier in the term. “It’s growing by the day.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that driver distraction caused 18 percent of all fatal crashes in the U.S. in 2012, while 11 percent of drivers aged 18-20, who were involved in a wreck and survived, admitted to sending or receiving text messages when they crashed.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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