Joe Henderson
Florida has a lot of distracted drivers, and you have seen them.
They pay more attention to their phones than the other cars around them. They talk, text, and dial while weaving in an out of traffic lanes at 70 mph.
People die because of that, and everybody knows that is true.
Yet, police can’t stop a driver and issue a ticket when they catch that person is texting or otherwise distracted. Our lukewarm anti-texting/driving law won’t let cops make that a primary offense. Lawmakers say the issue is complicated.
It isn’t.
Too many drivers don’t pay attention, and only one thing will stop that. Pull them over, write a ticket, take their money. Get three tickets, and you lose your license for six months.
I’m for personal freedom as much as the next person. I draw the line if someone winds up in a body cast over a text though.
It seems like we have been having this distracted-driver debate in Florida forever. Lawmakers have considered various remedies for the last several years, but then they wimp out.
That’s why it’s best not to get too excited at Tuesday’s news that the House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee unanimously passed HB 107, filed by state Rep. Jackie Toledo, a Tampa Republican. It would allow police to stop drivers who they see are texting behind the wheel and make it a primary offense.
“Distracted driving has become an epidemic, and it is time Florida join the more than 40-other states that have made texting and driving a primary offense,” she said.
It now moves to the House Appropriations Committee.
Bravo.
But as Jason Ogles reported for Florida Politics, the Senate is offering “yeah, buts” to the companion SB 76. Let the nitpicking begin. Next stop: the dustbin for forgotten bills.
If the Senate bill moves on, it likely will be without the mandate that would limit drivers to hands-free phones. Bill sponsor Sen. Wilton Simpson said, “For the parents hoping more for hands-free than texting and driving, this is a process. Remember, this is a work in progress.”
That “progress” is how it all starts to fall apart.
Take this quote from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman David Simmons, for instance.
“If you are on the phone, or eating a hamburger, or drinking a cola, or listening to your significant other yell at you, or you are singing with too much gesticulation,” he said, “the fact of the matter is, each of those circumstances of distracted driving could permit a law enforcement officer to go ahead and stop you.”
I get what he is saying. We don’t want a police state, and racial profiling could be an issue if the law is too broad. Point noted.
On the other hand, I passed a guy the other day on Interstate 4 in Tampa who was eating a sandwich while driving. He had a phone in his ear and one hand on the wheel. And yes, his car was weaving a bit in moderate traffic.
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported in 2017 that Florida ranked second in the country for distracted drivers. Thank goodness for Louisiana, I guess.
If hamburger is a distraction for drivers, pull them over.
That would beat starting a 10-car pileup, wouldn’t it?
Florida lawmakers need to stop pretending that distracted driving is a complicated issue.
It isn’t.
