Bill would make texting while driving a primary offense

The Transportation and Telecommunications Committee heard testimony Feb. 11 on a bill that would make enforcement of texting while driving a primary action, allowing law enforcement to stop drivers solely for engaging in such activity.

Enforcement of the law currently is a secondary action, meaning the driver must first be cited or charged with some other violation.

Under LB118, introduced by Scottsbluff Sen. John Harms, a person in violation would be issued an infraction with a fine between $200 and $500, depending on the number of previous offenses.

The U.S. Department of Transportation noted that over 3,000 people were killed in distracted driving accidents in 2010, Harms said. Most people agree that texting while driving is a problem, he said, yet they continually engage in such behavior because the current law is enforceable only if they are violating another law.

“If it already is against the law, why don’t we give law enforcement the tools to enforce it?” Harms said.

Nance Harris, representing the Nebraska Trucking Association, testified in support of the bill, saying that commercial drivers are 23 times more likely to experience a crash as a result of texting.

Erin Smith, a student at Central Community College in Hastings, also testified in support of the bill, saying that her car overturned after she sent a text message to her boyfriend while she was driving. She broke her back and collarbone, experienced brain hemorrhaging and had to have three surgeries as a result of the accident.

“Today I still suffer from the accident,” Smith said. “Every day I ask myself if that one text was really worth everything I went through, and the answer is ‘no’.”

No one testified in opposition and the committee took no immediate action on the bill.