Georgia Governor Says Ban on Texting While Driving is "Common Sense"

Posted & filed under Auto Safety, distracted driving, Georgia Car Insurance.

Last Friday, Governor Sunny Perdue signed two different Georgia bills into laws, thus banning drivers in his state from checking email, using the Internet, or texting while behind the wheel, and making it illegal for teens who are driving to use their cell phones at all. During the signing ceremony, the governor explained, “We’re trying to produce the best common sense legislation to make us safer.”

There had already been hints that Governor Perdue would veto the bill for adults, but he said he agreed to sign it only after legislators promised to address some of his concerns about the language, in next year’s session. Perdue feels that the current verbiage could pressure district attorneys to file vehicular homicide against more motorists, and overburden the police who must enforce such laws.

Both laws will take effect on July 1st, and both stipulate that a violation leads to a fine of $150 and one point on the driver’s license. The teen law applies to drivers under the age of 18.

The adult law is named for Caleb Sorohan, a college freshman who was killed in a head-on collision last year, because he was texting while driving. His family as been pushing the state to ban texting behind the wheel since his death last December.

Texting bans are growing in popularity across the country, with prohibitions enacted in Michigan, Vermont and Wisconsin this year, adding to the two dozen states which already had similar bans in effect.

The Illinois-based National Safety Council estimates that nearly 30 percent of crashes — or 1.6 million annually — are caused by drivers talking or texting on cell phones. The issue has become so serious that public figures like Oprah Winfrey and organizations like the United Nations both launched campaigns to discourage drivers from using cell phones while operating their vehicles.