Report Title:
Statewide Traffic Code; Texting Prohibited
Description:
Prohibits texting using electronic wireless communication device while driving; provides exemptions for authorized emergency vehicles, text messages to report illegal activity or to summon help in an emergency situation, emergency alert messages, messages related to the operation of a motor vehicle or an accessory component, global positioning or navigation systems permanently affixed to the vehicle. (SD1)
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2366 |
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TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO STATEWIDE TRAFFIC CODE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. According to the New York Times, some 158 billion mobile text messages were sent in the United States in 2006, an increase of almost two-fold from 2005. A study conducted by the National Mutual Insurance Company was released in 2007, finding that nineteen per cent of all drivers, and thirty per cent of drivers between the ages of eighteen and twenty-seven text message while driving. According to a study from the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and Students Against Destructive Decisions, teenagers say that texting is their number one driving distraction.
A 2007 survey commissioned by the mobile messaging service Pinger, Inc., and conducted by Harris Interactive(R), revealed that nine out of ten or eighty-nine per cent of Americans believe that sending text messages or emails while driving is distracting, dangerous, and should be prohibited. The same survey found that:
(1) Ninety per cent of drivers believe that sending text messages or mobile email were as dangerous as drivers who had two drinks before driving;
(2) Although the overwhelming majority of adults believe driving while texting is dangerous, two in three adults who drive a car and have used text say they have read text messages or emails while they were driving; and fifty-seven per cent admitted to sending text messages or emails while driving.
The legislature finds that sending text messages or emails while driving is a distraction. Texting and emailing while driving necessarily means that the driver's full attention is not dedicated to the road. Research in 2006 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that nearly eight per cent of crashes and sixty-five per cent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds prior to impact.
The purpose of this Act is to prohibit sending text messages and emails, or reading them, while driving.
SECTION 2. Chapter 291C, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part XII to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:
"§291C‑ Text messaging prohibited. (a) No person who, while driving a motor vehicle, shall compose, send, or read a text message on an electronic wireless communications device, commonly known as a cellular phone or similar device.
(b) This section shall not apply to:
(1) Authorized emergency vehicles;
(2) Composing and sending a text message to report illegal activity or to summon medical or other help in an emergency situation;
(3) Sending or receiving emergency alert messages;
(4) Messages related to the operation of a motor vehicle or an accessory component thereof; or
(5) Any global positioning or navigation system that is permanently affixed to the motor vehicle."
SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.